More than 1,000 immigration agents have left the Minnesota Twin Cities area and hundreds more will leave in the coming days as part of the Trump administration’s rollback of immigration enforcement, White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday.
Homan told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that a “small” security force will be stationed briefly to protect remaining immigration agents and to respond “when our agents go out and are surrounded by agitators and things get out of hand.” He didn’t define “small.”
He also said agents would continue to investigate fraud allegations and anti-immigration enforcement protests that disrupted church services.
“We’ve already evacuated over 1,000 people, and starting Monday and Tuesday we’re going to evacuate hundreds more,” Homan said. “We’re going back to our original footprint.”
Thousands of officers were dispatched to the Minneapolis and St. Paul areas to participate in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “Operation Metro Surge.” The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it was the largest immigration enforcement operation in history and proved successful. But as the situation became more unstable and two U.S. citizens were killed, the crackdown came under growing criticism.
Protests became common. Networks of residents work to help immigrants, warn approaching agents or film immigration officials in action. The federal police shootings of Renee Goode and Alex Preti drew condemnation and raised questions about police conduct, prompting changes in operations.
Homan announced last week that 700 federal officials would leave Minnesota immediately, but more than 2,000 remain in the state. He said on Thursday that “significant drawdowns” had begun and would continue into this week.
Homan said enforcement in the Twin Cities will not stop and mass deportations will continue across the country. Officers who leave Minnesota will report back to their respective stations or be assigned elsewhere.
Asked whether future deployments could match the scale of Operation Twin Cities, Homan said “it depends on the circumstances.” (Associated Press)
National Bureau of Standards
National Bureau of Standards
