Tom Homan, the Trump administration's 'border czar,' announced this Thursday the end of the mass deployment of immigration agents in the state of Minnesota, in which two Americans lost their lives at the hands of law enforcement. 'I proposed it, and President Trump has accepted, that this operation come to an end,' Homan explained during a press conference in Minneapolis regarding the end of the so-called Operation Metro Surge. According to the czar, the campaign 'has achieved the satisfactory results' that the Trump government expected and highlighted the work with state and local officials 'to improve coordination.' 'As I said in my first press conference a couple of weeks ago, the president sent me here not because the operation was being carried out perfectly, but to identify problems and apply solutions that would improve the execution of our mission,' he pointed out. According to Homan, since Operation Metro Surge began, more than 4,000 arrests have been made. Despite the end of the mass deployment, the czar announced that a 'small contingent of personnel' will remain in the state for some time to 'fully transfer command and control to the local office.' 'As a result of our efforts here, Minnesota is no longer a sanctuary state for criminals,' Homan said. Since Trump ordered to reinforce the presence of immigration agents in Minnesota, two Americans, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, died after being shot by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Following the death of the second one while protesting the agents' raids in the city, tension between protesters and federal officials escalated to such a level that Trump even threatened to activate the Insurrection Act to deploy the Army. The czar's announcement comes two weeks after the president removed Gregory Bovino, the chief of the Border Patrol, who was in charge of coordinating the operation. In his place, he assigned Homan, who on February 4 already announced the withdrawal of 700 agents.
