Border czar Tom Homan declares end to Minnesota immigration crackdown

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Feb 12, 2026

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Border czar Tom Homan on Thursday declared an end to President Donald Trump’s tumultuous Minneapolis immigration crackdown and claimed victory despite the killings of two U.S. citizens by immigration agents in recent weeks.

The tough-talking immigration boss called the unpopular operation a “great success” after arresting at least 4,000 undocumented immigrants and lowering the temperature with local law enforcement.

“We’ve had great success and we’re leaving Minnesota safer,” Homan said.

Homan said Trump approved the total drawdown of about remaining 2,000 Immigration Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol officers from the flashpoint city. Control of deportation operations will be turned back over to a local field office.

“Operation Metro Surge is ending,” Homan said. “We’re going to continue to enforce immigration law. But we have to prioritize the criminals.”

Homan heaped praise on Trump and insisted his mass deportation campaign would continue across the country and in Minnesota, despite polls showing it is increasingly unpopular.

But there was no way to sugarcoat that the move amounted to a significant retreat after weeks of confrontation and pugnacious rhetoric aimed at Democratic officials, protesters and immigrants.

Democrats quickly declared victory in the high-stakes battle over Trump’s immigration policies that has spilled into the streets of American cities.

“Minnesotans stood together, stared down ICE, and never blinked,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, who is running for governor.

Nearly 3,000 agents flooded into Minnesota in January on Trump’s orders, sparking widespread disruption and fierce opposition from opponents of his mass deportation push in the heavily Democratic city.

With few legal guardrails, masked agents aggressively hunted down undocumented immigrant and took on demonstrators in Minneapolis who followed ICE agents and documented what they called abuses.

An ICE officer shot and killed unarmed motorist Renee Good on Jan. 7. Two Border Patrol agents killed protester Alex Pretti on Jan. 30 after he tried to protect a fellow protester.

Federal officials backed the agents who carried out the killings, branded the victims as “domestic terrorists” and have so far refused to mount any independent investigation of either killings.

In an initial sign that Trump planned to step back from the confrontation, he sent Homan, a professional career immigration official, to take over for Greg Bovino, an outspoken hardline Border Patrol official who seemed to relish skirmishes with critics.

Homan quickly ordered a drawdown of about 25% of the agents in Minnesota and said he would order the operation to focus on “targeted enforcement” like arrests of immigrants with criminal records instead of random sweeps of law-abiding undocumented immigrants.

The “mission accomplished” press conference by Homan comes as Democratic congressional leaders threaten to withhold support for a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security unless Trump and Republicans agree to rein in the mass deportation operation.

The standoff could result in a partial government shutdown if a deal is not reached by Friday.

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