Border Czar Tom Homan says shift in strategy will lead to a drawdown of fed agents in Minneapolis
Homan said the withdrawal of federal agents "is dependent upon cooperation."
Saying "massive changes" are coming to Minneapolis, President Donald Trump's border czar Tom Homan announced on Thursday that he has reached agreements with local and state officials that would eventually "draw down" the number of federal agents in the city.
Homan, who Trump sent to Minneapolis on Monday to find a solution to the boiling tensions that have emerged in the wake of the fatal shootings by federal agents of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, said that immigration enforcement operations are going to be focused on targeting people who are threats to the safety of the community.
"We will conduct targeted enforcement operations -- targeted; what we've done for decades," Homan said. "When we hit the streets, we know exactly who we're looking for, have a good idea of where we may find them."
Homan said that he and State Attorney Gen. Keith Ellison reached a breakthrough when Ellison "clarified" that county jails may notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in advance of "criminal public safety risks" being released so ICE agents can take them into custody.
"We didn’t agree on everything. I didn’t expect to agree on anything," Homan said. "I’ve heard many people want to know why we’re talking to people who they don’t consider friends of the administration. Bottom line is, you can’t fix problems if you don’t have discussions."
Homan also said that Minnesota state prisons have already been notifying federal officials when undocumented immigrant inmates are about to be released and have agreed to expand on those protocols.
"Look, I’ve said this many times before, I’ve said it for the last several years, give us access to the illegal alien public safety threat in the safety and security of the jail," Homan said. "It's safer for the community, it's safer for the agent and it’s safer for the alien because anything can happen on a street arrest. It just makes common sense."
Homan added, "I didn't ask them to be immigration officers. I'm asking them to be cops working with cops to help us take criminal aliens off the street."
In a statement to ABC News on Thursday afternoon, Ellison said he did not make any agreements with Homan during their meeting.
"I did not negotiate with Mr. Homan, come to any agreement, or offer any compromise on the goal of keeping Minnesotans safe," Ellison said.
Ellison said he outlined relevant Minnesota law to Homan and "made clear that Minnesota will continue to follow the law. I also reiterated that in Minnesota, it is against the law to hold an incarcerated person solely on an ICE detainer if there is no other legal reason to hold them."
"I shared with him the existing state law that requires state and local authorities to share information with federal immigration authorities regarding non-citizens convicted of felonies," Ellison said. "I also explained that county sheriff's, not the attorney general, run country jails and are also covered by the same law."
Ellison added, "I did not make, and could not have made, any agreement with him about how sheriffs share with ICE information about people in their county jails."
Homan also said that police chiefs he has spoken to in recent days have committed to responding to 911 calls when "protesters turn violent, agents are in a dangerous situation and there is an assault."
"They have committed to upholding public safety and responding to the needs, not to enforce immigration law, but to keep the peace," Homan said.
The border czar said that once the agreements are in place, fewer federal agents will be needed in Minneapolis to enforce Trump's immigration enforcement mission.
He said one agent "can arrest one bad guy in the safety and security of a jail," as opposed to a team of 15 or 16 agents sent to make arrests in the field.
“And what happens is now we’ve got to arrest somebody on his turf, who has access to who knows what weapons. Now, we’ve got to send a whole team out to cover the back door, cover the front door," said Homan, adding that agents have also needed to be accompanied by security teams to protect them from violent protesters.
“More agents in the jail means less agents in the street," Homan said. "This is common-sense cooperation that allows us to draw down on the number of people we have here. Yes, I said it: draw down the number of people here because we have the efficiency, the safety of the jails and the prisons."
Homan did not give a timeline on when "Operation Metro Surge" in Minneapolis will end.
"The withdrawal of law enforcement resources here is dependent upon cooperation," Homan said, adding that ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials are working on a drawdown plan. "I'm staying 'til the problem's gone. But we've made a lot of progress, a lot of progress in the past few days. You're going to see massive changes here in the city."
He added that his "main focus" is on drawing down the number of federal agents in Minneapolis, acknowledging that the immigration enforcement operation has "not been perfect" and "causes stress in the community."
"The mission is going to improve because of the changes we're making internally," Homan said.
Asked by reporters if the shift in strategy will mean other undocumented immigrants will no longer be taken into custody, Homan said, "Prioritization of criminal aliens doesn't mean we forget about everybody else. That's just simply ridiculous."
Homan struck a different tone than CBP Commander-at-large Greg Bovino and even Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem -- saying he wanted to meet with state and local officials and community leaders.
"I didn't come to Minnesota for photo ops or headlines," Homan said. "You haven't seen me. I came here to seek solutions, and that's what we're going to do. And we come a long way, and we got some good wins for the people of Minnesota, I think, and for the administration and for the safety and security of the city."
When asked by ABC News on Wednesday about a possible shift in tone from the White House after he spoke with Trump earlier this week, Gov. Tim Walz said, "I'm not so interested in a shift in tone. We just need them out of here. We need accountability for what's happened."
Walz and other local officials have demanded independent investigations into the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti on Saturday and Renee Good on Jan. 7, both killed in confrontations with federal agents.
During his news conference, Homan defended federal agents, saying they are "performing duties in a challenging environment under tremendous circumstances."
"But they're trying to do it with professionalism," Homan said. "If they don't, they'll be dealt with. Like any other federal agency, we have standards of conduct."
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said during a speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C., on Thursday that he is "absolutely" hopeful federal forces would start to leave Minneapolis.
"We've had good, productive meetings with both President Trump, as well as border czar Homan. And what I will say is I believe we will see it," Frey said. "They have talked about drawing down numbers in terms of federal agents, ICE and border patrol in Minneapolis, and that's essential."
Responding to Trump's social media post on Wednesday that Frey was "playing with fire" by not enforcing federal immigration law, Frey said it was not his city's job and warned the mayors in the audience that their cities could be future targets.
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