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US border czar Tom Homan, recently appointed as President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement officer in Minneapolis, has promised targeted and strategic measures aimed at illegal residents with criminal histories.
After weeks of daily clashes between protesters and immigration agents, and the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens so far this month during such clashes, senior Trump administration officials appeared to be changing their approach in Minnesota.
But while Homan mentioned a potential “reduction in the number of people here,” there were no specific announcements on that front Wednesday.
“I don’t want to hear that everything made here was perfect. Nothing is ever perfect,” he said.
Homan’s comments about the focus of deportation efforts appear to be close to a recently released internal memo from a senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official reviewed by Reuters late on Wednesday. Federal officials are directed to refrain from any unnecessary communication and engagement with “agitators” to avoid “inflaming the situation.”
ICE officers have been accused of randomly stopping people on the street to ask for documentary proof of legal residency or US citizenship, and of socializing with protesters.
Homan, who arrived Monday, said there were “great conversations” with state and local officials he met with, saying that while there were differences of opinion, they all agreed that “community safety is paramount.”
“You can’t solve problems if you don’t have discussions,” he said.
Trump continues his inflammatory comments
Despite Homan’s comments, Trump warned in a social media post late Wednesday that Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, was “playing with fire” by continuing to insist that city officials would play no role in enforcing federal immigration laws.
On Wednesday, Trump also baselessly suggested that Ilhan Omar, a congresswoman from Minnesota, staged the attack the night before when she held a town hall meeting amid tensions.
“She probably splashed herself, knowing her,” he told ABC News.
With tensions over ICE’s aggressive immigration crackdown growing daily, members of Minnesota’s Somali community are concerned for their safety after a man attacked Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Somali-American, during a town hall. US President Trump has publicly called Omar and the state’s Somali community ‘garbage’.
Posts on social networks from the man arrested for dousing Omar with syringe fluid suggests he was a Trump supporter who had posted racially charged posts in the past.
Earlier in the day, Trump said he wanted to “de-escalate a little” and sent Homan to take over the operation from Gregory Bovin, a Border Patrol agent whose aggressive tactics have drawn criticism and legal challenges.
ICE regularly defies court orders, chief judge says
The twin cities of Minnesota, Minneapolis and St. Paul, have been in a state of turmoil since Trump ordered about 3,000 heavily armed ICE and Border Patrol agents into the area a few weeks ago to carry out a deportation crackdown dubbed Operation Metro Surge.
Tensions escalated after Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was killed by an ICE agent behind the wheel of her car on January 7. Public outrage deepened after Saturday’s fatal shooting of intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, also 37, during another encounter between immigration agents and activists who opposed them.
Minneapolis police also said the operation compromises safety and strains resources. Police Chief Brian O’Hara compared the two fatal shootings to his own department’s record, telling CBS that police have not shot anyone in 2025.
The judges also expressed concern about the immigration crackdown. In Wednesday’s order, Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz of Minnesota cited at least 96 federal court orders that he said ICE violated in 74 cases, which he considered a likely insufficient number.
“This list should give pause to anyone — regardless of his or her political beliefs — who cares about the rule of law,” Schiltz wrote in his ruling.” A Minnesota federal judge has thrown out a contempt hearing against the acting head of ICE after the agency complied with an order to release a wrongly detained Ecuadorian man, but warned he could convict ICE leaders if he continues to violate court orders.
In a special matteranother judge said she was concerned about a letter from U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi that appeared to suggest the administration would pull out of operations in Minnesota if the state turned over voter and welfare records.
As it happens6:49Minnesota Attorney General Says He Fears For His Wife, Neighbors
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has accused the Trump administration of “extortion” for demanding the state hand over voter information as it continues its deadly immigration enforcement crackdown in the state. Ellison told As It Happens host Nilo Köksal that because of the presence of thousands of ICE agents in Minnesota, his neighbors and his legal immigrant wife live in fear.
He is calling on the head of DHS to step down
In the immediate aftermath of the shootings of Good and Pretti, several Trump administration officials denounced them as “domestic terrorists” who had threatened to harm police. Multiple videos of the two incidents that have gone viral clearly contradict the idea that Good or Pretti posed a danger to immigration officials or others.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s comments came under particular scrutiny, with more than 100 Democrats in Congress and several Republicans suggesting she should step down.
While Noem and other administration officials immediately accused Pretti of planning a “massacre” of officers, citing the gun he was carrying, video confirmed by Reuters showed Pretti holding only a phone when Border Patrol agents pushed him to the ground.
Witness video obtained by CBC News shows several officers taking the man to the ground before several shots were fired. The man is believed to be Alex Pretti, an American citizen whose killing deepened the rift between the Trump administration and Minnesota officials.
The video also showed an agent finding Pretti’s gun near his waist and removing it seconds before another agent shot Pretti in the back while he was tied up.
The two border agents involved in the Pretti shooting were reportedly on leave, but it’s unclear if a serious criminal investigation will be conducted at the federal level.
The Justice Department’s deputy attorney general previously said there was no need for a civil rights investigation into Good’s murder.
Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel, normally staunch defenders of the Second Amendment, which upholds the right to bear arms, condemned Pretti for being armed. The intensive care nurse was licensed to legally carry a firearm, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz suggested the intensive care nurse complied with the state’s gun laws.
Walz is in his final year in office, and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar announced Thursday that she is running to succeed him. She was among the Democrats in D.C. who criticized ICE’s tactics and called for capping the agency’s future funding without reform.
“Minnesota, we’ve been through a lot,” Klobuchar said in a video announcementt. “These times call for leaders who can stand up and not be rubber-stamps of this (Trump) administration — but who are also willing to find common ground and fix things in our country.”
