Minn. Immigration Crackdown Ends: 'We've Seen a Big Change Here'

White House border czar Tom Homan on Thursday, Feb. 12, announced the end of Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota that began in December.

Homan called the operation a success, announcing that federal immigration agents will draw down over the next week and be redeployed to other parts of the United States.

“A significant draw down has already been underway this week and will continue to the next week,” Homan said at an early morning news conference, adding, “we have a lot of work to do across this country to remove public safety risks.”

Demonstrations against ICE have been a near-constant presence in the Twin Cities since the operation began, with the blaring sound of whistles surrounding agents’ activities. The fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in January fueled the demonstrations, which Homan said at times veered into illegal impeding of law enforcement.

Homan also thanked local leaders for their cooperation, including Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, for calling for peaceful demonstrations and responding to barricades that popped up in recent days.

“I’m very pleased to report that this surge operation and our work here with state and local officials to improve coordination, and achieve mutual goals, as well as our efforts to address issues of concern here on the ground have yielded the successful results we came here for in the Twin Cities,” Homan said.

Homan also thanked Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara and Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt for their “responsiveness and efforts to maintain law and order in the streets.”

“We’ve seen a big change here in the last couple of weeks,” he said. “And it’s all good changes.”

Homan praised the Trump administration’s immigration operations in Minnesota, saying the surge has resulted in taking violent criminals off the streets. Homan claimed that more than 4,000 arrests had been made during the operation, though that number is nearly impossible to independently verify. ICE has refused to release information or provide names of all those detained.

“I’m very pleased to report that this surge operation and our work here with state and local officials to improve coordination, and achieve mutual goals, as well as our efforts to address issues of concern here on the ground have yielded the successful results we came here for in the Twin Cities,” Homan said.

Homan said the immigration operations have “greatly reduced” the number of targets of Operation Metro Surge and weakened Minnesota’s sanctuary policies. He said he’s directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to various areas in the state to respond when sheriffs offices release detainees.

Homan said a small team of federal agents will remain in Minnesota, in part to tamp down what he called “agitator activity” and to prosecute protesters who have been charged. Federal officials investigating social services fraud in Minnesota, which kicked off the immigration surge in the first place, will also remain “until their work is done,” Homan said.

“I will remain on the ground for a little longer to oversee the drawdown,” he said.

Homan did not share any update on a state and federal investigation into the shooting death of Pretti. Last week, sources told the Minnesota Star Tribune that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) was set to announce a “path forward” for a joint investigation with the FBI and Department of Justice into the fatal shooting. The deal, however, has not materialized.

___________________

©2026 The Minnesota Star Tribune.

Visit startribune.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC