White House withdraws 700 immigration enforcement officers from Minnesota

Abu Sabet: President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan on Wednesday announced that 700 immigration enforcement officials will be withdrawing from Minnesota immediately after federal, state and local officials agreed to cooperate on mass deportation efforts.

Homan said the personnel being withdrawn is a “mix” of Border Patrol agents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

“The target list is decreasing,” he said. “We had a whole team looking at what makes sense without risking officer safety and security teams, and that number is 700,” Homan said at a press conference in Minneapolis, noting that he wanted to get back to the “Minnesota footprint” of what ICE presence looked like prior.

Homan said that around 2,000 Homeland security immigration enforcement officers would be left in Minnesota following Wednesday’s announced withdrawal.

Homan, who was sent to Minneapolis to take over operations following the killing of Alex Pretti that drew thousands to demonstrate in the streets, noted that personnel providing security for officers would not be drawn down, and that the administration was not ending its mass deportation operation.

“We are not surrendering the president’s mission of a mass deportation operation. If we find you and you’re in the country illegally, we will deport you,” Homan said.

But the withdrawal of officers marks the most significant pullback by the administration of federal authorities on the ground since Pretti’s shooting sparked weeks of turmoil on the ground in Minneapolis.

The shooting stoked already inflamed tensions in Minnesota over the presence of ICE and Border Patrol agents. Pretti became the second U.S. citizen to be shot at the hands of federal authorities following Renee Good earlier last month.

Homan’s now calmer style and tone has differed from that of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, who have faced backlash over the administration’s response to Pretti’s shooting. Bovino left Minnesota at the direction of the president last week when Homan was brought in. Noem has been absent from the Minnesota operations, instead leading FEMA operations as a massive snow storm hit much of the U.S.

Noem is expected on Wednesday to deliver remarks at the border, hours after Homan delivered his remarks in Minneapolis.

Still, Homan echoed some of the same messaging by Noem and Bovino, blaming protesters from the political left for the violence in Minnesota.

“I said back in March of this year [sic] that if the hateful rhetoric didn’t stop I was afraid there would be bloodshed. And there has been.”

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BP/SM