Feb. 4 (UPI) — About 25% of federal agents in Minnesota will leave “effective immediately,” leaving about 2,000 still in the state, mostly in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Border Czar Tom Homan said Wednesday.
Homan cited an “unprecedented” amount of cooperation between local officials and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the state since he was sent there as the reason for the drawdown.
“Given this increase in unprecedented collaboration and as a result of the need for less law enforcement officers to do this work in a safer environment, I have announced effective immediately, we will draw down 700 people effective today,” he said Wednesday.
ICE and Border Patrol agents have been in Minnesota since December, and people have been actively protesting their presence. Two American citizens have been shot and killed by federal agents since Operation Metro Surge began.
“More officers taking custody of criminal aliens directly from the jails, means less officers on the street doing criminal operations,” Homan said. “This is smart law enforcement, not less law enforcement.”
County law enforcement officials have been allowing ICE to take custody of undocumented immigrants before their release from jail. That allows fewer federal agents to take custody in a controlled environment rather than a team sent into the public to make arrests, Homan said.
“This coordination also makes it far more safe for the Twin Cities,” he said.
He insisted repeatedly that the administration is “not surrendering” in Minneapolis.
“We’re not surrendering the president’s mission on a mass-deportation operation,” Homan said. “If you’re in the country illegally, if we find you, we’ll deport you. But this is about a targeted enforcement operation, and that’s what we’re going to be doing.”
The city won’t see all agents leave anytime soon.
“A complete drawdown is going to depend on continued cooperation of local and state law enforcement and the decrease of the violence, the rhetoric and the attacks against ICE and Border Patrol,” Homan said.