Just over two weeks after arriving in Minnesota amid a shakeup in how the Trump administration is handling immigration enforcement, Border Czar Tom Homan announced the end of “Operation Metro Surge” in the Twin Cities on Thursday.
As reported on Friday’s AM Update, the move will drawdown the roughly 2,000 federal officers remaining in the field in the North Star State and follows the decision to immediately withdraw 700 law enforcement personnel last week.
The Drawdown
At a Thursday press conference, Homan credited increased cooperation from Minnesota state and local officials for the change in strategy. He said new coordination agreements now allow federal agents to safely take custody of criminal illegal aliens directly from local jails, thus eliminating the need for large-scale surge operations.
But it remains unclear exactly what those cooperation efforts entail, with both Gov. Tim Walz and the sheriff’s office in Hennepin County – which runs the largest jail in the state – telling The New York Times there had been no changes in their policies.
The border czar, however, said coordination between the federal government and state and local officials has improved in recent weeks. “While, I don’t agree with Gov. Walz and Attorney General [Keith] Ellison on everything, I appreciate the support the governor gives to state agencies who coordinate with us in a manner intended to promote public safety,” Homan explained.
“And I appreciate the AG having an open dialogue with me early on, the first meeting I had, acknowledging that county jails may notify ICE of the release date of an inmate, just as long as they don’t hold them past the time they would normally release them,” he continued. “We now have the ability to arrest criminal aliens in the safety and security of jails throughout the state at the time they’re being released, like we’ve done in other states.”
Homan added that he has also “directed the strategic placement of officers in certain areas throughout the state” who will be able to “respond quickly to sheriffs that want to release somebody and notify us we need to be nearby so they don’t hold them unnecessarily.” According to Homan, there is now a “strategic plan to reassign officers in those key locations.”
ICE located 3,364 missing unaccompanied alien children and arrested more than 4,000 criminal illegal aliens, including violent offenders, sex offenders, and gang members, during Operation Metro Surge, according to Homan.
What Remains
The border czar tried to make clear that the drawdown is not a full retreat. Instead, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, including Quick Response Forces (QRFs) will remain in Minnesota to respond to potential unrest.
“As President Trump has said from day one, we’re going to prioritize the public safety threats… There will be some security teams staying here, the QRFs, until we’re assured that those agitator incidents either stay low or further decline,” he said. “I’m not going to remove everybody out of the safety of our officers, but, like I said, Operation Metro surge is ending.”
As Homan explained, “ICE has had an office here for decades, this footprint will remain here, and they’ll continue to do immigration enforcement here,” but the number of personnel will “get back to… the normal footprint.”
Since the surge began, the Twin Cities saw organized anti-ICE activist networks rapidly deploy to enforcement operations to warn suspects, disrupt arrests, and confront federal agents. The trainings from these networks contributed to two fatal encounters in January.
The Trump administration previously cited the lack of local police support as the reason thousands of additional federal officers had to be deployed, but Homan said local law enforcement has now committed to protecting federal officers and shutting down unlawful interference from agitators.
“I have also received commitments from state and local law enforcement that they will respond if federal law enforcement is being impeded or assaulted,” he said. “They will shut down unlawful agitator activity, including arresting agitators involved and seeing them follow through.”
Differing Viewpoints
While Homan thanked Walz for “his messages focusing on peace and his support for the Minnesota State troopers to respond to unlawful situations that put federal officers and the public at risk,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for “taking a public stance against agitators setting up barricades that block streets and endanger public safety,” and local law enforcement for “their responsiveness and efforts to maintain law and order in the streets,” the governor was singing a very different tune in the wake of the news.
“I’m certainly not going to spike the football, but you’re not going to hear me express any gratitude for the people who caused this unnecessary, unwarranted, and, in many cases, unconstitutional assault on our state,” Walz claimed. “In America, you cannot expect that the people are going to be okay with masked, unidentified people running you off the road and coming to your vehicle at gunpoint like we saw in St. Peter, Minnesota.”
You can get all the day’s headlines by tuning into the AM Update with Megyn Kelly on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch AM Update on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111).