White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference at the Bishop Whipple Federal building on Wednesday, February 4, 2026 in Minneapolis. RYAN MURPHY / AP
White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday, February 15, that more than 1,000 immigration agents have left Minnesota's Twin Cities area and hundreds more will depart in the days ahead as part of the Trump administration’s drawdown of its immigration enforcement surge.
A "small" security force will stay for a short period to protect remaining immigration agents and will respond "when our agents are out and they get surrounded by agitators and things got out of control," Homan told CBS' "Face the Nation." He did not define "small."
He also said agents will keep investigating fraud allegations as well as the anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a church service. "We already removed well over 1,000 people, and as of Monday, Tuesday, we’ll remove several hundred more," Homan said. "We’ll get back to the original footprint."
Thousands of officers were sent to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's "Operation Metro Surge." The Department of Homeland Security said it was its largest immigration enforcement operation ever and proved successful. But the crackdown came under increasing criticism as the situation grew more volatile and two US citizens were killed.
