US border czar in Minnesota to ‘regain law and order’

Tom Homan also said at a news conference in Minneapolis on Thursday that meetings with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other local leaders were productive.

President Trump’s top border official indicated a gradual reduction in the 3,000-strong force of agents stationed in the city is likely.

“We can do better,” he said. “We have made some significant gains, significant coordination and collaboration, and you will see some big changes happening here in this city,” he said.

Homan pushed for the ICE agency to have greater access to Minnesota prisons so its agents can pick up immigrants living in the country illegally when they are released from custody. He said this would reduce the need for more disruptive street cleaning, seemingly linking the issue to a reduction in deployment numbers.

He did not give an exact timeline for his stay in Minneapolis or the broader region.

“I will stay until the problem is resolved,” he said.

Protests have erupted in the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul after US federal agents shot and killed two people while stopping people on the street to ask for proof of US citizenship or legal residence.

Republican Senator Susan Collins, who represents the northeastern state of Maine, said Thursday that immigration authorities had shut down their “advanced operations” in the state.

This follows an increase in enforcement and more than 200 arrests since last week.

Collins said she has communicated directly with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem several times on the matter.

“There are no large-scale ICE operations underway or planned here at this time,” he said in a statement. “I continue to urge Secretary Noem and others in the Administration to require ICE to reconsider its approach to immigration enforcement in the state.”

But Collins also said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers “will continue their normal operations that have been going on here for many years.”

Maine is a fairly rural state of only 1.4 million residents, of whom an estimated 4% are foreign-born, well below the national average.

President Donald Trump’s border chief, Tom Homan, arrived in Minneapolis on Thursday morning following a long-running unrest in Minnesota’s most populous city.

He indicated a desire for change and even de-escalation, acknowledging that Trump wanted reforms, but also saying he had no intention of halting ICE and immigration official operations.

“We’re going to make sure that we take targeted enforcement actions and I’ll say it again: We’re not abandoning our mission at all. We’re just doing it more intelligently,” he said at a news conference.

“President Trump wants to fix it. And I’m going to fix it “With your help,” Homan said.

Hello readers, and thank you for joining us as we monitor developments related to Recent protests and violence in Minneapolis.

Follow this blog for latest updates.