Donald Trump’s “border tsar” has announced that he will reduce the number federal immigration and border patrol agents in Minneapolis by 700, following widespread protests over the fatal shootings of two US citizens
Tom Homan announced that “effective immediately”, the administration is “drawing down 700 law enforcement personnel”, saying that it comes as a result of progress made.
He added that Customs and Border Patrol agents will work with other immigration enforcement entities “under one chain.”
Homan stated that a gap has been identified in the use of body-worn cameras, which was raised by some agents themselves. Some agents had them and some didn’t, Homan said, calling it “unacceptable.”
Following that, he said that he and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had a conversastion and Noem decided to deploy them to all agents on the ground.
The plan is for them to be used nationwide, but Minnesota is the priority, Homan said, adding that Trump supports this plan because “we have nothing to hide”.
Homan suggested that any drawn down in immigration officials simply results in “smarter law enforcement, not less.” He stressed that the priority is to target criminals, but warned anyone in the country illegally is “not off the table” from immigration enforcement.
He asserted that President Trump intends to achieve mass deportations during this administration, advising that immigration enforcement “continues every day” across the country.
Homan, though, said that it makes sense to prioritise public safety risk, but said this doesn’t mean officials will “forget about everybody else.”
Taking questions from reporters, Homan gave a breakdown of the 700 officers who are being withdrawn. He stated that they will come from a mix of federal law enforcement agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).
He said the plan is to get officers back to their home stations and get back to the usual number of officers in Minneapolis before the recent surge of federal officers began last December.
He also asserted that the operation was a success based on public safety, but noted that it wasn’t a perfect operation. “We made sure we followed the rules,” Homan said.
The border tsar note that the operation has become “more streamlined, established unified chain of command”.”It’s not that it wasn’t good before, but we improved upon it,” he said.
Larger Withdrawal Dependent On Cooperation
Homan stressed that while he is announcing a draw down of officers in Minneapolis today, a larger withdrawal of federal agents is dependent on continued cooperation from local law enforcement officials.
He said that it will be contingent on whether the community continues “impeding” federal immigration operations. The draw down of 700 officers will not include agents providing security for officers, Homan said, adding that the administration will not put officers at risk.
Homan noted that federal immigration agents are “taking bad people off the street”, including 14 people charged with homicide, 139 with assault, 87 sex offenders, 28 gang members.
Trump, Homan said, completely supports everyone’s legal right to protest, but said that agents have to be able to do their jobs without “being impeded.”
Homan encouraged people to report any violations. He pointed to what he describes as the nearly 200 people arrested for impeding investigations and nine indictments for those who “raided” a Minneapolis-area church last month.
Homan stated that agents need to be able to perform their duties without being harassed or assaulted. He said that he warned in March last year that if what he characterises as “hateful rhetoric” didn’t stop there would be bloodshed, adding “and there has been.”
He noted that neither he, Trump nor Kristi Noem want to see this. As a result, he asked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and other local officials to urge for calm and ask citizens to stop interfering.
Homan then thanked ICE agents and border officials for their work.
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