'Border King' announces withdrawal of ICE agents from Minneapolis after weeks of protests: 'Community is safer'
Tom Homan at a press conference in St Paul, Minnesota on February 4, 2026. PHOTO: Sipa USA / ddp USA / Profimedia
The head of the White House for border issues, Tom Homan, announced on Thursday the end of the massive immigration control operation in Minneapolis, a city marked in January by the killing of two American citizens by ICE agents, reports AFP.
“We proposed, and President Trump agreed, that this operation be ended,” Homan, the “Border King,” as he is known in the American media, announced at a press conference.
“A significant reduction (of the number of police officers) is already being implemented this week and will continue next week,” he added, according to Agerpres.
Several thousand Immigration agents have been deployed in Minneapolis since December. Their operations disrupted daily life in this Democratic-leaning Midwestern city, where many residents stayed indoors for fear of arrest, while thousands continued to protest, often despite the cold.
The protest movement intensified with the deaths of two American citizens, shot by agents less than three weeks apart during anti-immigration operations: Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother, on January 7, and Alex Pretti, a nurse of the same age, on January 24.
Tom Homan said he would stay in Minneapolis “a little longer” to oversee the end of the operation.
“A small number of personnel will remain on site for a period to complete the operation and transfer command and control to the local office as well as to ensure that the activity of the agitators continues to decrease,” he added.
A week ago, Tom Homan had already announced the immediate withdrawal of 700 immigration officers.
“This community is safer because we have detained 4,000 undocumented immigrants,” said Donald Trump's envoy.
