{"id":464721,"date":"2026-02-12T19:07:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T19:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/464721\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T19:07:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T19:07:12","slug":"trumps-border-czar-says-immigration-crackdown-in-minnesota-will-conclude-minnesota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/464721\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s border czar says immigration crackdown in Minnesota will \u2018conclude\u2019 | Minnesota"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration<\/a> has claimed it is drawing down its immigration crackdown in Minnesota<\/a> that led to the death of two US citizens, mass detentions and widespread protests.<\/p>\n

The move was announced by Tom Homan, the US border czar, at a press briefing on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude,\u201d Homan said, claiming that \u201ca significant drawdown\u201d had already been under way this week and would continue.<\/p>\n

Agents in Minnesota<\/a> will be returned to their normal duties or assigned elsewhere, Homan said. The number of agents in Minnesota will return to normal levels, which is about 100 agents, officials have previously said. But security teams will stay in place to respond to what Homan called \u201cagitators\u201d who oppose immigration agents\u2019 work in the state.<\/p>\n

Homan said he would remain on the ground in Minnesota for \u201ca little longer\u201d to oversee the drawdown of agents.<\/p>\n

Local and state officials had expressed they were hopeful for a drawdown, based on meetings with Homan, but that they would not believe it until they saw the evidence on the ground.<\/p>\n

During the months-long crackdown, federal agents killed two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, sparking protests nationwide and a surge in local organizing to follow agents and provide food and supplies for immigrants, including those with legal status, who did not feel safe leaving their homes.<\/p>\n

Homan took over the immigration crackdown in Minnesota from Greg Bovino, a senior border patrol official, who was overseeing the operation when the killings of Good and Pretti happened.<\/p>\n

The surge of agents began in early December, then increased again in January. The number of agents outnumbered the largest police departments in the Twin Cities.<\/p>\n

Homan announced earlier this month that he was sending home roughly 700 agents, which left about 2,000 still in the state. Since that announcement, agents have been removing people from their communities throughout the state, increasingly in suburban and rural areas.<\/p>\n

Homan cited an \u201cunprecedented level of coordination\u201d with local law enforcement as a factor in the drawdown, claiming that local law enforcement agencies were now responding to scenes where protesters posed a public safety threat or violated local ordinances. He also said agents were working with jails in the state to have them turn over undocumented people in their custody, though not keeping them detained locally for any longer than their sentences.<\/p>\n

He claimed Minnesota was \u201cnow less of a sanctuary state for criminals\u201d because of the federal incursion, which he called a \u201csuccess\u201d.<\/p>\n

Minnesota\u2019s governor, Tim Walz, praised Minnesotans for their response to the federal surge, saying they \u201cshowed what it means to stand up for what\u2019s right\u201d. Walz said he was \u201cskeptically optimistic\u201d and had been told by Homan that the agents would be leaving quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will help you get to the airport,\u201d Walz said. \u201cWe will clear the roads to get you to the airport. I will come over and pack your damn bags, if that\u2019s what it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walz also said the state had not changed its immigration policies \u2013 the state was already turning people in state prisons over to immigration authorities. He said one of the federal government\u2019s requests to him was to urge protesters to be peaceful, which he has done, but he said: \u201cI\u2019m not going to ask [protesters] to not be in the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The damage done by the federal agents would leave a mark on Minnesotans, Walz said. He announced he would propose a $10m program for small businesses in the form of forgivable loans to address the economic disruption caused by the surge. The proposal would need legislative approval.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact of the matter is they left us with deep damage, generational trauma,\u201d Walz said. \u201cThey left us with economic ruin. In some cases, they left us with many unanswered questions. Where are our children? Where and what is the process of the investigations into those that were responsible for the deaths of Renee [Good] and Alex [Pretti]?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Minneapolis<\/a> mayor, Jacob Frey, a Democrat, also praised the city\u2019s residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey thought they could break us, but a love for our neighbors and a resolve to endure can outlast an occupation,\u201d Frey wrote on social media. \u201cThese patriots of Minneapolis are showing that it\u2019s not just about resistance \u2013 standing with our neighbors is deeply American.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frey added that the operation had been \u201ccatastrophic\u201d for the city\u2019s people and businesses, and that it was time for a \u201cgreat comeback\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will show the same commitment to our immigrant residents and endurance in this reopening, and I\u2019m hopeful the whole country will stand with us as we move forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who represents much of Minneapolis, said she was \u201coutraged and heartbroken\u201d that Minnesotans had to endure\u201d \u201cunfathomable suffering at the hands of this administration\u201d over the last few months.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing about what we witnessed was normal,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cBusinesses are reeling from the economic devastation. Families are shattered. Children will carry the trauma of federal agents descending on their neighborhoods for the rest of their lives. The pain inflicted on this community will not fade \u2013 it will remain etched in their memory as the moment their own government turned against them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elliott Payne, the president of the Minneapolis city council, said he would not stop his vigilance. Payne has been in the streets monitoring immigration agents\u2019 activity since the surge began. He told the Minnesota Star Tribune<\/a>: \u201cThis administration has lied about every aspect of this surge, so I don\u2019t believe a word that comes out of Homan\u2019s mouth. I\u2019ll believe it when I see it and will continue patrolling my community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Homan reiterated that Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation scheme would continue nationwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those who say we are backing down from immigration enforcement or the promise of mass deportations, you are simply wrong,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that the priority was to go after people who pose public safety or national security threats, but that \u201cdoesn\u2019t mean we forget about everybody else. We will take action on everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Trump administration has claimed it is drawing down its immigration crackdown in Minnesota that led to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-464721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}