XPost: mn.politics, alt.law-enforcement, alt.politics.republicans   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics   
   From: noreply@mixmin.net   
      
   Tom Homan said his goal is to get back to about 150 federal agents in   
   the state, but 2,000 remain. He tied the total drawdown to the end of   
   aggression against federal agents by community members.   
      
   By Jeff Day   
      
   The Minnesota Star Tribune   
   February 4, 2026 at 7:13AM   
      
   Border Czar Tom Homan speaks to the press regarding reducing federal   
   agents by 700 during a press conference at the Whipple Federal Building   
   in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Feb. 4. (Elizabeth Flores/The Minnesota   
   Star Tribune)   
      
   White House border czar Tom Homan said Wednesday, Feb. 4, that after   
   getting unprecedented cooperation from Minnesota political and law   
   enforcement leaders, the Trump administration is withdrawing 700 federal   
   law enforcement personnel from the state “effective today.”   
      
   Homan then said that if Minnesotans want to end Operation Metro Surge   
   and see the other 2,000 agents who remain in the state leave, activists   
   must stop “impeding” Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and   
   Border Protection agents from doing their job.   
      
   “Protest, but stop impeding,” Homan said. “Because we will arrest you.”   
      
   “I will not let our officers be put at risk,” Homan added.   
      
   The shift in focus to protesters as the primary impediment to the end of   
   Operation Metro Surge came a week after Homan said the primary hurdle   
   was access to county jails.   
      
   Homan said the removal of the 700 agents was a direct result of   
   Minnesota counties giving federal officers better access to county   
   jails. It was unclear whether jails, including the Hennepin County jail,   
   which the Trump administration has targeted, will actually change   
   anything — or whether this is a political solution allowing various   
   interests to save face while de-escalating.   
      
   Several Democratic leaders including Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor   
   Jacob Frey and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison welcomed the   
   news of the reduction of agents but said as long as Operation Metro   
   Surge remains, public safety is compromised in Minnesota.   
      
   Walz’s office called for a speedier drawdown, state-led investigations   
   into the federal killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and “an end to   
   this campaign of retribution.”   
      
   Still, Homan painted a picture of robust cooperation. He said of all the   
   requests he has made of state officials to cooperate with the Trump   
   administration — including from Walz, Frey and Ellison — he has yet to   
   hear them answer, “No.”   
      
   “I’m actually amazed at the cooperation and agreements we have already   
   talked about,” Homan said. “And the willingness to work with us.”   
      
   Homan said if cooperation continues, his plan is to pull out all   
   additional federal agents from Minnesota and return to the “normal   
   operational footprint” of 150 border patrol agents who are permanently   
   stationed here.   
      
   After Homan’s news conference, White House press secretary Karoline   
   Leavitt praised his ability to secure partnerships with Minnesota   
   counties and said the White House would continue to monitor them for   
   compliance as “one of the conditions President Trump set for a   
   drawdown.”   
      
   Shortly after, Leavitt said that 4,000 “criminal illegal aliens” had   
   been detained since the start of Operation Metro Surge. Federal agencies   
   have refused to release full lists of names of those detained, and the   
   Minnesota Star Tribune has not independently confirmed that number.   
      
   Anti-ICE actions targeted   
   As protestors chanted, held signs and blew whistles outside the Whipple   
   Federal Building on Wednesday morning, Homan spoke inside about how the   
   drawdown now rested on the shoulders of Minnesota’s citizens.   
      
   He said that in the past month 158 people have been arrested for   
   assaulting, impeding or interfering with federal officers and several   
   have been prosecuted, including nine people for their role in an   
   anti-ICE demonstration in a St. Paul church service Jan. 18.   
      
   He pointed to roadblocks erected in Minneapolis last weekend as part of   
   the problem. The barricades on Cedar Avenue in south Minneapolis were   
   ultimately cleared by a Minneapolis Public Works team with the help of   
   Minneapolis police.   
      
      
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