Border czar Tom Homan says Minnesota ICE surge is concluding
Border czar Tom Homan announced Thursday that the influx of federal immigration agents into Minnesota is coming to an end, with a withdrawal expected over the next week.
“I proposed, and President Trump agreed, that this surge operation be terminated,” Homan said.
This was Homan’s third update since he was tasked with leading Operation Metro Surge late last month. Federal officials did not release the briefing agenda.
Homan arrived in Minnesota in late January, less than a week after federal authorities announced Border Patrol Cmdr. Grégory Bovino and some of his agents would leave the area.
On February 4, Homan said federal authorities would immediately “remove” 700 law enforcement officers in Minnesota and that about 2,000 officers would remain in the state. Their number was around 150 before the wave.
“My goal, with the support of President Trump, is to achieve a complete withdrawal and end this surge as soon as possible, but much of that depends on ending the illegal and threatening activities against ICE and its federal partners that we are seeing in the community,” Homan said earlier this month.
Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday he Operation Metro Surge is expected to last “days, not weeks and months.”
White House officials said earlier this month that there had been at least 4,000 arrests in Minnesota linked to the federal operation.
