Officials in Minnesota have been able to “greatly reduce the number of targets” for immigration enforcement, Homan said, adding that Operation Metro Surge was a “great success”.
More than 4,000 undocumented immigrants had been arrested, including men he said were convicted of rape and other sexual misconduct.
Homan said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has always had a presence in Minnesota and will continue to have one.
The reduction in force comes after what Homan described as an unprecedented level of cooperation between federal agents and local law enforcement.
He said Minneapolis law enforcement has increased their crackdown on protesters he called public safety threats, and local jails have been more willing to notify ICE of the release date for individuals the agency was targeting.
Following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, President Donald Trump dispatched Homan to Minneapolis to oversee the surge, sidelining the operation’s leader Greg Bovino, who had faced intense criticism for ICE’s use of force in the city.
Trump’s immigration crackdown has faced resistance in Democrat-led cities like Minneapolis from activists in the streets and local officials and immigrants in the courts.
The fight over how immigration agents operate has now put the federal government at risk of a partial shutdown as Congress debates a funding measure for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE.
Democrats are demanding changes – such as ending the wearing of masks – in exchange for support for the bill. They are also pushing for immigration agents in Minnesota and elsewhere to be required to reveal their identities and to end warrant-less searches.
Last week, Homan announced he was removing 700 immigration agents from the state, leaving around 2,000 federal officers there, and working to cut their presence to where it was before the operation started in December.
On Thursday, he said Minnesota has become “less of a sanctuary state”, adding that he had meetings over the last few weeks with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, whom he asked to “tone down the rhetoric”.
Sanctuary cities and states have passed laws to limit the support they give to enforcement of federal immigration authorities.
While Homan and the Trump administration blamed escalating tensions in Minneapolis on the rhetoric from Minnesota officials, Frey and other critics of the immigration crackdown have blamed it on ICE and Customs and Border Protection.