Trump's border czar says 'small' security force will remain in Minnesota after enforcement drawdown

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 2:27 PM EST, February 15, 2026


WASHINGTON (AP) — White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday that more than 1,000 immigration agents have left Minnesota’s Twin Cities area and hundreds more will depart in the days ahead as part of the Trump administration’s drawdown of its immigration enforcement surge.

A “small” security force will stay for a short period to protect remaining immigration agents and will respond “when our agents are out and they get surrounded by agitators and things got out of control,” Homan told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He did not define “small.” He also said agents will keep investigating fraud allegations as well as the anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a church service.

“We already removed well over 1,000 people, and as of Monday, Tuesday, we’ll remove several hundred more,” Homan said. “We’ll get back to the original footprint.”

Thousands of officers were sent to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “Operation Metro Surge.” The Department of Homeland Security said it was its largest immigration enforcement operation ever and proved successful. But the crackdown came under increasing criticism as the situation grew more volatile and two U.S. citizens were killed.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/homan-immigration-agents-minnesota-enforcement-operation-drawdown-5a7940eb9b5100d46efc33a97f524da0

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They need to REMOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE.

[Lovie777]

1. For what......

ICE is a danger to our society.

[Irish_Dem]

2. The US is becoming an occupied country.

Occupied by its own federal gestapo.
And paid for by the citizenry.

We are paying to be terrorized, kidnapped, murdered.

[Ocelot II]

3. Many are still here. They have moved most of their operations to the suburbs

where (at least for now) there are fewer observers and followers, so people can be taken more easily without ICE being seen or videoed. But the resistance isn't done either, just recalibrating. ICE needs to be gone, not just distributed elsewhere, and they need to pay reparations for the terrible damage they have done. Of course there is no real remedy for the deaths of two people and the trauma done to children, but I hope there are at least prosecutions in the future. And although the whole damn agency should be shut down before it can wreak the same disaster on other communities, that's not going to happen, so everybody had better get ready. If they aren't in your city yet, they will be.

[popsdenver]

6. Wonder where the

ICE STORM TROOPERS that are being removed are headed.......What Blue City/State is next??????

[Ocelot II]

8. An analysis of new leases suggests NY, NJ, PA and CA.

But many cities in other states are also on the list.

In documents viewed by WIRED, ICE has repeatedly outlined its expansion to cities around the US. The September memorandum citing “unusual and compelling urgency” for office expansion states that OPLA will be “expanding its legal operations” into Birmingham, Alabama; Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, and Tampa, Florida; Des Moines, Iowa; Boise, Idaho; Louisville, Kentucky; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Grand Rapids, Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; Raleigh, North Carolina; Long Island, New York; Columbus, Ohio; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Richmond, Virginia; Spokane, Washington and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The memorandum also states that the existing offices are at maximum capacity and will “require additional space” to accommodate the new employees hired. At the time, the memo states that OPLA had selected almost 1,000 attorneys to hire.

https://www.wired.com/story/ice-expansion-across-us-at-heres-where-its-going-next
https://archive.is/BQfRW

[efhmc]

4. Why? So they can ensure they still have the ability to harass and prosecute innocent people?

[sheshe2]

5. The Department of Homeland Security said it was its largest immigration enforcement operation ever and proved successful

Successful?
They murdered 2 American citizens.
Terrorized the city.
Disrupted schools and businesses.
Cost Minneapolis over $200 million.

That is a success?

[Ocelot II]

7. They claimed they arrested 4,000 people. How many of them were actual criminals?

They aren't telling. Nationally, only about 25% of all detainees had criminal records. And by "arrests" did they count everybody they dragged out to the Whipple building and hours or days later dumped out in the cold when they found out they were actually citizens? How many are still stuck there, waiting for their habeas petitions to be processed because the local US Attorney's office has been gutted by resignations? https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/us/ice-arrests-minnesota-courts.html?unlocked_article_code=1.MVA.dWX_.UeMJZfFvGp6V&smid=url-share

[OldBaldy1701E]

9. Yes, that is exactly whom they are counting.

Anyone that they touched is considered an 'arrest'.

Gotta love those padded numbers. Makes them feel all warm and fuzzy.

They don't care about the outcome of the cases. Hell, I just read an article in Reuters that said this regime has ignored 4,400 court orders.

Four thousand, four hundred certified and legally documented court orders.

They don't care. They are shipping people out even after the courts tell them not to. They are actively moving people around so that the courts cannot keep up, and absolutely no one has been held to account for any of it. NO one.

Why are we continuing to use the system that they don't care about to make them stop abusing the system that they don't care about?

It makes no sense to me.

[ificandream]

11. According to the CATO Institute, 73% detained had no criminal conviction.

Of people booked into ICE custody this fiscal year (since October 1, 2025):

Nearly three in four (73 percent) had no criminal conviction.
Nearly half had no criminal conviction nor even any pending criminal charges.
Only 8 percent had a violent or property criminal conviction.
Only 5 percent had a violent criminal conviction.
A majority of criminal convicts had vice, immigration, or traffic convictions.

https://www.cato.org/blog/5-ice-detainees-have-violent-convictions-73-no-convictions

FYI: The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank based in Washington, D.C., founded in 1977. It focuses on promoting individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace through research and public advocacy.

[progree]

10. At least 12 Twin Cities suburbs form coalition amid ICE surge, MPR, 2/4/26

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/02/04/at-least-12-twin-cities-suburbs-form-coalition-amid-ice-surge

A coalition of 12 mayors in Twin Cities suburbs are banding together to support each other and ask for economic support amid federal immigration activity. More cities are expected to join.

It’s called the Cities for Safe and Stable Communities and so far includes the cities of Bloomington, Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Columbia Heights, Eden Prairie, Edina, Golden Valley, Hopkins, Maplewood, Minnetonka, Richfield and St. Louis Park. It began with a few mayors getting together in December.

“It’s not just a Minneapolis issue,” said St. Louis Park Mayor Nadia Mohamed ((Somali American -progree))
and say it’s harmed trust with local law enforcement. In addition, the coalition worries about the economic fallout.

“From small business closures and workforce instability to housing insecurity, the damage weakens Minnesota’s entire economic engine,” the statement said.

[progree]

12. 'It's happening here': ICE turns quiet Minnesota suburbs into conflict zones

The Guardian, 2/12/26
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/12/ice-crackdown-minnesota-suburbs

In the denser urban core, dozens of observers often stream into the streets to document agents. In the suburbs, the response looks different: it’s more spread out, and in some places, more politically difficult.

Tom Homan, Donald Trump’s “border czar”, announced on Thursday that the federal surge in Minnesota would be ending, with agents being drawn down over the course of this week and next. But they will leave a trail of havoc throughout the state, and it’s unclear when people will feel comfortable resuming normal activities. The surge of immigration agents into Minnesota has left no part of the state unscathed.

. . .

In Minneapolis, the density of the city itself means that agents can quickly be outnumbered by observers on the streets. In suburban areas, rapid response covers larger geographic areas, and often people aren’t able to make it to a reported site of ICE activity until after agents have left.

Depending on the political makeup of an area, there are added dynamics at play: some in the community may agree with what ICE is doing, so those who are working to support immigrants must do so underground. Local governments may be helping behind the scenes but are not able to publicly make statements highlighting that work.

More....

===================================================

ICE moves out to the suburbs, The Verve, 2/13/26
https://www.theverge.com/policy/878713/ice-minnesota-dhs-suburbs
https://archive.ph/EP4Z9

.

. . The less densely populated areas outside the Twin Cities make it harder for protesters and observers to organize.
This was my sixth day in Minnesota and my first in Lakeville. After days of fruitlessly searching for ICE in Minneapolis, with Lety’s help, I spotted them within minutes of arriving in Lakeville. Lety has lived here her whole life. The reports from the cities had been chilling: ICE breaking people’s windows, shipping children off to jails in Texas. And it was happening here, too, she said. “You always hear about what’s happening in the city,” she told me, “and that’s great. But it’s like, please don’t forget about the suburbs!”

It’s not hard to see why ICE has expanded its reach beyond the Twin Cities. The qualities that have hindered ICE’s operation in Minneapolis and St. Paul — density and walkability; a large, almost exclusively left-of-center population — are absent here. In Minneapolis, I saw patrollers on nearly every street corner. It’s easy to gather for protests or come together to organize a mutual aid network. The sidewalks in Lakeville were deserted, as were the broad streets that led onto the highway. Had there been any bystanders, they may not have wanted to get involved.

“I hide my whistle under my clothes when I’m out in Lakeville,” Lety said. Not everyone in town is conservative — it’s closer to a 50/50 split — but unlike in the cities, it would be unwise to assume that everyone here is on the same side.

More...

[bluestarone]

13. Yea, probably the Lowest of low will stay