U.S. President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said on Thursday that a significant drawdown of immigration enforcement agents in Minnesota was underway and that he had proposed and Trump had agreed that the surge there should end. Under Operation Metro Surge, Trump had deployed about 3,000 armed immigration agents by late January to deport migrants in Minnesota.
I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude,” Homan told reporters at a press conference. A week ago, Homan announced that about 700 out of 3,000 immigration agents would be withdrawn. He said on Thursday that many of the remaining agents deployed from other states would be sent home in the coming week, citing in part what he called “unprecedented” coordination with local law enforcement agencies in Minnesota. Before the surge, about 150 immigration agents worked in Minnesota.