The Trump administration appears to be softening its approach to immigration enforcement in some locales amid outcry from the public and Democratic lawmakers over the recent killings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, announced on Thursday that he was working on a “drawdown” plan that would reduce the number of federal immigration agents in Minnesota. And Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said on social media that the Department of Homeland Security had notified her it would end Operation Catch of the Day, an immigration enforcement campaign that was launched in her state on Jan. 21.
Mr. Homan conditioned a withdrawal of immigration agents on increased cooperation between federal law enforcement and local officials. “The withdrawal of law enforcement here is dependent on cooperation,” he said. “As we see that cooperation happen, the redeployment will happen.”
Why We Wrote This
President Donald Trump’s border czar outlined a “drawdown” of immigration agents in Minnesota, while Maine’s GOP senator said the enforcement campaign there would also end. It represents a notable shift in response to public outrage over the killing of two U.S. citizens by federal agents.
The announcements show a marked shift in tone as the administration seeks to respond to broad public outrage over the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens – Renee Good and Alex Pretti – in separate incidents by immigration agents during their operations in Minneapolis.
Protests have swept through that city, and others, for weeks. On Monday, it was reported that Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander who had helmed the operation in Minneapolis, would leave the city. Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans have called for the impeachment or firing of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who has faced criticism for falsely claiming that Mr. Pretti was “brandishing” a gun as he approached federal officers. Eyewitnesses and videos have disputed that version of events, and a report from the Department of Homeland Security did not mention Mr. Pretti brandishing a gun.
The remarks from Mr. Homan, who arrived in Minnesota on Monday, were more measured. He said that he had met with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. He characterized those meetings with Democratic leaders as yielding “meaningful dialogue,” and said that he intends to continue working with local law enforcement and community leaders.
“We didn’t agree on everything. I didn’t expect to agree on everything,” Mr. Homan said. “Bottom line is you can’t fix problems if you don’t have discussions. I didn’t come to Minnesota for photo ops or headlines. … I came here to seek solutions.”
Still, Mr. Homan heavily criticized “sanctuary cities,” or jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Minnesota’s state prisons, however, have been honoring Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detainers, he said. Detainers are non-binding requests from ICE to local law enforcement to hold arrestees suspected of violating immigration laws so that ICE can take them into custody. Sanctuary jurisdictions often do not honor them.
Mr. Homan also said that Attorney General Ellison “clarified” that Minnesota’s county jails “may notify ICE of the release dates of criminal public safety risks so ICE can take custody of them.” Mr. Ellison’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ICE and other immigration agencies, Mr. Homan said, will conduct “targeted” enforcement operations, primarily targeting those with serious criminal histories. Yet he emphasized that the agency was not “surrendering the president’s mission on immigration enforcement.”
“I’m not here because the federal government has carried its mission out perfectly,” he said. “The mission is going to improve because of the changes we’re making internally.”
The Trump administration has long contended that its immigration agents primarily target unauthorized immigrants with criminal histories. But news reports have found that more than one-third of those arrested by ICE have no criminal histories. Amid the crackdown in Maine, locals told the Monitor that some of the arrests there appeared indiscriminate, and local officials have argued the same.
In her social media post, Senator Collins said that “there are currently no ongoing or planned large-scale ICE operations” in Maine. Ms. Collins had for days been pressuring Secretary Noem to end the immigration operation in that state, which ICE said today had resulted in the arrests of 206 people.
