After Public Backlash, Tom Homan Says Feds Will End Immigration Enforcement Surge in Minnesota

As public approval ratings of the Trump administration’s mass deportation program continue to crater, border czar Tom Homan announced on Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is ending its two-month surge that sent thousands of federal immigration officers to Minnesota.

At a press conference in Minneapolis, Homan said the drawdowns were already underway, and that “in the next week, we’re going to deploy the officers here on detail back to their home stations or to other areas of the country where they’re needed.”

Homan cited increased cooperation between federal officials and local and state leaders in Minnesota.

“With that, and success that has been made arresting public safety threats and other priorities since this surge operation began, as well as the unprecedented levels of coordination we have obtained from state officials and local law enforcement, I have proposed, and President [Donald] Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude,” Homan said.

However, Homan said that typical immigration enforcement would continue and that some “quick reaction forces” would remain in Minneapolis “until we’re assured that those agitators and incidents stay low or decline.” That condition is unlikely to be met, considering the Trump administration insists that anyone who exercises their First Amendment rights to protest, observe, and warn others of immigration officers presence is a “paid agitator” and/or a “domestic terrorist.”

“Additionally, federal government personnel assigned to conduct criminal investigations into the agitators, as well as the personnel assigned here for the fraud investigations, will remain in place until the work is done,” Homan said.

“For those who say we are backing down from immigration enforcement or the promise of mass deportations, you are simply wrong,” he continued.

But the reality is that the administration’s mass deportation program hit a brick wall of popular resistance in Minnesota, and the DHS’ bullying tactics largely backfired. The White House is declaring victory after destroying its reputation on what was once its most winning issue: immigration enforcement. 

Homan’s presence itself was evidence of the administration’s miscalculations. The White House brought in Homan three weeks ago to replace Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino as the public face of immigration enforcement. Bovino’s brash defenses and lies regarding the fatal January shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers in Minneapolis had drawn bipartisan outrage.

Although the administration’s mass deportation program had grown increasingly unpopular during similar surges in Los Angeles and Chicago last year, the killings of Good and Pretti solidified public anger against the tactics. 

An NBC News Decision Desk poll published Wednesday reported that in the week after Pretti’s death, 60 percent of those surveyed “somewhat or strongly disapproved of Trump’s actions on border security and immigration.” That increase was largely driven by independents.

What’s more, nearly three-quarters of the poll respondents said they want ICE to be reformed or abolished.

Although the exact nature of the federal “drawdown” in Minneapolis remains to be seen, the limited retreat is anything but a victory for the cruel, unaccountable, and lawless federal tactics that have been on display.