Trump border security chief Homan doubles down on Minnesota operations

Tom Homan, United States President Donald Trump’s so-called “border czar”, on Thursday indicated a shift in immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota, but doubled down on the administration’s efforts to crack down on undocumented migrants despite mounting protests.

Speaking during a news conference from the Midwestern state, where he was sent after immigration enforcement officers killed two US citizens this month, Homan suggested he would seek to cooperate with local officials — who have opposed federal agents’ conduct towards immigrants and protesters.

Still, he largely placed the blame of recent escalations on the administration of former US President Joe Biden and the policies of local officials, saying that more cooperation would lead to less outrage and potentially a “drawdown” in federal agents.

“I’m staying until the problem’s gone,” Homan told reporters on Thursday, adding the Trump administration had promised and will continue to target individuals that constitute “public safety threats and national security threats”, while adding that those in the country without documentation are “never off the table”.

“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.”

While Homan portrayed the approach as business as usual, immigration observers have said the administration has increasingly used dragnet strategies in an effort to meet increased detention quotas.

State and local law enforcement officials last week even detailed that many of their off-duty officers had been randomly stopped and asked for their papers. They noted that all those stopped were people of colour.

On the campaign trail, Trump had promised to target only “criminals”, but shortly after taking office, White House spokesperson said it considered anyone in the country without documentation to have committed a crime.

Homan pledged to continue meeting with local and state officials, hailing early “progress” even as differences remain. He highlighted a meeting with the State Attorney General Keith Ellison in which he “clarified for me that county jails may notify ICE of the release dates of criminal public safety risks so ICE can take custody”.

It remained unclear if the announcement represented a policy change. Minnesota has no explicit state laws preventing authorities from cooperating with ICE and the state’s prisons have a long track record of coordinating with immigration officials on individuals convicted of crimes.

County jails typically coordinate based on their own discretion.

Homan said more cooperation with local officials would allow “us to draw down on the number of people we have here”, adding ICE and border patrol staff were drawing up plans for such a drawdown.

Trump sent Homan to replace Greg Bovino, the top border patrol official, who was sent to the state as part of a massive enforcement operation, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, that has sparked widespread protests.

Homand hinted at internal changes, but did not provide further details, just saying “no agency or organisation is perfect”.

“President Trump and I, along with others in the administration, have recognised that certain improvements could and should be made. That’s exactly what I’m doing here,” he said.

“I want to make it clear ICE  and [border patrol] officers are performing their duties in a challenging environment, under tremendous circumstances,” he said. “They’re trying to do it with professionalism. If they don’t, they’ll be dealt with. Like any other federal agency, we have standards of conduct.”

Homan later added that: “I don’t want to see anybody die — not officers, not members of the community and not the targets of our operation”.

Local officials have been pushing for independent state investigations into the killing of Good and Pretti, which have so far been blocked by the administration.

Critics have voiced concerns over Trump administration officials’ immediate claims that both Good and Pretti were threatening lethal force, long before any investigation had been conducted.

The Trump administration announced earlier this week that two border patrol officers involved in Pretti’s killing had been placed on administrative leave.

Meanwhile, Democrats in the US Senate have threatened to force a government shutdown over Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding if safeguards are not built in to restrain the conduct of immigration agents.