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The Donald Trump administration is cutting the number of immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota, where two local residents were shot and killed by federal officers last month, border czar Tom Homan said Wednesday.
About 700 federal agents will be removed from immigration operations across Minnesota, Homan said in a press release. It was sent to a Midwestern state last week by local officials and citizens protesting what they say are heavy-handed tactics from federal agents, which have resulted in the deaths of two US citizens.
Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot and killed by an ICE officer. Alex Pretty, 37, a critical care nurse, was shot by two Border Patrol agents on January 24. Among the dead was a federal officer who shot another resident in the leg.
About 3,000 federal officers have been deployed across the state as part of Operation Metro Surge, which began in early December. Homan said those who go without specifying specific numbers include a “mix” of officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ISA) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
He argued that it was necessary because the federal government was trying to keep criminal immigrants off the streets and that federal efforts were hampered by state and local “sanctuary laws and policies.”
“We got a lot of bad guys off the street. Everybody should be thankful for that,” Homan said.
Homan, who served in Trump’s first administration, highlighted the incarceration of people accused of serious crimes without permission to be in the US.
Democrats want changes
After the fatal shooting, many Trump administration officials sought to portray the shooting as justified, painting Goode and Pretty as activists who would stop officers from doing their jobs. Several videos of the attack contradict some of the claims.
It was only this week that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Nom He announced that all ICE and CBP officers on the ground will be issued with body-worn cameras To help provide accountability.
The siblings of Renee Goode, 37, who was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis last month, testified on the congressional floor Tuesday. Luke Granger says what’s going on in the city is ‘completely justified’, adding: “It’s not just a bad day or a bad week or isolated incidents.”
Democrats have called for changes to the Trump administration’s handling of immigration enforcement. Congress is debating new rules for ICE and CBP officers amid the Trump administration’s second round of immigration efforts, following last year’s deadly Chicago shootings and two deadly Minneapolis shootings.
But it’s not clear whether the president or enough congressional Republicans agree to any of the Democrats’ big demands, which include requiring officers to hide and reveal their identities and obtain warrants in specific cases.
An incident involving the drawing of a gun
Homan said Wednesday that the “absolute reduction” in the number of officers that preceded the operation was based on the end of what he called operations targeting ICE officers, including road closures.
He said there are about 160 cases of people accused of intimidating and obstructing federal officials.
Although Homan come and remember The division’s high-profile commander, Greg Bovino US Border Patrol tensions remain high in Minnesota.
On Tuesday, immigration officers arrested gun-toting activists as they searched their vehicles in Minneapolis. At least one person was handcuffed while on the ground facing a man with an anti-ISA message on his clothing. An Associated Press photographer witnessed their arrest.
Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the agents arrested the activists for obstructing efforts to arrest someone who was in the country illegally.
As it happens6:49Minnesota’s attorney general says he’s afraid for his wife, neighbors.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has accused the Trump administration of “extortion” by demanding voter information as the administration continues its deadly immigration enforcement crackdown in the state. Ellison told As It Happens host Neil Coxal that his neighbors and his legal immigrant wife live in fear of the presence of thousands of ICE agents in Minnesota.
More federal attorneys went
Minnesota officials raised the alarm after federal authorities denied state investigators access to evidence in the Good shooting and declared Minnesota did not have jurisdiction to investigate the killing. The Justice Department also declined to open a civil rights investigation into her death.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch said the Justice Department last week. Opening a civil rights investigation It aims to determine whether Preeti’s firing was justified or not.
Neither Blanch nor other Justice Department officials have specifically explained why there was such an investigation into Pretty’s murder but not into Goode’s case.
“Every time there’s a federal officer-involved shooting, it doesn’t mean (the Civil Rights Division) is going to do something. It depends on the situation,” he said last week.
The Trump administration announced last month An investigation into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, in what appears to be a setback to the federal immigration blitz.
Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, were arrested by immigration officers in the Minneapolis area on January 20 and taken to a jail in Dilley, Texas. A judge ordered their release and they have now returned to Minnesota, according to Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro’s office.
It is not clear that the investigation was abandoned. Homan said on Wednesday productive discussions were underway with Walz, Frey and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
While Trump and other administration officials say they have a mandate from voters for their massive deportation efforts, there are signs of frustration within the Justice Department.
A new wave of departures is brewing in the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota, two people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
The departures are the latest among a half-dozen attorneys who left office last month amid disagreements over the Justice Department’s response to Goode’s firing. At least one supervising agent in the FBI’s Minneapolis office resigned last month.
The office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.