Trump ends Minnesota immigration crackdown, 'but we're not going away,' says Border czar Tom Homan

“The surge is leaving Minnesota safer,” Homan was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. “I’ll say it again: It’s less of a sanctuary state for criminals," he added.

He, however, said. “Our officers/agents deployed here will continue immigration enforcement actions in other locations across the country to deliver on the President’s goals to maintain border security and conduct mass deportations.”

Homan told a media house: “We're still going to have hundreds of special agents here drawing down on the fraud here from the Somali community... This is ending the surge, but we're not going away... If we need to come back, we'll come back.”

“It’s going to be a long road,” Walz said at a news conference. “Minnesotans are decent, caring, loving neighbors and they’re also some of the toughest people you’ll find. And we’re in this as long as it takes.”

The governor proposed a $10 million aid package for businesses that have suffered, and he called on Washington to help fund the recovery.

“You don’t get to break things and then just leave without doing something about it,” he said.

Homan was vague about a timeline for the drawdown, but Walz said Homan assured him that officers would start leaving immediately.

“We will help you get to the airport,” the governor said. “We will clear the road to get to the airport. I will pack your damn bags if that’s what it takes.”

Walz, a former congressman, said the announcement does not make him any readier to support restoring DHS funding. He added that he has been in contact with Democratic leaders in both houses of Congress and urged them to “hold the line until you get the at least minimum reforms necessary in this rogue agency.”

In Washington, Republican Sen. Rand Paul said the shootings in Minneapolis changed how some Americans saw the immigration crackdown.

“It’s clearly evident that the public trust has been lost,” the Kentucky senator said at a Thursday hearing. “To restore trust in ICE and Border Patrol, they must admit their mistakes, be honest and forthright with their rules of engagement and pledge to reform.”

Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, said during the hearing that the agency is still looking for about 16,840 people in Minnesota with final orders of removal.

Homan took over the operation in late January after the second fatal shooting, of Pretti, and amid growing political backlash about how the operation was being run by Gregory Bovino, a proudly norm-breaking senior Border Patrol official who became the public face of the crackdown.

Her son is disabled, she said, and his health aide, who is from Colombia, has been too scared to leave her home even though she is in the U.S. legally.

“This is the fear they put into such wonderful people in our community,” Rzepecki said.

She dismissed the claim that the surge left the region safer, saying: “The people they are rounding up are the people that are so important to our community. Don't believe what they say.”

Many activists said the fight is not over. Lisa Erbes, a leader of the protest group Indivisible Twin Cities, said officials must be held accountable.

“People have died. Families have been torn apart,” Erbes said. “We can’t just say this is over and forget the pain and suffering that has been put on the people of Minnesota.”

In New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani met in the afternoon with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to discuss ways to protect immigrants.

“They thought they could break us, but a love for our neighbors and a resolve to endure can outlast an occupation,” Frey said on social media. “These patriots of Minneapolis are showing that it’s not just about resistance — standing with our neighbors is deeply American.”

(With inputs from AP)