Border czar Tom Homan’s arrival in Minnesota signals a shift by the Trump administration

President Donald Trump is deploying his border czar to Minneapolis as a political crisis grows over his administration’s immigration enforcement tactics, a move viewed by many Republicans as an effort to calm tensions in Minnesota.

Trump’s man for the job is Tom Homan, who is in charge of the country’s borders and the president’s deportation efforts.

Homan is expected to be the main point of contact on the ground, the White House said, a role previously led in part by Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino.

Bovino’s style had drawn criticism in recent weeks, including his assertion that Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal agents Jan. 24, was intent on massacring law enforcement. His comments have been widely criticized for lacking evidence and is drawing bipartisan backlash, including from gun rights advocates.

Homan is viewed by some commentators as less inflammatory, and news of his assignment to Minnesota coincided with reports that Bovino and some federal immigration agents will be pulled back from the state.

Walz spoke with Trump on Jan. 26 and the two discussed the possibility of reducing the number of agents in Minnesota. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also spoke with Trump and said he told him some agents will begin leaving the city on Tuesday.

The White House referred the Minnesota Star Tribune to Trump’s Truth Social post on his meeting with Frey when asked about the mayor’s post that some federal agents are leaving Minnesota.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that Homan “knows and likes many of the people” in Minnesota and is “tough but fair” and will report directly to the president.

National news outlets have reported that Homan and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have been fierce rivals within the Trump administration. Noem has been a prominent figure in the administration’s response to the immigration crackdown. She has faced criticism for saying Pretti’s actions fit the definition of domestic terrorism.

When ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier in January, Homan initially declined to comment, and later in an interview on 60 Minutes called for the investigation to play out. That was in contrast to Noem, Vice President JD Vance and others who immediately said the shooting was a justified act of self defense.

Samsundar said Homan on 60 Minutes was “very measured, very even-keeled … in a way that nobody else was.”

U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, the highest ranking Republican in the Minnesota delegation, reacted on social media to the announcement by saying Homan would “help end the chaos in Minnesota.”

Homan was initially appointed to ICE in 2013 by then-President Barack Obama, and he briefly ran ICE during Trump’s first term. He has favored an aggressive deportation campaign.

Last year, Homan was in the middle of a controversy over the government’s effort to deport Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador. He was also a key figure in pushing a massive budget increase for border security spending.

He denied reports last year that he took $50,000 from undercover agents as part of an FBI sting. That lead to a bribery investigation that was later shut down by the Department of Justice. MS Now reported the money from Homan was in a bag from CAVA, a restaurant chain serving Mediterranean food.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Jan. 26 that Homan’s deployment to Minnesota should not be seen as a sign that Trump is dissatisfied with how officials on the ground have handled immigration enforcement.

Instead, Leavitt said that Homan is in a “unique position to drop everything and go to Minnesota to continue having these productive conversations with state and local officials.”

“This includes Renee Good, Alex Pretti, the brave men and women of federal law enforcement and the many Americans who have been victimized at the hands of illegal alien criminals,” she said.

Sydney Kashiwagi and Ryan Faircloth of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.