Thinning ICE in Minnesota

Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, put on his reading glasses and launched straight into his remarks. He was ready to deliver some good news. It was Feb. 4, just nine days after Trump announced he was sending Homan to Minnesota to oversee immigration operations in the state.

“We have made significant progress under the direction of President Trump working with state and local officials here in Minnesota, and I expect that to increase in the coming weeks,” Homan said, adding that 700 federal agents would leave Minnesota “effective immediately.”

Homan’s announcement marked a shift in the administration’s tactics following significant public backlash and concerns over what that might mean for Republicans in November’s midterm elections.

In December, the Trump administration launched Operation Metro Surge, initially targeting the Twin Cities but later expanding to all of Minnesota. The operation included the deployment of more than 2,000 federal agents. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) called it “the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out.” However, the operation’s aggressive tactics drew criticism, even from those who broadly support immigration enforcement, ­especially after two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by federal agents during protests. Americans were shocked by images of groups of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents wearing masks to hide their identities as they arrested people and clashed violently with protesters.

On Feb. 12, Homan announced he would end Operation Metro Surge. He called the crackdown a success, noting agents had arrested more than 4,000 people and left Minnesota “safer” than it was before.

Public opinion polls show a majority of Americans now disapprove of ICE’s tactics, though there are strong divisions along partisan lines. But a small majority of Americans overall still support the idea that people living in the country illegally should be deported.

Minnesota came under the national spotlight in late 2025 due to revelations of large-scale fraud. Prosecutors allege that fraudsters stole billions in public funds by setting up companies that billed state agencies for social services they never provided. Most of the defendants charged are of Somali descent. In December, a video by YouTuber Nick Shirley exposing the alleged fraud went viral on social media. As the scandal grew, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced on Jan. 5 he would not seek reelection.

Mark Osler is a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis and a former federal and state prosecutor. He believes the entire Operation Metro Surge mission was wrong.

“Anytime that you’re addressing a problem, proportion is always impor­tant,” he said. Osler agreed that the fraud scandal is “atrocious.” But, he added, “if that was the true concern, we would have been flooded with forensic accountants.” Instead, what we’re seeing is “oppressive law enforcement that is way overstepping the bounds of what’s necessary to address a problem.”

But Max Rymer, a Minnesota state representative and a Republican, said that while Trump and some members of the administration may have rhetorically linked the fraud scandal and immigration enforcement, they are separate problems. “We really have not vetted our illegal immigration problem here in Minnesota, which is vast. At least our two biggest population centers are not sharing any data,” he said. “I think that was more of the reason for Operation Metro Surge than the actual fraud problem.”

During his press conference, Homan said agents detained 14 people with homicide convictions, 139 with assault convictions, 87 who have committed sex offenses, and 28 gang members.

But Homan acknowledged officers made mistakes. “Was it a perfect operation? No,” he said. Homan announced he was unifying operations under a single chain of command, which had not been the case before.

Trump also admitted Operation Metro Surge could have been handled differently. “I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch,” he told NBC News. “But you still have to be tough. These are criminals. We’re dealing with really hard criminals.”

Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies said DHS had put too much emphasis on “body armor enforcement,” meaning agents going out and arresting people. Instead, he said they should put more emphasis on what he calls “briefcase enforcement,” meaning enforcing the laws against hiring illegal immigrants and encouraging self-deportation. He believes both types of enforcement are necessary, but in Operation Metro Surge, “I think they were out of balance.”

Trump likely picked Homan to deal with the situation because of his extensive experience. He served under six presidential administrations during his three decades in law enforcement. During his press conference, Homan called out protesters who set up roadblocks to keep out ICE agents. He noted their actions were illegal and said local law enforcement would deal with them.

Before Homan arrived, the protests turned deadly. Agents shot and killed Renée Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24. Both shootings are currently under investigation. On Feb. 2, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said officers in Minnesota would start wearing body cameras, a demand from Democratic lawmakers, who said that would help prevent future incidents.

Homan said the ICE agent drawdown is possible only because of “unprecedented cooperation” from local law enforcement. Local jails will cooperate with ICE to arrest illegal immigrants in custody. “Arresting a public safety threat in the safety and security of a jail is the safest thing we could do,” he said. It also requires far fewer agents. Homan calls this “smart law enforcement, not less law enforcement.”

Cooperation between local jails and ICE has been a significant bone of contention not only in Minnesota but also in other Democratic-controlled states. Opponents argue such cooperation undermines trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement.

Last year, state Rep. Max Rymer introduced a bill to force local governments in Minnesota to cooperate with immigration authorities when it comes to violent criminals and people suspected of committing violent crimes. The bill did not pass.

Rymer is disappointed that Operation Metro Surge has overshadowed the fraud scandal. Toward the end of last year, he was encouraged that “Minnesota was propelled into the national spotlight for the incompetence that we’ve had to live under for a long, long time.” He hoped Minnesotans would vote for a radical change of leadership. “But right now, fraud has taken a back burner in this state.”

At the national level, attention is turning to the midterm elections in November. Polls show Republicans are likely to lose their majority in the House of Representatives, which is unsurprising. “In the midterms, the party in power pretty much always loses the majority in one or both houses of Congress in the first midterm of the president’s term,” said Krikorian. But he thinks the economy will weigh much more heavily on the minds of voters than immigration, unless the aggressive enforcement tactics continue into the fall. Krikorian thinks that’s why Trump sent Homan to Minnesota to defuse the situation. “He sent the adults to oversee what’s going on over there.”

—with additional reporting by Josh Schumacher

Editor's note: This story has been updated to note that the ICE special operation in Minnesota officially ended on Feb. 12.