by Harold Hutchison
Border czar Tom Homan announced Wednesday that “unprecedented cooperation” from state and local authorities in Minnesota will allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to withdraw 700 federal law enforcement personnel.
The surge of hundreds of law enforcement personnel to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area by DHS became controversial following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by DHS agents in January during confrontations between federal agents and so-called “rapid response networks” opposed to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Homan said that by arresting illegal aliens with criminal records at jails, fewer agents were needed.
“Given this increase in 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,” Homan said.
Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis initially declared that police would not cooperate with the operation during an interview with WCCO, a CBS-affiliated TV station in the city, that aired Dec. 7.
“We currently have an unprecedented number of counties communicating with us now and allowing ICE to take custody of illegal aliens before they hit the streets,” Homan said. “Unprecedented cooperation, and I’ll say it again, this is efficient. It requires only one or two officers to assume custody of a criminal alien target rather than eight or ten officers going into the community and arresting that public safety threat.”
“This frees up more officers to arrest or remove criminal aliens,” Homan said. “More officers taking custody of criminal aliens directly from the jails means less officers on the street doing criminal operations. This is smart law enforcement, not less law enforcement. It’s safer for the community, safer for the officers and safer for the alien.”
President Donald Trump declared he would end “Temporary Protected Status” for Somalis in Minnesota on Nov. 22, days after City Journal reported on welfare fraud centered among Somali migrants in the state.
In Minnesota, at least one so-called “rapid response network” monitors ICE vehicles, shares their locations, and calls for support to interact with agents—actions that sometimes result in physical confrontations, according to Fox News Digital. A foundation with ties to left-wing activist George Soros donated over $3.3 million to the groups behind the anti-ICE rioting.
A Daily Caller News Foundation reporter was assaulted by anti-ICE rioters near a makeshift roadblock, which Minneapolis police later cleared. During the press conference, Homan noted over 150 people had been arrested for impeding ICE agents.
The DHS announced on Tuesday that it had arrested criminal illegal aliens in Minnesota who were alleged terrorists, child abusers, thieves, and drug traffickers.
“Despite a lack of cooperation from sanctuary politicians, DHS law enforcement continues arresting criminal illegal aliens in Minnesota including terrorists, child abusers, thieves, and drug traffickers in Minnesota,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “We need Minnesota sanctuary politicians to let us into their jails to arrest these vicious criminals instead of releasing them and allowing them to create more victims. ICE has more than 1,360 active detainers for criminals in Minnesota jails. We are once again calling on Minnesota’s sanctuary politicians to commit to turning these criminals over to ICE.”
In Minnesota, federal law enforcement officers arrested more than 4,000 criminal illegal aliens since President Donald J. Trump launched Operation Metro Surge.
“President Trump’s commonsense immigration enforcement policies are delivering the public safety results the American people demanded, with more than 4,000 dangerous criminal illegal aliens already arrested in Minnesota since Operation Metro began. Democrats opened our borders and allowed vicious criminals, including murderers, rapists, gang members, and terrorists, to invade our communities,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated.
“At President Trump’s direction, Tom Homan’s commitment to draw down forces in Minneapolis today follows these achievements and the new, unprecedented cooperation from state and local officials in Minnesota. Commitments like these from elected officials to work with the President and federal law enforcement produce tremendous outcomes that help keep Americans safe,” she added.
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Harold Hutchison is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
