The Trump administration has decided to pull 700 immigration officers out of Minnesota following weeks of intense and sometimes violent crackdowns, including the tragic shooting of two demonstrators that ignited widespread outrage throughout the United States.

Despite this reduction, senior administration figure Tom Homan stated that the federal presence in Minneapolis will remain strong, with around 2,000 immigration officers continuing their work even after the drawdown.

Both the mayor of Minneapolis and Minnesota’s governor, who are Democrats, welcomed the news as a positive development. However, they urged the federal government to speed up its effort to scale back the extensive immigration operations within the state.

Homan, recently tasked with overseeing the enforcement actions in Minneapolis amid growing public unrest over the shootings and the administration’s conflicting narratives, confirmed that the reduction would be implemented immediately, attributing the decision to improved collaboration with local law enforcement.

He explained that the shift was due to an increase in officers collecting criminal aliens directly from jails, rather than apprehending them in public spaces, thus requiring fewer staff.

Prior to the expansive immigration operations, only 150 federal immigration officers were active in Minnesota.

Homan also stressed he would not be leaving Minneapolis — which has become a major flashpoint in Trump’s overall immigration policy — “until we get it all done”.

Calls for ‘faster and larger drawdown’

“President Trump fully intends to achieve mass deportations during this administration, and immigration enforcement actions will continue every day throughout this country,” Homan said.

He also took aim at “extreme rhetoric” against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel, saying: “I said back in March of this year, if the hateful rhetoric didn’t stop, I was afraid there would be bloodshed, and there has been.”

Minneapolis mayor Jacob Fry welcomed the reduction in federal personnel, but said in a post on X that the US immigration operation in Minneapolis must end “immediately”.

Minnesota governor Tim Walz took a similar stance, calling for a “faster and larger drawdown of forces” and state-led investigations into the two deadly shootings in Minneapolis.

Federal agents shot and killed unarmed Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman, as she tried to drive away from an ICE enforcement operation last month, triggering protests and criticism from civil rights groups and local officials.

Another Minneapolis resident, intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, also 37, was beaten and shot dead by federal agents as he lay pinned to the ground in an incident two weeks later.

Both victims were US citizens. The killings drew international attention and condemnation over the government’s false accounts of what happened, intensifying public concern about the conduct of federal immigration operations.

Following outcry over the shootings, Trump withdrew senior Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino and replaced him with Homan, who pledged to draw down the operation with conditions.

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