Tom Homan announced a recall of 700 customers in Minnesota

Tom Homan, the White House official responsible for increasing immigration enforcement in Minnesota, said Wednesday that he would reduce the number of federal agents in the state.

“With immediate effect, we will be withdrawing 700 people – effective today,” Homan said at a morning news conference.

There is currently an estimate 3,000 federal agents in Minnesota. Wednesday’s recall would bring that number to about 2,300 — though Homan said at the news conference that number would be about 2,000. He said there are usually about 150 federal officers in Minnesota.

An “unprecedented” number of counties are reaching out to DHS, allowing ICE to detain individuals, Homan said.

He added that DHS does not require prisons to detain people beyond their normal release time for immigration purposes. “We are not asking anyone to be an immigration officer. We are not asking any state or local official to conduct immigration enforcement activities,” he said.

Homan also confirmed that federal agents are focusing on “targeted” law enforcement operations in Minnesota — though he said agents are willing to detain anyone in the country illegally.

“This is a smarter app, not a lesser app,” he added. “For those who do not pose a threat to national security or a risk to public safety, you are not exempt from immigration enforcement actions. If you are in the country illegally, you are not taken off the table.”

Homan said the Department of Homeland Security will not reduce the number of employees who provide security for federal officers.

When asked how much work remains in immigration enforcement, Homan said the goal is to return to a “normal operational footprint.”

“You have customers here from Los Angeles, New York, Portland — there are problems there, too,” Homan said. “So we want to return people to their centers of origin and enforce immigration laws in those areas.”

Homan also said: “Temper down the rhetoric,” referring to protests against federal agents. “Stop violating the law, obstructing us, and interfering in our affairs, and the withdrawal will be faster.”

Gov. Tim Walz posted a response on social media after Homan announced the withdrawal, calling it “a step in the right direction” — but adding, “We need a faster and larger troop withdrawal, state-led investigations into the killings of Alex Pretty and Renee Judd, and an end to this campaign of retaliation.”

Minnesota State Attorney Keith Ellison called Homan’s announcement “a step in the right direction, but the surge must end.”

A coalition of faith, labor and other community groups in Minnesota that oppose the federal process called Homan’s announcement a “political stunt,” saying that “there are still thousands of masked and unaccountable agents terrorizing our communities, attacking peaceful observers, and undermining the constitutional and civil rights of Minnesotans.”

“This sudden shift in language is not accidental. It comes as federal agencies face budget negotiations and increased public scrutiny,” members of the ICE coalition out of Minnesota said in a statement. “Broadly renaming law enforcement as priority enforcement is an attempt to preserve funding, not to protect communities.”

Wednesday’s news conference was Homan’s second media briefing since President Donald Trump sent him to the state last week, in the wake of the fatal shooting of Pretty and Judd by federal agents in Minneapolis.

Homan has been meeting privately with elected officials, local law enforcement officials and other civic leaders.

He has it Initial press conference last weekHoman said he intends to reduce the massive power of federal immigration agents in Minnesota — if he sees adequate cooperation from local officials.

That includes greater access to county jails to detain people who are in the country illegally when their prison terms are up, he said.

—Anna Hescherl, MPR News