Trump to end Minnesota ICE surge; illegal immigrants can still be deported, not off the hook

The Trump administration will withdraw the remaining ICE and Border Patrol forces in Minnesota, White House border czar Tom Homan said Thursday, saying they’ve done what they came to do and calling it a “great success.”

Mr. Homan said he’s seen better cooperation from local authorities, both in turning over illegal immigrants from their jails and in responding to violent protests and obstruction in the streets. And he said the two months of federal activity have also taken most of their deportation targets off the streets.

“I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude,” Mr. Homan said.

He said those in the Minneapolis area are being reassigned, either sent back to their home regions or deployed to other surge operations.

A “small footprint” will remain to close out the operation and turn things back over to the regional office for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which maintains about 150 people usually.

The withdrawal ends what had been a low point for Mr. Trump, who has seen support for his immigration agenda tumble after the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens during clashes with Homeland Security.

Even Mr. Trump’s supporters have said the operation was bungled, with Border Patrol agents who usually patrol remote areas of the international boundaries being sent deep into a heartland city poised to resist.

At its peak, the surge saw some 3,000 additional ICE and Customs and Border Protection personnel deployed.

Mr. Homan said the withdrawal wasn’t a retreat on Mr. Trump’s mass deportation agenda, and he said rank-and-file illegal immigrants can still be deported if they are encountered.

“President Trump made a promise of mass deportations and that’s what this country’s going to get,” he said.

The final tally was more than 4,000 arrests.

DHS first deployed personnel in early December, as Mr. Trump reacted to reports that the Somali immigrant community in the Minneapolis region had engaged in large-scale fraud, stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in government benefits.

Reporting suggested some of that money was being siphoned to al-Shabab, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

The surge followed previous ones in Los Angeles and Chicago, both of which drew violent protests. But Minnesota proved more extreme, with well-coordinated ICE opponents using social media and messaging apps to coordinate resistance.

Federal officials said local authorities then refused to respond when protests crossed the line into obstruction or riots. Homeland Security then had to deploy its own force protection teams to back up its arrest teams.

The result was that it took 15 officers and agents to make a single arrest in the community — and when they were out, they were arresting rank-and-file illegal immigrants they encountered, even if they weren’t the original targets.

The deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti proved to be watershed moments.

Mr. Trump booted Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol official he’d placed in control of surge operations, back to the border and sent Mr. Homan in to clean things up.

Mr. Homan then moved to erase what had seemed to be a culture of impunity. He asked for more internal affairs personnel and imposed a zero-tolerance policy for misconduct.

“There were some issues here. We fixed those issues,” he said.

He also reached out to state and local leaders, who toned down their rhetoric and allowed their police to respond to do crowd control on unruly protesters. Mr. Homan on Thursday specifically thanked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who had been vicious critics of the surge, for their more recent tone.

And Mr. Homan thanked the officers and agents who’d been deployed.

“You achieved a great success for the Minnesota communities,” he said.