'Surge is leaving state safer': Trump administration ends Minnesota immigration crackdown after months of turmoil

The Trump administration ended an immigration crackdown in Minnesota that led to thousands of arrests, violent protests, and the fatal shootings of two US citizens over the past two months, border czar Tom Homan said Thursday.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation, described as the Department of Homeland Security's “ largest immigration enforcement operation ever ”, focused on the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and resulted in more than 4,000 arrests, Homan said, AP reported.




“The surge is leaving Minnesota safer,” he said. “I’ll say it again, it’s less of a sanctuary state for criminals.”

The operation became a flashpoint in the debate over President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts, flaring up after Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed by federal officers in Minneapolis. The announcement marked a significant retreat from an operation that became a major distraction for the Trump administration and was more volatile than prior crackdowns in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Homan said immigration enforcement would not end when the Minnesota operation was over.

“President Trump made a promise of mass deportation and that’s what this country is going to get,” Homan said.

Democratic Governor Tim Walz said Tuesday that he expected Operation Metro Surge, which started in December, to end in “days, not weeks and months,” based on his conversations with senior Trump administration officials.

While the Trump administration called those arrested in Minnesota “dangerous criminal illegal aliens,” many people with no criminal records, including children and US citizens, were also detained.

Homan said last week that 700 federal officers would leave Minnesota immediately, but that still left more than 2,000 on Minnesota’s streets. At the time, he cited an “increase in unprecedented collaboration” resulting in the need for fewer federal officers in Minnesota, including help from jails that hold deportable inmates.

Homan said Thursday that the drawdown began this week and will continue next week. He said he planned to stay in Minnesota to oversee the drawdown.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Tuesday he had a “positive meeting” with Homan a day earlier and discussed the potential for a further drawdown of federal officers.

Homan took over the Minnesota operation in late January after the second fatal shooting by federal immigration agents and amid growing political backlash and questions about how the operation was being run.

“We’re very much in a trust but verify mode,” Walz said Tuesday, adding that he expected to hear more from the administration “in the next day or so” about the future of what he said had been an “occupation” and a “retribution campaign” against the state.