The withdrawal comes amid the continued fallout from the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal agents in Minneapolis.
The Trump administration said it will end the controversial immigration operation in Minnesota that sparked nationwide protests after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in January.
“I have proposed and President Trump has concurred that this surge operation conclude,” White House border czar Tom Homan said at a Feb. 12 news conference. “A significant drawdown has already been underway this week and will continue to the next week.”
Homan said he will remain in Minnesota to oversee the withdrawal, which he credited to “unprecedented” cooperation between federal and local officials that, among other things, broadened immigration authorities’ access to local jails.
The announcement promised an end to what federal officials described as the largest immigration operation in modern U.S. history – one that saw the deaths of two Minneapolis residents, Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, and raised concerns over alleged racial profiling, warrantless searches and court order violations.
Minnesota officials welcomed the withdrawal, but said the state has a long recovery ahead.
“Over the past six weeks, the state of Minnesota and the people of this state have endured an unprecedented federal invasion,” Gov. Tim Walz said at a news conference, adding: “They left us with deep damage, generational trauma, they left us with economic ruin, they left us with many unanswered questions.”
News of the drawdown arrived as the Senate failed to advance a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, virtually guaranteeing a shutdown of the agency, as Democrats and Republicans remained deadlocked over potential reforms. Meanwhile, lawmakers on Capitol Hill pressed immigration officials on the Minnesota operation and the aggressive tactics of federal agents.
In a 41-page court order issued Thursday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel blasted Immigration and Customs Enforcement for obstructing attorneys in Minnesota from seeing their clients who are immigrants.
“ICE has isolated thousands of people — most of them detained at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building —from their attorneys,” Brasel wrote, referring to immigration enforcement agents’ base of operations south of downtown Minneapolis.
Among the judge’s provisions, ICE is ordered to allow detainees in Minnesota to make confidential telephone calls to attorneys, keep an accurate public record of where detainees are located and allow detainees to notify attorneys if they are being moved.
Brasel’s order comes in response to a lawsuit brought by The Advocates for Human Rights, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that works with immigrants. The nonprofit sued ICE for obstructing access to their clients. Basel’s ruling aims to ensure ICE respects detainees’ “constitutional right to access counsel.”
“Defendants offer threadbare declarations generally asserting, without examples or evidence, that ICE provides telephone access to counsel for noncitizens in its custody,” the judge wrote. “The Plaintiffs’ declarations provide specifics of the opposite. The gulf between the parties’ evidence is simply too wide and too deep for Defendants to overcome.”
Brasel’s strongly-worded order comes after ICE officials in Illinois faced similar accusations of obstructing attorneys from speaking with immigrant clients. U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman ordered similar rules be followed at an ICE facility outside Chicago.
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The Senate on Feb. 12 failed to prevent a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Border Patrol and ICE, as well as the Transportation Security Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The impasse marked an escalation of Democrats’ negotiating tactics with congressional Republicans and White House officials, who’ve been in sensitive talks over reforming the agency since the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis.
As part of an agreement struck between both parties to end the most recent partial shutdown, funding for DHS was extended through Friday, Feb. 13. Lawmakers were hoping to buy time to come to a compromise around reforming ICE and Customs and Border Protection, or CBP.
Congress is scheduled to be recessed next week, which means a DHS shutdown could potentially last at least a week. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, which Congress gave a surplus of funding last year, will continue operating.
– Zachary Schermele
Rep. Ilhan Omar, who represents Minneapolis in Congress and is a frequent target of President Donald Trump’s disparagement, said in a statement that it was “past time” for immigration agents to leave Minnesota, and described lasting consequences to the community. She also called for the abolishment of ICE.
“Businesses are reeling from the economic devastation. Families are shattered. Children will carry the trauma of federal agents descending on their neighborhoods for the rest of their lives,” Omar said.
Immigration agents harassed Somali residents of Minnesota despite the fact that most are citizens, Omar said. People of color were “forced into hiding” during the surge, she said.
Omar called out the fatal shootings of two of her constituents, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and demanded that the federal government cooperate to conduct independent investigations of the deaths.
“Minnesotans are resilient, and the world has seen what makes our state strong: compassion, solidarity, and justice. But I am outraged and heartbroken that our state was forced to endure unfathomable suffering at the hands of this administration,” she said.
Homan said during the surge in Minnesota, ICE agents located 3,364 “missing, unaccompanied alien children,” which he accused the Biden administration of losing.
President Donald Trump and his administration have in the past made similar claims that the Biden administration “lost” unaccompanied minors who crossed the border before, or said children were placed with “unvetted” sponsors. Immigration advocate groups say such claims are inaccurate.
According to the nonprofit the National Immigration Forum, children who arrive in the U.S. without a parent or guardian are transferred to the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which will search for suitable sponsors who will care for them while they await court hearings on their immigration case. Those sponsors are almost always family members, including often parents who were already in the country, the organization said.
After the children are placed with sponsors, sponsors don’t have to update the government on their location, other than appearing at required hearings or ICE check-ins, the organization said.
“While the current process of limited follow up is a valid basis for concern, the reports of large numbers of ‘missing’ UACs (unaccompanied alien children) are inaccurate and overblown. These missing UACs are based solely on their failure to appear for their immigration court hearings or the failure of ICE to issue a Notice to Appear (NTA) for a court hearing,” according to the forum.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that most federal immigration agents in Minnesota are going to leave the state.
At a news conference, Walz spoke of the operation in stark terms, calling it an invasion of “untrained, aggressive federal agents” that left the state with “generational trauma” and “economic ruin.”
He thanked the residents of Minnesota for their “dignity” and “compassion,” and said the state is focused on helping local businesses that suffered during Operation Metro Surge.
“While the federal government may move on … the state of Minnesota and our administration is unwaveringly focused on the recovery of what they did,” Walz said.
Senators rolled moment by moment through the video of Alex Pretti’s killing with the leaders of immigration enforcement agencies to urge them to adopt new policies for dealing with protesters.
Sens. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, and Gary Peters, D-Michigan, described Pretti as holding a phone to record the encounter and shielding his eyes when he was sprayed at close range with chemicals. But they noted he never brandished a weapon or struck federal agents.
“I see nothing here – not even a hint of something that was aggressive on his part,” Pau said. “Everything was retreat.”
Rodney Scott, commissioner of Customs and Border Patrol, and Todd Lyons, the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the incident is still being investigated criminally by the FBI and their agencies for possible changes in policy. But they said protesters should not be thrown to the ground or sprayed with chemicals in a strictly verbal confrontation.
“What I’m seeing is a subject who is not complying,” Scott said. “He’s fighting back nonstop.”
Paul said America has lost trust in immigration enforcement and policies need to change to restore faith in the agencies.
“Some of this stuff is inexcusable and it’s going to take conclusions to come forward,” Paul said. “The public needs to know, too, if I go to a protest and I shout something at people, could I be killed?”
– Bart Jansen
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the resistance to ICE shown by demonstrators standing with their neighbors was “deeply American.”
“They thought they could break us, but a love for our neighbors and a resolve to endure can outlast an occupation,” he said.
Frey said Minneapolis residents would now begin to rebuild themselves after the “catastrophic” immigration operation.
“We will show the same commitment to our immigrant residents and endurance in this reopening, and I’m hopeful the whole country will stand with us as we move forward,” Frey said in a statement.
Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat senator from Minnesota who recently announced her candidacy for governor, celebrated the announcement of the end of the immigration operation in her state.
“Minnesotans stood together, stared down ICE, and never blinked,” Klobuchar said.
Klobuchar is running for governor after Tim Walz announced he would end his bid for reelection amid an ongoing investigation into an alleged fraud scandal in Minnesota.
A Republican senator and Democratic state attorney general clashed at a Senate hearing over protests against stricter immigration enforcement in Minneapolis.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials had shots fired at them, had their vehicles rammed and had rocks thrown at them. He accused Democratic state Attorney General Keith Ellison of encouraging protests against ICE.
Immigration agents fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti during heightened enforcement operations.
“Two people are dead because you encouraged them to put themselves into harm’s way,” Johnson said with his voice rising. “You encouraged it and you ought to feel damn guilty about it.”
Ellison said he encouraged protesters to exercise their First Amendment rights peacefully and safely, but he denied supporting violence.
“It was a nice theatrical performance but it was all lies,” Ellison said of Johnson.
– Bart Jansen
“Thank you, Minnesota,” Gov. Tim Walz said in a short post on X.
Walz has been calling for the Trump administration to end its surge in his state and for independent state investigations into the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents.
During his news conference, Homan thanked Walz for urging anti-ICE protesters to remain peaceful.
The Minnesota operation has sparked fury among Democrats in Congress, who vowed not to fund the Department of Homeland Security unless their demands for reforms were met, including requirements that agents wear identification badges, remove their masks and obtain judicial warrants before entering homes.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said body cameras would be distributed to every field agent across the country, beginning with those in Minneapolis.
But Republicans have pushed back on several of the other demands, especially that agents stop wearing masks, which they argue could expose federal personnel to doxxing. Lawmakers don’t appear any closer to striking a deal ahead of a Feb. 13 deadline to fund the agency.
On Jan. 7, Good, who had just dropped her youngest child off at school, was fatally shot by an immigration agent. Trump administration officials said the agent, Jonathan Ross, feared for his safety as Good maneuvered her minivan away from officers who’d surrounded it. Good’s family disputed that characterization and video showed Good talking to the agent in a reassuring tone just before he opened fire.
Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who worked with veterans, was fatally shot on Jan. 24 as he tried to film agents’ activities and intervene as a woman was engaging with them. Pretti’s shooting amplified calls for the resignations of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino that started in the wake of Good’s killing. After Pretti’s death, some Republicans broke with Trump and called for de-escalation and accountability.
