By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday that he expects the federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota will end in “days, not weeks and months,” based on his recent conversations with top Trump administration officials.
The Democratic governor said at a news conference that he spoke Monday with border czar Tom Homan and with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles on Tuesday morning. Homan took over the Minnesota operation in late January after the second fatal shooting by federal officers and amid growing political backlash and questions about how the operation was being run.
“We’re very much in a trust but verify mode,” Walz said. He added that he expected to hear more from the administration “in the next day or so” about the future of what he said has been an “occupation” and a “retribution campaign” against the state.
While Walz said he’s hopeful at the moment because “every indication I have is that this thing is winding up,” he added that things could change.
“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. “That would be my expectation.”
Officials with the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the governor’s remarks.
Walz said he has no reason not to believe Homan’s statement last week that 700 federal officers would leave Minnesota immediately, but the governor added that still left 2,300 on Minnesota’s streets. Homan at the time cited an “increase in unprecedented collaboration” resulting in the need for fewer federal officers in Minnesota, including help from jails that hold inmates who could be deported.
The governor also indicated that he expects the state will get “cooperation on joint investigations” into the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers, but gave no details. That’s been a point of friction between federal authorities and state investigators, who complain that they have been frozen out of those cases so far with no access to evidence.
Walz called the news conference primarily to denounce the economic impact of the enforcement surge. He spoke at The Market at Malcolm Yards, a food hall where owner Patty Wall said the entire restaurant sector of the local economy has become “collateral damage” from the surge.
Matt Varilek, the governor’s employment and economic development commissioner, said Malcolm Yards would normally be bustling, but is now struggling because employees and customers are afraid to come due to the crackdown.
“So it is great news, of course, that the posture seems to have changed at the federal level toward their activities here in Minnesota,” Varilek said. “But, as the governor said, it’s a trust-but-verify situation. And frankly, the fear that has been sown, I haven’t really noticed any reduction in that.”
Even as Walz was expressing optimism that the crackdown would end soon, federal officers made a highly visible arrest inside the lobby of the main county building in downtown Minneapolis.
After a short foot chase, ICE officers grabbed a man who had arrived for a court appearance on charges of possessing over 50 pounds of methamphetamine.
The county’s top prosecutor, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, protested that the arrest was “disruptive and disturbing to many” and left staffers in the building afraid to leave their offices for fear of being racially profiled.
The man could go unpunished on the state drug charges if he’s deported first.
“Using local government courthouses for federal civil immigration enforcement interferes with the administration of justice, prevents witnesses from testifying and robs victims of their opportunity to seek justice,” Moriarty said in a statement. She has also objected to earlier arrests by ICE officers of people making court appearances there.