The increasingly tense standoff between federal immigration law enforcement officials and Minnesota Democrats may have reached a détente as immigration agents leave embattled Minneapolis by the hundreds. Border Czar Tom Homan pledged last week that U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, who have been providing assistance to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel amidst widespread unrest and rioting, may leave Minneapolis if state and city officials agreed to abandon “sanctuary” policies barring state and local police from cooperating with ICE. Now, Homan is making good on that promise, pulling hundreds of federal agents out of the city.

“Given this increase in unprecedented collaboration, and as a result of the need for less public safety officers to do this work and a safer environment, I am announcing, effective immediately, we’ll draw down 700 people effective today, 700 law enforcement personnel,” the Border Czar announced in a Wednesday press conference, without clarifying which officials, agencies, or jurisdictions have agreed to fully cooperate with ICE. Approximately 2,000 agents will remain in Minneapolis, although Homan suggested that even more will be free to depart should left-wing agitators cease their rioting. “You’re not going to stop ICE. You’re not going to stop Border Patrol,” he said. “The only thing you’re doing is irritating your community.”

Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January of 2025, propelled at least in part by a broad push among Americans for a reversal of former President Joe Biden’s open border policies, administration officials have consistently emphasized the threat posed by “sanctuary” jurisdictions, including Ramsey and Hennepin Counties in Minnesota, home to the Twin Cities. Ramsey and Hennepin have previously refused to allow ICE agents access to county jails to arrest illegal immigrants charged with or convicted of crimes, instead releasing those illegal immigrants back into the streets.

Homan also quashed rumors that the Trump administration may be backing away from the immigration enforcement program that Trump successfully ran on in 2024. “We are not surrendering the president’s mission… ” he said. The Border Czar added that the Minnesota operation, while not “perfect,” has been “very effective as far as public safety goes.”

In comments to The Washington Stand, Jessica Vaughan, director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, surmised, “The drawdown offer was ideal leverage for ICE to use to help calm the situation in Minneapolis and gain the cooperation they need from local law enforcement agencies, who no doubt wanted to cooperate but weren’t allowed to.” She continued, “The extra officers can go home, and ICE now will have a much easier and safer way to get the job done. They can take custody of their targets in nonpublic, secure jails, away from agitators and without worry of escalation or resistance from the criminal aliens.”

Vaughan classified the move as “a big win for ICE and a defeat for sanctuaries, so on balance a great outcome for citizens. I think it will be hard for local authorities to renege on this without political and safety consequences.” She added, “At the same time, together with the crackdown on welfare fraud, this is likely to accelerate self-deportations as illegal aliens realize they no longer have sanctuary from enforcement nor freebies from taxpayers in Minnesota.”

Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told TWS that the Trump administration has other tools it should be using, in addition to immigration arrests, in order to speed up deportations by encouraging illegal immigrants to voluntarily leave the U.S.

“To encourage more deportable aliens to self-deport, the Trump administration needs to change the risk calculation for most deportable aliens. Prioritizing the ‘worst of the worst’ tells other deportable aliens the risk is low that they will be deported by ICE,” Ries observed. “Using worksite enforcement and turning off all benefits downstream from illegal immigration, including issuing IDs, free K-12 public education, bank accounts, ability to send remittances outside the U.S., home rentals and ownership, health care, etc., will encourage more to self-deport.”