Trump's 'border czar' announces the end of ICE's massive operation in Minnesota

WashingtonThe massive anti-immigration operation that has plagued Minnesota since December and resulted in the deaths of two US citizens has ended, officials announced Thursday. border czarThomas Homan. "I proposed it and President Trump agreed to end this operation," the official said at a press conference in Minneapolis.

"As a result of our efforts, Minnesota is no longer so much a sanctuary state for criminals," Homan stated. The "efforts" in question involved more than two months of large-scale raids in the Twin Cities—Minneapolis and Saint Paul—that resulted in 4,000 arrests. a campaign of terror against the neighbors and the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of immigration agents. Good was recording ICE agents conducting a traffic stop when one of the agents opened fire on her as she maneuvered her car to leave. Pretti was shot and killed while a group of federal agents pinned him to the ground during one of the massive protests in the city.

Homan has not given details of how this withdrawal will take place. There are still about 2,000 immigration agents in the city, after last week's withdrawal. About 700 will be removed. At its peak deployment, there were up to 3,000 ICE and Border Patrol agents. Despite the insecurity and terror unleashed in Minneapolis, the border czar He defended the operation as a way to make the city "safer." Of the 4,000 detainees Homan mentions, the actual percentage of criminals is still unknown, but according to a CBS review, of the 400,000 people arrested by ICE this year, only 14% had prior criminal records.

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The withdrawal of troops could also allow them to be redeployed to other states where other raids are being conducted, such as Maine, where the Department of Homeland Security announced the start of the operation a few weeks ago. Catch of the dayAfter the recruitment campaign of Last year the ICE already had 22,000 personnel, Although many of the new agents are not yet on the streets because they must undergo training, the duration of which has been drastically reduced to expedite their deployment.

The conclusion of the massive anti-immigration operation in Minnesota does not mean that ICE activities will disappear on the ground. In fact, ICE has always been working throughout the country, but with a lower profile and a different strategy. Trump has not only turned the agency into his own armed wing, but he has also ordered these kinds of massive deployments with the aim of demonstrating force and intimidating Democratic strongholds. The paramilitary brutality has occurred in broad daylight, partly because it was one of the effects the president sought. Although he probably did not count on the tension reaching the point of killing two Americans. With the arrival in Minnesota of Homan, a more conservative figure in terms of strategy who also worked under the Barack Obama administration, the aim is to reduce aggression and visibility.

The concession compensates the Trump administration because, as Homan has explained, they have managed to get Minnesota authorities to cooperate. Beyond carrying out the campaign of mass deportations, one of the major underlying objectives of ICE's large-scale raids has been to dismantle sanctuary cities and states: places where local and state police do not cooperate with immigration enforcement. In practical terms, this means that if an undocumented person is identified or arrested for a minor offense, they are not handed over to ICE to enter the deportation process, but are released after serving their sentence.

Since Homan took charge of the situation in Minneapolis, this has been the objective: to force cooperation with county sheriffs and state prisons to hand over the migrants. Homan now claims this has been achieved, although local authorities have not confirmed it, nor have they released a list of the police stations that have agreed to cooperate. Before the large-scale operation began, it was already routine in Minnesota for state prisons to hand over undocumented immigrants who had completed their sentences for criminal cases. The law mandates it. Last year, state prisons turned over 84 immigrants to ICE, but Trump insisted they were not cooperating.

The de-escalation in Minnesota follows the wave of nationwide outrage over the murders of Pretti and Good, as well as the images of police brutality that have gone viral. However, the withdrawal of officers will shift the focus away from Minneapolis, while much remains to be resolved. yes, there will be independent investigations about the murders of both citizens.