Live updates: Border czar to speak in Minnesota as report indicates ICE agents are under new orders to ease tactics
The Trump administration circulated a draft memo this week regarding potential new guidelines for federal immigration officers on the ground in Minnesota, including plans to avoid engaging with “agitators” and only targeting immigrants facing criminal charges or convictions, officials familiar with the talks told CNN.
The draft memo comes as the White House and Department of Homeland Security have had multiple behind-the-scenes discussions this week about how to best conduct immigration operations in the state moving forward. Border Czar Tom Homan, who was dispatched by President Donald Trump to the state earlier this week, has been heavily involved in the process, the officials said.
Homan is expected to discuss the new plans during a press conference on Thursday – his first since arriving in the state, a source familiar with the plans said.
The officials cautioned that the new guidance, first reported by Reuters, is still under consideration and that no formal plans for a change in operations has been decided yet.
“There are ongoing conversations occurring on how to most effectively conduct operations in Minnesota,” a Trump administration official told CNN. “No guidance should be considered final until it is officially issued.”
If implemented, the new guidelines would serve as a stark departure from Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s current operations, which have targeted a wide swath of suspected undocumented immigrants in the state, regardless of criminal background.
Upon arriving in Minneapolis earlier this month, officers also received extensive briefings about potential agitators, according to a federal law enforcement officer, who added that officers were told to call local police for backup if protestors got violent but otherwise not to engage if they were just yelling.
The talks come as the Trump administration continues to try to turn down the temperature following its controversial handling of ICE operations in the state. Homan has met with local officials, like Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, to help inform the administration’s posture going forward.
