Border czar Tom Homan announced Thursday that Operation Metro Surge, the sprawling federal immigration enforcement effort that brought thousands of agents to Minnesota, is coming to an end.
Homan told reporters the operation succeeded in arresting more than 4,000 people considered public safety threats across the state since it launched in early December. With that work largely complete, he said roughly 3,000 immigration enforcement personnel will begin leaving Minnesota in the coming days and return to their home stations or other assignments.
“With that, and the success that has been made arresting public safety threats and other priorities since this operation began, as well as the unprecedented levels of coordination we received from state officials and local law enforcement, I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude,” Homan said.
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The Department of Homeland Security first deployed about 3,000 federal agents to Minnesota in early December 2025 under orders from the Trump administration to ramp up arrests of immigrants living in the country illegally. The move came as part of a broader push to target what officials described as pressing public safety risks.
Earlier this month, Homan announced that 700 agents would be pulled from the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, citing strong cooperation from state and local authorities. Thursday’s announcement signals a full-scale drawdown.
Homan stressed that the end of the surge does not mean the end of immigration enforcement in Minnesota. Some security teams will remain in the state, he said, to provide protection for immigration officers still carrying out enforcement duties.
The operation unfolded against a backdrop of local tension. President Trump sent Homan to Minnesota in late January to address community unrest that followed the shootings of two people, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were shot by federal immigration officials during enforcement actions. Officials have not released additional details about those incidents.
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During the press conference Thursday, Homan repeated that while federal agents will continue to arrest anyone in the country illegally, their focus remains on individuals who pose public safety threats.
Homan previously said his meetings with Minnesota’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, and Attorney General Keith Ellison were productive. Both state leaders had voiced early concerns about the scale of the federal operation but ultimately cooperated with federal authorities, a factor Homan credited with helping the mission wrap ahead of schedule.
The operation’s closure comes as the administration continues to emphasize immigration enforcement as a top priority. Homan said federal immigration officials are not leaving Minnesota entirely but are shifting away from the large-scale surge model that defined the last two months.
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