Even after a press conference Thursday morning from the new leader of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Tom Homan, it’s still not clear exactly how much the mission will change in the aftermath of Alex Pretti’s killing.
But what’s abundantly clear is that the administration is scared of the politics of ICE and its immigration enforcement operations right now.
A number of new developments – not just in Minneapolis, but also in Maine and Washington, DC – speak to that.
Even as Homan is signaling there will be a softer, more focused and by-the-books effort and fewer agents in Minneapolis, we got word Trump is pulling out of the other state where he’s launched a similar immigration enforcement effort.
Meanwhile, the White House and Republicans seem to be preparing to make significant legislative concessions on immigration enforcement to prevent a government shutdown.
Homan’s press conference Thursday was light on specifics, but heavy on suggestions of a new course.
Perhaps the biggest news was that Homan said there would be a “drawdown.” He didn’t say how big or how soon; he instead said the plan is currently being worked on. But he did signal it would happen at least to some extent regardless of conditions on the ground.
“Yes, I said it,” he said: “Draw down the number of people here.”
“The drawdown is going to happen, based on these agreements,” he added. “But the drawdown can happen even more if the hateful rhetoric and the impediment and interference will stop.”
Homan also repeatedly emphasized that operations would be “targeted” and focused on safety and national security risks – which would suggest the government is less interested in broad sweeps and stopping random people.
Of course, the administration has long insisted that its enforcement actions are “targeted.” But Homan said his approach would be different, noting the effort “got away from” that targeted approach “a little bit.”
And he made a series of comments that seemed intended to break with the administration’s previous no-apologies, never-back-down posture.
“I do not want to hear that everything that has been done here has been perfect,” Homan said at one point. He added that agents who don’t act with professionalism “will be dealt with” and that the operation would be “safer” and “by the book.”
That could be read as a rebuke to the ousted head of the Minneapolis operation, Gregory Bovino, who said last week that “everything we do every day is legal, ethical, moral, well grounded in law.” It could even be read as a corrective of White House adviser Stephen Miller, who earlier this month claimed ICE had “a flawless track record of deporting non-citizens.”
On the flip side, Homan at least notionally tried to combat the idea that this was a capitulation. He repeatedly criticized the protesters’ rhetoric – while acknowledging their right to protest – and said the administration was “not surrendering” its mission.
“I’m staying till the problem’s gone,” he said.
We’ll have to see how much changes in the hours and days ahead. But it’s telling that the administration at least feels the need to signal this softer touch.
And given all the cameras trained on what its agents are doing, it’ll be pretty easy to tell if it was just rhetoric.
