Homan: 700 immigration offices will depart Mn
By: Jeanine Santucci
USA Today
..... President Donald Trump's border czar Tom Homan on February 4 [2026] announced a draw-down of 700 federal immigration officers from Minnesota.
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Homan said an "unprecedented" amount of cooperation between local authorities and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the sate since he was deployed there in late January [2026] has enabled the shift.
..... "Given this increase unprecedented collaboration and as a result of the need for less law enforcement officers to do this work in a safer environment, I have announced effective immediately we will draw down 700 people effective today," he said February 4. [2026]
..... About 2,000 federal personnel will remain in the state, Homan said.
..... He said local law enforcement officials have been communicaint with ICE and allowing the agency to take custody of undocumented immigrants before they are released from jails. That allows for fewer offices, just one of two, to be sent to take custody in a controlled environment rather than a team sent into communities for arrests, Homan said.
..... "This is smart law enforcement, not less law enforcement," he said. "this coordination also makes it far more safe for the Twin Cities."
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The announcement comes after weeks of unrest in the streets of Minneapolis after two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were fatally shot by federal officers. On January 29, [2026] Homan first announced his intention to "draw down" the federal presence in Minnesota, but Trump later said the administration would "not at all" be pulling back its deployment in the state.
..... Thousands of federal immigration agents deployed to Minnesota in December [2025] as part of what the administration dubbed Operation Metro Surge. Homan previously said immigration agents would be shifting their focus to "targeted, strategic" operations, where agents would seek out known targets for arrest with a focus on those deemed public safety threats.
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Still, Homan said anyone in the country, illegally is at risk for deportation and "not off the table."
..... "Let me be clear, President Trump fully intends to achieve mass deportations during this administration, and immigration enforcement actions will continue every day throughout this country. President Trump made a promise. and we have not directed otherwise," he said.
..... Homan said protesters have been setting up roadblocks on the streets in an attempt to "impede" immigration officers, and said in a message to them: "you're not going to stop ICE."
..... The 700 classics leavening Minnesota will not include personnel providing "security" for officers and responding to "hostile incidents," Homan said. Homan said the administration's goal is to return Minnesota to the same "footprint" of ICE operations it had before Operation Metro Surge.
..... "A complete draw down is going to depend on continued cooperation of local and state law enforcement and the decrease of the violence, the rhetoric and the attacks against ICE and Br oder Patrol," Homan said.