White House border czar Tom Homan said Thursday, Jan. 29, that, after conversations with numerous political and law enforcement leaders in Minnesota, a plan is in the works to reduce the number of federal agents in the area.
That drawdown, Homan added, will require the cooperation of Minnesota law enforcement and political leaders with ICE and Customs and Border Protection.
“As we see that cooperation happen,” Homan said at a news conference at the Whipple Federal Building, “the redeployment will happen.”
President Donald Trump sent Homan to Minnesota earlier this week to manage immigration enforcement on the ground. Homan’s arrival comes after a second fatal shooting involving federal law enforcement in Minneapolis, igniting new criticism over the federal government’s heavy-handed approach.
Homan said that during the three days he has been in Minnesota he has had productive conversations about how to bring safety to the streets of Minneapolis in the wake of the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. He highlighted multiple times that immigration enforcement is easier if agents are given access to targets inside jails or prisons.
In order to have access to immigration enforcement targets inside of those facilities, Homan said state law enforcement will need to work with federal authorities.
Homan said he had conversations with the Minnesota Department of Corrections, police chiefs, county sheriffs and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison that will allow federal agents to have better access to illegal immigrants who have been arrested or convicted of a crime and are the targets of immigration enforcement while they are in county jails or being released from prison. Homan said that access should allow for less enforcement activity in the public.
He referred to it as “common-sense cooperation that lets us draw down on the number of people here.”
