The Trump administration announced the removal of 700 immigration officers from Minnesota following nationwide outrage over deadly enforcement operations, though federal officials said immigration raids and deportations will continue.
The administration of President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that it would pull back around 700 federal immigration officers from Minnesota following weeks of intensive enforcement operations that have drawn nationwide criticism and protests after two demonstrators were fatally shot.
Despite the drawdown, senior administration official Tom Homan said the controversial deployment in Minneapolis would continue, with roughly 2,000 immigration officers set to remain in the state. Minneapolis has emerged as a focal point of the Trump administration’s push for mass deportations.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, described the move as progress but urged Washington to accelerate the shutdown of the federal immigration surge in the state.
Homan, who was appointed to oversee operations in Minneapolis after mounting backlash over the shootings and disputed official accounts of the incidents, said the reduction would take effect immediately. He attributed the move to increased cooperation with local law enforcement agencies.
Explaining the decision, Homan said there are now “more officers taking custody of criminal aliens directly from the jails” rather than detaining them on the streets – efforts that require fewer personnel.
Before the launch of sweeping immigration operations, there were only 150 federal immigration officers in the state.
Homan also stressed he would not be leaving Minneapolis – which has become a major flashpoint in Trump’s overall immigration policy – “until we get it all done.”
‘Bloodshed’
“President Trump fully intends to achieve mass deportations during this administration, and immigration enforcement actions will continue every day throughout this country,” Homan said.
He also took aim at “extreme rhetoric” against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel, saying: “I said back in March of this year, if the hateful rhetoric didn’t stop, I was afraid there would be bloodshed, and there has been.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Fry welcomed the reduction in federal personnel but said in a post on X taht the US immigration operation in Minneapolis – dubbed Metro Surge – must end “immediately.”
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz took a similar stance, calling for a “faster and larger drawdown of forces” and state-led investigations into the two deadly shootings in Minneapolis.
Federal agents shot and killed unarmed Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman, as she attempted to drive away from an ICE enforcement operation last month, triggering protests and criticism from civil rights groups and local officials.
Another Minneapolis resident, intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, also 37, was beaten and shot dead by federal agents as he lay pinned to the ground in an incident two weeks later.
Both victims were US citizens. The killings drew international attention and condemnation over the government’s false accounts of what happened, intensifying public concern about the conduct of federal immigration operations.
Following outcry over the shootings, Trump withdrew combative Customs and Border Protection commander Gregory Bovino and replaced him with the more policy-focused Homan, who pledged to draw down the operation with conditions.
With inputs from agencies
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