Washington: The Trump administration is ending its immigration crackdown in the US state of Minnesota after two months, more than 4000 arrests and the deaths of two American citizens at the hands of law enforcement.
President Donald Trump’s border tsar Tom Homan, who was dispatched to Minneapolis after a second US citizen was killed there in January, announced the special operation would be wound down in coming days.
“I have proposed – and President Trump has concurred – that this surge operation conclude,” he said at a news conference. “A significant drawdown has already been underway this week and will continue through the next week.”
Minnesota’s Democratic governor Tim Walz, who was a fierce critic of Trump and the crackdown in his state, but made some concessions in negotiations with Homan. said he was cautiously optimistic that the “unprecedented federal invasion” would now end.
“They left us with deep damage, generational trauma. They left us with economic ruin in some cases,” he said, flagging that an emergency fund for small businesses would be activated.
Walz also called for federal money to be given to Minnesota, though he said he wouldn’t hold his breath. “The federal government needs to pay for what they broke here. You don’t get to break things and then just leave.”
The killing of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents rocked the country and shook the world. Both were initially portrayed by the Trump administration as agitators who were culpable for their own deaths, but public outrage and scepticism from Republicans forced a change in position, especially after Pretti’s death.
Trump send Homan to Minneapolis to “de-escalate” the situation in the North Star State, where violent clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement had become a daily fixture.
Homan replaced Border Patrol commander-at-large Greg Bovino, who along with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House homeland security adviser Stephen Miller had led the portrayal of Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” and “would-be assassin” who was seeking to “massacre law enforcement”.
The White House announced earlier this month that Operation Metro Surge had resulted in more than 4000 illegal alien criminals being arrested in Minnesota since December, including murderers, rapists, gang members and other threats to public safety. It did not say how many of those people had been deported.
Homan said the operation had also located 3364 missing, unaccompanied migrant children who were “lost” by the Biden administration. Walz, however, said the detention of some children by ICE remained a matter of great concern. A five-year-old, Liam Conejo Ramos, garnered national attention when he was detained with his father in January and taken to Texas, but was later returned to Minnesota.
“They left us with many unanswered questions,” Walz said. “Where are our children? Where and what is the process, of the investigations into those that were responsible for the deaths of Renee and Alex?”
Polls indicate Americans are increasingly sour on Trump’s handling of immigration, having largely supported his efforts to close the southern border and deport violent criminals, but opposing the crackdowns that have led to mass arrests at workplaces, car washes and farms.
As many as 3000 federal immigration agents were surged to Minnesota at the height of the special operation. It caused severe friction not just on the streets but between law enforcement agencies. Minneapolis is a so-called sanctuary city where local police generally do not assist federal immigration authorities.
Homan said a crucial factor in allowing the operation to end was that state agencies were now informing federal immigration officials when a non-citizen was about to be released from prison, meaning ICE agents could arrest them at the jail rather than on the streets.
“As a result of our efforts here, Minnesota is now less of a sanctuary state for criminals,” he said.
While criminals remained the focus, it was “simply wrong” to say the administration was backing away from its mass deportation policy, Homan said, including all undocumented migrants regardless of their criminal history. “We will take action on everybody else, that’s just a stone-cold fact.”
Immigration enforcement in Minnesota would return to a normal level, including some security forces to protect federal agents, Homan said, although he noted agitation and protest from the community had declined.
He defended Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents against what he called “unfounded complaints” about their actions while in Minnesota. No illegal alien had been arrested in a hospital, elementary school or church, he said.
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.