'Border Czar' Tom Homan Holds Press Conference
"I Recommended Ending the Operation to Trump... The President Agreed"
Federal Agents Being Drawn Down in Minnesota
Public Opinion Sours After Two Americans Are Shot Dead
Trump, Feeling the Political Burden, Ultimately Ends the Crackdown
Homan Tom, the "border czar" and the Trump administration's top immigration enforcement official, held a press conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on the 12th (local time) to announce the end of a large-scale immigration enforcement operation. Photo by AP Yonhap
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump announced on the 12th (local time) that it is ending an intensive immigration enforcement operation that had been underway in Minnesota. Earlier, public opinion had soured after two civilians in Minneapolis, Minnesota, were shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
According to foreign media reports that day, Tom Homan, the Trump administration's chief immigration enforcement official known as the "border czar," held a press conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and said, "Thanks to our efforts, Minnesota has now moved further away from being regarded by criminals as a 'sanctuary state,'" adding, "I recommended to President Trump that this operation be ended, and the president agreed."
Homan explained, "The (federal agents) staffing level has already been reduced substantially this week, and this will continue into next week."
The Trump administration launched the "Metro Surge Operation" in December last year and deployed about 3,000 federal enforcement agents across Minnesota to step up its crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
In the process, an incident occurred last month in which two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretty, were killed by gunfire from immigration enforcement agents. As public criticism mounted, President Trump urgently dispatched Homan to Minnesota on the 26th of last month in an attempt to contain the fallout. Triggered by the successive civilian deaths, protests against anti-immigration policies spread not only in Minnesota but across the country.
More than 4,000 people were arrested in this large-scale immigration enforcement operation centered on the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area in Minnesota. The Trump administration stated that those arrested were "undocumented immigrants with dangerous criminal records," but many people without criminal records, as well as children and U.S. citizens, were also believed to have been detained, the Associated Press reported.
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