Border Czar Tom Tom Homan Says Minnesota Officials Agreed to Give ICE Access to Criminal Illegals in Jails

Border Czar Tom Homan brought calm to the storm in Minnesota today.

Homan, who has served in administrations since Ronald Reagan’s, said in a press conference today that he is making progress in getting Minnesota to enforce detainers in jails so that ICE can “draw down” the number of agents there, since fewer would then be needed due to safety concerns related to more dangerous street operations.

He also said that Minnesota leaders have acknowledged that ICE “is a legitimate law enforcement agency that has a duty to enforce the laws.” Homan said the officials agreed “not to release public safety threats back to the community when they can be lawfully transferred to ICE.” He added that Minnesota prisons “have been honoring ICE detainers. That decision has made Minnesota safer.”

He added that AG Keith Ellison had “clarified that county jails may notify ICE of the release dates of criminal public safety threats so ICE can take custody upon the release from jail.”

• Homan, who has been in Minnesota for three full days, says he is working to “regain law and order” and trying to “work together” with Minnesota leaders to “remove threats from the community.”
• Homan said Biden’s open border policies, in which “more than 10 million illegal aliens entered this nation, many national security threats” caused the problems.
• He met with Gov. Tim Walz, AG Keith Ellison, and Mayor Jacob Frey, as well as numerous police chiefs and sheriffs. He said he wants to have a dialogue with business and religious leaders as well, saying, “You can’t fix problems if you don’t have discussions,” and said he “came here to seek solutions.”
• Homan stressed that jurisdictions “that refuse to cooperate are sanctuary cities for criminals, and it endangers the residents of the communities.”
• Arresting illegal immigrants in the “safety and security of a jail” makes common sense and is safer for all, he said.
• Homan stressed that victims and witnesses of crimes have nothing to fear from ICE. “We want the person locked in a jail cell,” he said. “Victims and witnesses of crime don’t want the bad guy back in their neighborhood, either.”
• Homan said the more agents are needed when ICE must go on the streets to arrest people because they require a security team behind the arrest team as they are then on the illegal immigrant criminal’s “turf, and who knows what weapons they have. I know that causes stress in the community.”

Homan stressed that “nothing’s ever perfect. Everything can be improved on. We are working to make this operation safer and more efficient. The mission will improve because of changes we’re making internally.”

He said that President Trump recognizes that “certain improvements should and could be made.”

“We will conduct targeted enforcement operations that we have done for decades,” he said. Those operations will prioritize “criminal aliens,” he said, adding, “That doesn’t mean we forget about everyone else, but the criminals are being targeted first.”

“If you’re in the country illegally, you’re never off the table,” he added.

• He said that officers are “performing duties in challenging environments under tremendous circumstances. They are trying to do it professionally.” He called them “American patriots.”
• Homan said that they have seen horrific atrocities due to the Biden open border, including people drowning in the river, women being r*ped by cartels and even a baby thrown into the river by a cartel.”
• He said the rhetoric and hate “must stop” as it has led to an “increase in assaults.”
• “I don’t want anyone to die,” said Homan.
• “Every administration, we enforced the same laws, said Homan. If you don’t like what ICE is doing, protest Congress and tell them what you want changed.”
• He said he supports 1st Amendment rights, but is “just asking that you keep it peaceful,” and he said there will be “zero tolerance” for threats, impeding, obstruction, and assault.
• Homan said President Trump has delivered the “most secure border in history.” He said fewer women are being r*ped, fewer children are dying, and there is less fentanyl to kill Americans. National security is stronger. According to Homan, federal law enforcement became “overwhelmed” when Biden released “millions of people into this nation, many unvetted. Now we have to find them. The reason for the massive deployment is because of the threats.”
• He said that over 4,000 illegal immigrants died crossing the border under Biden, questioning of the protesters, “where were they the last four years?”
• Homan said President Trump “doesn’t want to see anybody die.” Homan said he personally says a “prayer every night that everyone comes home safe.”
• “Let the officers operate in the safety and security of a jail. It will result in fewer collateral arrests,” he added.

Ellison told ABC News, that he “made clear that Minnesota will continue to follow the law. I also reiterated that in Minnesota, it is against the law to hold an incarcerated person solely on an ICE detainer if there is no other legal reason to hold them.”

“I shared with him the existing state law that requires state and local authorities to share information with federal immigration authorities regarding non-citizens convicted of felonies,” Ellison said. “I also explained that county sheriff’s, not the attorney general, run country jails and are also covered by the same law.”

Ellison added, “I did not make, and could not have made, any agreement with him about how sheriffs share with ICE information about people in their county jails.”