Homan Vows to 'Draw Down' ICE Agents in Minnesota
Tom Homan said agents will shift to targeted enforcement and 'draw down' street presence amid backlash after two recent fatal shootings.
Overview
Tom Homan, the White House border czar, told reporters on Thursday he will "draw down the number of people we have here," shifting to "more agents in the jail, less agents in the street" to focus on targeted enforcement.
An internal ICE memo circulating within the agency directs officers to refrain from unnecessary engagement with "agitators" and to target immigrants with criminal charges or convictions, a shift from earlier random street stops, agency officials said.
Homan said he met with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and described the talks as "productive," while Walz and Frey have publicly denounced Operation Metro Surge and demanded its end, marking conflicting accounts between federal and local leaders.
The federal surge, called Operation Metro Surge, deployed about 3,000 ICE and Border Patrol agents to the Twin Cities and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said agents arrested 16 people on Wednesday; U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz wrote that ICE violated at least 96 court orders in 74 cases this month.
Homan is set to address the media Thursday and report back to the White House, while U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim issued a temporary restraining order related to refugees and Senate Democrats have outlined demands for use-of-force reforms and independent investigations, setting up possible legal and legislative clashes.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources frame the story around legality and accountability, foregrounding judicial findings, restraining orders, and victims’ deaths while treating Trump’s statements skeptically. They emphasize court rulings and expert legal analysis, highlight ICE violations and Democratic reform demands, and downplay or omit sympathetic federal-law-enforcement justifications, shaping a narrative of federal overreach.