Pull 700 immigration officers

Trump administration will pull 700 immigration officers from Minneapolis

The drawdown is the latest effort from the White House to deescalate in Minneapolis after immigration officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens.

By Eric Bazail-Eimil

Border czar Tom Homan announced Wednesday that the Trump administration will reduce the number of immigration officers operating in Minneapolis by roughly 25 percent, as Homan overhauls the sweeping crackdown in the Twin Cities.

At a press conference in Minneapolis, Homan said that local law enforcement has increased cooperation with ICE and Customs and Border Protection so fewer officers are needed to apprehend unauthorized immigrants. In all, Homan said the administration would withdraw 700 officers from Minneapolis as it works toward ending the crackdown.

“My goal is, with the support of President Trump, to achieve a complete drawdown and end the surge as soon as we can,” Homan said. “A complete drawdown is going to depend on continued cooperation from state and local law enforcement and the decrease of the violence, the rhetoric and the attacks” against immigration officers.

Homan said that the officers leaving Minneapolis include both Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents and that 2,000 officers will remain in the city. Homan said that number will eventually return to the roughly 150 who typically operate in Minneapolis.

The drawdown is the latest deescalation move from the White House after federal officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis who were protesting immigration enforcement activities in Minneapolis. President Donald Trump tapped Homan, who led ICE in an acting capacity during his first administration, to take charge of an operation that’s produced bad headlines for the White House.

Homan’s performance had received early plaudits from Republican critics of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. Some Republicans have blamed Noem for undermining confidence in immigration enforcement operations by calling victims domestic terrorists before all the facts have come to light.

Homan said Wednesday that his team has created a unified command structure to ensure ICE and Customs and Border Protection are coordinating. Still, Homan defended the overall operation, noting that officials apprehended hundreds of unauthorized immigrants with violent criminal records.

“Was it a perfect operation? No,” Homan said. “But I’m not going to point fingers at anybody that they failed. It was a great operation. We took a lot of public safety threats off the streets.”