Minnesota’s ‘catastrophic’ immigration crackdown to end
US border tsar Tom Homan says a federal immigration crackdown in the state of Minnesota is coming to an end.
Source: Rapid Response 47
US border tsar Tom Homan has announced the end of the controversial federal immigration crackdown in the state of Minnesota.
Under Operation Metro Surge, US President Donald Trump had deployed about 3000 armed immigration agents to deport illegal migrants in Minnesota.
The surge has led to tumultuous scenes in Minneapolis, the state’s biggest city.
Residents have come out onto the streets, some blowing whistles, in protest against masked agents in military-style gear.
On different days in January, immigration agents fatally shot two US citizens who had come out to protest or observe the agents.
“I have proposed and President Trump has concurred that this surge operation conclude,” Homan said on Thursday (local time).
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A week ago, Homan announced that about 700 out of 3000 immigration agents would be withdrawn.
On Thursday, he said many of the remaining agents deployed from other states would be sent home within days, citing in part what he called “unprecedented” co-ordination with local law enforcement agencies in Minnesota.
Before the surge, there were about 150 immigration agents in Minnesota.
The deportation sweeps have been staunchly opposed by Minnesota governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, and other elected officials in the state.
Walz’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, who last month joined Walz in suing the federal administration and asked a judge to restrain the surge, said the increased deployment had been catastrophic.
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“They thought they could break us but a love for our neighbours and a resolve to endure can outlast an occupation,” Frey said as he welcomed Homan’s announcement.
The chief federal judge in Minnesota has reprimanded administration officials, saying US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have defied dozens of court orders to free wrongly arrested migrants.
Some of Trump’s fellow Republicans have also criticised how the deportation surge has been carried out and how the administration has handled the killings of two citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
As Homan made his announcement, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison was in Washington DC testifying before a Senate committee that oversees homeland security.
Rand Paul, the committee’s Republican chairman, criticised how Trump’s administration had described Good and Pretti after they were killed.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other administration officials initially called them “domestic terrorists”.
“The First and Second Amendment are not suspended during periods of unrest or during protests,” said Paul, a libertarian from Kentucky, referring to constitutional rights to free speech and to carry weapons.
“When officials speak imprecisely or rashly about constitutional limits, especially in volatile moments, they risk inflaming the situation rather than stabilising it.”
—with AAP
