Trump's week in review: EPA deregulation, ICE withdrawing from Minnesota, voter ID law
2. ICE reducing presence in Minnesota
After weeks of headline-grabbing violence, Trump border czar Tom Homan announced that the administration would be concluding its major immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota.
"I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude," Homan stated at a news conference held in Minneapolis. "A significant drawdown has already been underway this week and will continue to the next week."
"This surge operation and our work here with state and local officials to improve coordination and achieve mutual goals, as well as our efforts to address issues of concern here on the ground, have yielded the successful results. … We are leaving Minnesota safer."
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who had been a longtime critic of the enforcement operations to remove criminal illegal immigrants from his city, took to his X account to treat the announcement as a victory.
"They thought they could break us, but a love for our neighbors and a resolve to endure can outlast an occupation," Frey tweeted. "These patriots of Minneapolis are showing that it's not just about resistance — standing with our neighbors is deeply American."
Federal officials have championed their efforts in the state. Last month, for example, they announced that they made over 10,000 arrests and spotlighted scores of violent individuals among those detained, including pedophiles, rapists and murderers.
However, the efforts of ICE agents in Minnesota have also garnered controversy, with some believing that they were overly aggressive and at times unlawfully violent.
Tensions increased after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, who was using her SUV to block traffic and then drove into an ICE agent instead of exiting her vehicle as she was ordered to do on Jan. 7, spurring several anti-ICE protests nationwide.
While the Trump administration claimed the ICE agent shot Good in self-defense, others argued that Good was only trying to pull away from agents, and that lethal force was unnecessary.
Later, Alex Pretti, a nurse with the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, was fatally shot by Border Patrol agents during an altercation he had been filming them with his camera, drawing more anger and calls for the de-escalation of federal immigration enforcement operations in the state.
While Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed at a press conference that Pretti — who arrived at the scene armed with a gun and magazines — was intending to attack the agents, multiple videos of the incident appear to contradict that narrative.
Days earlier, Pretti was caught on video physically attacking vehicle-transporting agents.
