Tim Walz says Minnesota federal immigration raids expected to end within days

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: Minnesota’s controversial federal immigration enforcement operation that has dominated headlines and local politics for weeks is expected to scale back within days, Democratic Gov Tim Walz said Tuesday, Feb 10.

Walz told reporters he spoke with President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and based on those conversations, he expects a significant reduction in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity by the end of the week.

Tim Walz hopes for Homan to leave by Friday

Walz and other local leaders have repeatedly criticized the influx of federal agents, framing the effort as disruptive to daily life and harmful to small businesses, although Trump administration officials have defended the actions as lawful enforcement of existing immigration laws.

Walz said on Tuesday he hopes announcements about the drawdown will come “before Friday,” underscoring a shift in momentum after weeks of intense scrutiny.

“It would be my hope that Mr Homan goes out before Friday and announces that this thing is done, and they’re bringing her down, and they’re bringing her down in days,” Walz said of the operation. “That would be my expectation.”

Earlier in the day, lawmakers on Capitol Hill questioned leaders of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies overseeing the Minnesota operation, which has seen two US citizens shot and killed by federal agents, as well as sweeping arrests of immigrants of varying legal statuses.

Tim Walz has been heavily critical of Trump admin

Operation Metro Surge, the big enforcement push, sent thousands of ICE and Homeland Security agents all over Minneapolis–Saint Paul and the rest of Minnesota.

This was part of the Trump administration’s strategy to crack down hard on immigration cases and go after what they said was fraud and crime linked to immigration violations.

Critics, mostly Democratic officials from the state and cities, say the operation is tearing up communities and want it stopped.

Walz has been heavily critical of the Trump administration's actions in his state, which originally stemmed from long-running investigations into fraud allegedly committed by Somali immigrants.

Tensions escalated when Renee Good, a US citizen, was shot in her car by an ICE agent on January 7, leading to calls from Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for agents to leave. 

Operations continued, as did protests, with another American, VA nurse Alex Pretti, also shot dead later in the month.

The Minnesota governor said Tuesday that he was in a "trust but verify mode" when it came to the idea of hundreds of agents pulling out of Minneapolis and St. Paul, adding that more details were likely in the coming days.

Last week, Homan, who was sent to the Twin Cities to take over operations from the Border Patrol's Gregory Bovino, announced that 700 of the roughly 3,000 federal agents in the area would be pulled.

On Tuesday, Walz said that he expected state officials would be allowed to jointly investigate the deaths of Good and Pretti, following weeks of claims they had been frozen out by the Trump administration.

A formal announcement on the next stage of the operation in Minnesota is yet to be made.