Border Czar Tom Homan announces end to Operation Metro Surge, claiming success

MINNEAPOLIS — President Trump’s border czar announced an imminent end to Operation Metro Surge on Thursday, Feb. 12, claiming success from the unprecedented federal incursion that brought thousands of immigration officers to the state over the objections of local Democratic leaders, and that led to massive protests and two deaths.

“The Twin Cities, and Minnesota in general, are and will continue to be much safer for the communities here because of what we have accomplished under President Trump’s leadership,” Border Czar Tom Homan said during a Thursday morning news conference.

The announcement comes a little over two weeks after Homan arrived in the state, taking over control of an operation that had by any measure spun out of control.

Over the past month, immigration agents have shot three people, killing two; racially profiled people, asking them to produce proof of legal residency; detained legal immigrants and shipped them across state lines, including young children; caused numerous car crashes; deployed chemical irritants on public school property; smashed the car windows of observers and arrested them before releasing them without charges; and threatened journalists who were filming them from a distance in a public space, among other high-profile incidents.

“A small footprint of personnel will remain for a period of time to close out and transition full command and control back to the field office,” Homan said.

The Trump administration began sending federal agents to the state late last year and their ranks swelled to 3,000 in what the Department of Homeland Security called its largest operation ever. Homan announced the beginning of a drawdown last week, pulling 700 immigration agents from Minnesota.

Homan said they’ve earned significant collaboration with local law enforcement and seen a reduction in “agitator behavior” interrupting immigration operations, two key conditions he made at a news conference last week for a full draw down.

Local sheriffs offices will notify ICE when people of interest are released from jails, a common practice that sheriffs say they’ve done for years. Homan said he is not asking sheriffs to detain people beyond their scheduled release, which violates Minnesota law according to an opinion issued by Attorney General Keith Ellison last year.

Homan, who reportedly was investigated for receiving $50,000 in cash from an undercover FBI agent in 2024 in an alleged bribery scheme, said the personnel here for fraud investigations will remain.

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