President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan says immigration enforcement will reduce the number of officers in Minnesota but suggested during a news conference Thursday that it would happen only after ‘cooperation’ from state officials.
Homan was speaking for the first time since the president sent him to Minneapolis after a federal immigration officer fatally shot a protester on Saturday.
Homan doubled down on the need for local jails to alert Immigration and Customs Enforcement to people in their custody whom ICE can remove from the country. Homan said that would mean fewer officers have to actually be out on the streets looking for immigrants in the country illegally, and that transferring immigrants to ICE while they’re still in jail is safer for the officers and means they aren’t out on the streets.
“Give us access to illegal aliens, public safety threats in the safety and security of a jail,” Homan said.
Homan acknowledged that immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota haven’t been perfect but was also adamant that the administration isn’t surrendering their mission.
Homan also seemed to suggest a renewed focus on what ICE calls “targeted operations” designed to focus their efforts on apprehending immigrants who have committed crimes. He said they would conduct “targeted strategic enforcement operations” prioritizing “public safety threats.”
