ICE announces withdrawal of 700 officers from Minnesota

Immigration and Customs Enforcement pulled 700 officers from Minnesota after increased state cooperation, Trump administration border czar Tom Homan said Wednesday. Homan has spent over a week in Minneapolis meeting with state and local officials after weeks of rising tensions over targeted operations by ICE officers.

Homan characterized meetings with state officials as productive despite various disagreements. Everyone agrees on the importance of public safety and that ICE has a role to enforce immigration laws, he said. ICE will continue to carry out Trump’s mass deportation mission despite the drawdown, and Homan vowed not to leave until the mission was complete.

Homan explained last week that the massive deployment of federal officers was necessary because of rising threats and general animosity toward officers. The hostile rhetoric prompted an increase in assaults, which created a need for more federal agents in the city, Homan said last Thursday.

When will a total withdrawal happen? Homan reiterated his previous message that a full withdrawal of ICE officers will only happen if hateful rhetoric ceased and community members stopped interfering in operations. President Donald Trump would like a complete withdrawal from the area, but that can’t happen with people continuing to impede, interfere, and assault officers, he said. Security personnel will remain deployed until there’s a change in the pervasive lawless behavior, Homan said.

Homan also reminded the public of what he said ICE had achieved since entering the Twin Cities. Federal agents arrested 14 people convicted of homicide, 139 people with assault convictions, 87 sex offenders, and 28 gang members, Homan said.

How are local officials responding? Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz released a Wednesday statement pushing back on Homan’s update. ICE’s operation is not making Minnesota safer, and Trump needs to end this retribution campaign, he wrote. The drawdown is a step in the right direction, but a faster, larger withdrawal is needed, Walz added. The governor also called for state-led investigations into the fatal ICE-involved shootings of civilians Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Dig deeper: Read Josh Schumacher’s report on the federal probe into Pretti’s fatal shooting.