Readers Write: Tom Homan, future ICE enforcement, Minneapolis police, Cities Church protest

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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I watched border czar Tom Homan’s news conference with a mixture of disbelief and disgust. He claims Operation Metro Surge won’t end until Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested the undocumented criminals allegedly remaining here.

You claim 41 years of experience in immigration enforcement, Tom? I only worked at ICE for six years, but even I know you have no one to blame but yourself — and your boss — for the fact that these individuals remain at large.

Instead of focusing on those with criminal records from the start, your roaming band of thugs spent the surge rounding up legal immigrants, children, elderly U.S. citizens and refugees. Instead of a targeted operation focused on real threats, your agents paraded through our peaceful neighborhoods like stars of some depraved G.I. Joe reality show.

What do criminals do when they see law enforcement coming, Tom? They run. They hide. And in this case, they had ample warning from your brigade of goons. Even if some remain in Minneapolis, your untrained misfits couldn’t find them with a map and a compass.

By your own metrics, Operation Metro Surge will never end — but not because of the brave souls defending their neighbors. It is because you are too hapless to locate actual threats to public safety. You bungled this from the start, and you need to get out — now.

Leah Phifer, Minneapolis

The writer formerly worked for ICE and the FBI.

Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino has left Minnesota, but thus far we’ve seen little evidence that the immigration crackdown has ramped down here. Part of what has made this occupation so harrowing has been the sheer number of federal agents who have descended upon us. As many of us demand that they withdraw for our community’s safety, we must also insist that they not take their reckless and lawless approach with them to their next targeted communities or to their hometowns. Regardless of where these thousands of federal immigration agents eventually go, they will still be our problem as Americans if they continue to trample on civil rights and strive for xenophobic arrest and deportation quotas.

Dan Gilchrist, Minneapolis

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Let’s start by looking at Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House adviser Stephen Miller. Before either of them were in the administration, they were trolls. By now we’ve probably all had experience with trolls. They’re often found hanging out in the comments section, attacking other posters or trying to gaslight people. They’re an online annoyance for sure, one most of us try to avoid. Minneapolis ’26 is what happens when we appoint trolls to Cabinet positions, and two civilians are dead.

Put trolls in charge of vast government powers, and all of a sudden they’re able to attack not only virtually, but in the real world. And if anyone complains, well, they’re all radical extremists.

Never mind where I stand on the issues (as my wife will tell you, I’m no fan of Minnesota Democrats). The last few weeks have been a horrifying ordeal I hope we never see the likes of again. But the trolls are still under the bridge, waiting for another chance to attack.

Dan Beck, Lake Elmo

I’m seeing that Minneapolis’ police culture and interactions with the public are much better, and the department deserves credit for that now. The other day, my wife and I went to 27th Street and Nicollet Avenue to pay our respects to Alex Pretti. Disrupting the solemn mood of the hundreds gathered around the makeshift memorial was a disturbed man who erupted into loud, accusatory shouting about something. I headed toward him in hopes of engaging him in a quiet, empathetic conversation.

As a lifelong resident, I couldn’t help but notice the difference from how it was. Deep-voiced orders and aggressive body language were often how crowds were interacted with. In the daytime place for homeless and low-income people where I volunteer, when police need to be called, they come in with a calm presence. Our community members are not being triggered.

I see the de-escalation training and change of culture is taking hold, and things are done better. My compliments to the police officers for their impressive de-escalation skills and Minneapolis for how far we’ve come with changing our police culture. These are very tough times because of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement invasion, but I am feeling hopeful for our city’s future nonetheless.

Paul Rozycki, Minneapolis

I live in St. Paul, not far from Cities Church, where David Easterwood, acting St. Paul field director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, serves as a pastor. There are many violations of religious liberty happening in our state today, but the protest on Jan. 18 was not one of them.

I’ve been standing outside the mosque in my neighborhood on Fridays, keeping watch for the feds because they’ve been terrorizing the people who worship there, and who are nearly all citizens. I have friends working with immigrant churches who are trying to get supplies to members who are hiding in their homes. Immigration officers have waited outside houses of worship to harass worshipers. Pastors have been arrested, gassed and harassed for standing up to ICE.

So, no, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for a church that got noisily but nonviolently called out for having a man doing monstrous things on the staff, and it is shameful that they will not deal with the log in their own eye and are instead demanding that others be punished by the state to protect their hypocrisy.

Justin Kolb, St. Paul

Arresting Don Lemon? Really? (“Journalists Georgia Fort, Don Lemon among 4 arrested over protest during St. Paul church service,” Jan. 30.) Note to President Donald Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House adviser Stephen Miller: When you find yourself in a Bruce Springsteen song, it’s time to cut your losses.

Meg Luhrs, St. Croix Falls, Wis.

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