Homeland Security has now withdrawn the vast majority of immigration officers it had surged to Minnesota, leaving fewer than 1,000 ICE personnel still there.
And by the middle of this week that number will be cut fewer than 500, department officials told a federal judge Monday.
That’s down from a peak of about 4,000 personnel from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and from Customs and Border Protection, the government’s two main immigration-law enforcement agencies.
The drawdown began earlier this month after the shooting death of Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen, late in January.
White House border czar Tom Homan rushed to Minnesota to try to settle things after the shooting.
He held meetings with state and local leaders and said they agreed to cooperate, both in turning over people from their jails and in providing a law enforcement response when ICE officers come under attack by protesters.
Mr. Homan said with that assistance, DHS would be able to lower its levels.
Monday’s data was filed with a federal judge who has been hearing a case involving the DHS surge.
Even as they detailed the drawdown, U.S. officials hailed the results of the operation.
“Operation Metro Surge led to the successful arrest and apprehension of criminal aliens, including aliens with convictions for murder, aggravated assaults, domestic abuse/violence, drug trafficking, counterfeiting, identity theft, robbery with a dangerous weapon, sexual assault and rape convictions. During Operation Metro Surge, ICE successfully arrested more than 4,000 illegal aliens,” wrote Samuel Olson, ICE’s deportation field office director in St. Paul.
His office usually has about 190 deportation officers to cover five states: Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa.
At the peak of the operation ICE had about 3,000 personnel — both deportation officers and Homeland Security Investigations agents — assigned to Minnesota.
CBP had 1,029 people assigned to assist ICE.
All of them were slated to be gone as of Monday, Marty Raybon, CBP’s liaison to ICE for the Minnesota surge, told the judge.
Mr. Olson also listed other areas of Minnesota where he said ICE made arrests: Worthington, Austin, Willmar, Afton and Excelsior.
The drawdown was a black eye for President Trump, who had ordered the surge after complaining about massive fraud among immigrants in the Minneapolis area.
Things escalated as local officials called for resistance, and residents began to protest and tried to obstruct arrests.
Pretti’s death followed that of Renee Good, both on the watch of U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino, who had been overseeing surges in various cities in 2025.
After Pretti’s death, Chief Bovino was sent back to the border and Mr. Homan came in, promising a lower-key approach that sought cooperation from local authorities.
He said that’s been achieved and also denied that the drawdown was a retreat.
“President Trump made a promise of mass deportations and that’s what this country’s going to get,” he said as he announced the withdrawal on Feb. 12.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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