President Donald Trump on Thursday signaled that the administration will not make any changes to the immigration enforcement efforts in Minneapolis.
"We have to get rid of the criminals" and remove illegal immigrant "criminals out of our country," Trump said. "From that standpoint, nothing is going to change."
In recent weeks, tension has been heightened in Minnesota after federal agents fatally shot two protesters in January, including the weekend shooting death of Alex Pretti, who was shot as he tried to interfere with the arrest of an illegal immigrant. Earlier in the month, protests and riots erupted in the city after an agent shot another protester as she hit him with her vehicle while trying to flee a traffic stop.
The Trump administration said last month that it sent thousands of agents to carry out enforcement in Minnesota amid accusations of rampant entitlement fraud. In news releases, the Department of Homeland Security said that it was removing illegal immigrants with criminal histories from the community around Minneapolis.
The shooting prompted Trump to send Homan to Minneapolis to speak with local Democratic officials, including Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Earlier Wednesday, Homan noted that changes would be made to the enforcement operation in Minnesota following Pretti's shooting.
“I do not want to hear that everything that has been done here has been perfect. Nothing is ever perfect. Anything can be improved on,” Homan said in a news conference earlier on Thursday. “What we’ve been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient, by the book.”
Homan added that the mission would improve in part due to internal changes, saying that "no agency organization is perfect" and that he and Trump have noted that "certain improvements could and should be made."
“Operation Metro Surge needs to end,” said Frey. “This kind of conduct and siege needs to stop. Not just in Minneapolis; it needs to stop nationwide.”
Aside from Democrats, some Republicans in Congress have also been critical of the Minneapolis operation and have called on officials from three immigration agencies to testify before the Senate and House in February.
Meanwhile, Trump has said that in private phone calls earlier this week, he had productive conversations with both Frey and Walz, and that he and Walz "actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength."
Some of the individuals who had been arrested in the Minneapolis operation, she said, included "murderers, rapists, child pedophiles and incredibly dangerous individuals."