MINNEAPOLIS — The Trump administration's drawdown of its immigration enforcement surge in the Twin Cities area has been met with relief, but state and city officials say small businesses and immigrant communities are still reeling.
Thousands of officers were sent to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area for Operation Metro Surge. The Department of Homeland Security said it was its largest immigration enforcement operation ever and dubbed it a success, but the crackdown came under increasing criticism as the situation grew more volatile.
The shooting deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers drew condemnation and raised questions over officers' conduct, prompting changes to the operation.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, said the damage would be lasting and called on the federal government to help pay the costs.
“This unprecedented federal escalation has upended daily life, it has eroded trust and inflicted a whole lot of harm on the operation that we need to provide as a city," Frey said Friday. “Minneapolis taxpayers should not be left to foot the bill of this situation that has been created by the federal government.”
The mayor and other Minneapolis officials outlined the ways the crackdown has strained the finances of residents, businesses and the city itself. Expenses such as staff overtime and street cleanups cost the city an extra $6 million in January, they said.
The city estimates that small businesses have lost tens of millions of dollars in revenue, and thousands of hotel room were cancelled, Frey said. Furthermore, an estimated tens of thousands of people, including school-age children, are in need of support services such as rent and food assistance.
It's the federal government's responsibility in any emergency to assist in the recovery, Frey said, noting it was “all the more important” when federal agencies caused the damage.
The operation leaves a mark
Following Thursday's announcement, some residents held a vigil at a makeshift shrine that went up where Good was shot in Minneapolis.
Mark Foresman, an attendee from the suburb of St. Louis Park, said he is skeptical that the agents will leave.
“The Trump administration has created an atmosphere of distrust for government in general," he said, suggesting the Trump administration’s tactics seemed designed to sow fear. “They’ve repeatedly been caught in lies.”.
John Schnickel, a local who attended the vigil, disputed Trump officials' claims that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers or the operation had made Minnesota safer.
“I don’t even want one ICE person here, if they act the way they’ve been acting,” said Schnickel. “They talk about how the murder rate is down, and yet they’ve added two people to it,” he said.
Most U.S. adults say they think Trump's immigration policies have gone too far, according to a recent AP-NORC poll.
Homan credits improved coordination
Border czar Tom Homan told reporters Thursday that "extensive engagement" with state and local officials allowed for a formal end to the operation. The White House had long accused Minnesota of protecting criminals from deportation with so-called sanctuary laws.
President Donald Trump softened his tone and dispatched Homan to reduce tensions after the Jan. 24 killing of Pretti, saying that he and Walz were on a "similar wavelength" after weeks of barbs between the two leaders.
Homan on Thursday highlighted examples of newfound cooperation with state and local entities, including law enforcement being increasingly responsive to requests for assistance and agreements on how jails handle deportable inmates.
Minnesota's state prison system and many of its county jails have long shared information with federal immigration authorities so they can take custody of arrested immigrants.
The major exception is the Hennepin County Jail, which serves Minneapolis and doesn’t work with immigration authorities unless an arrest warrant has been signed by a judge. Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt, who oversees the jail, insisted Friday that no policies had changed.
Frey, meanwhile, emphasized Friday that his position hasn't changed despite Homan's indication that agreements with state and city leaders had been made.
“We do not enforce federal immigration law, period. We do not cooperate with ICE or any agency around enforcement of federal immigration law, period,” Frey said.
Immigration enforcement will continue on a smaller scale
Homan announced last week that 700 federal officers would leave Minnesota immediately, but that still left more than 2,000 in the state. He said Thursday that a "significant drawdown" was already underway and would continue through next week.
He didn't specify how many officers would remain, but he said enforcement would continue in the Twin Cities. Todd Lyons, ICE's acting director, said during a congressional hearing Thursday that the agency was still searching for about 16,840 people in Minnesota who have final orders of removal.
Homan also said mass deportations will continue across the country, and that officers leaving Minnesota will report back to their stations or be assigned elsewhere.
The focus on the Twin Cities, which Trump had pushed for partly because of fraud allegations involving Somali residents, followed increased deployments in big cities and small towns run by Democrats, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and New Orleans.
Fallout in Congress and the courts
Even though the Twin Cities operation is ending, the fallout will continue.
The Trump administration is trying to secure votes in Congress to prevent Department of Homeland Security funding from expiring at the end of the week, with Democratic lawmakers demanding restraints on immigration officers following Good and Pretti's killings.
And there are ongoing federal investigations into the shooting of Pretti.
The effects of the Minnesota crackdown are also still playing out in court, as federal prosecutors pursue high-profile cases against protesters and deportation cases slowly proceed.
A federal judge issued a temporary emergency order Thursday, finding that immigrants detained at a federal building in Minnesota have too many barriers to legal counsel.
Former CNN host turned independent journalist Don Lemon pleaded not guilty to federal civil rights charges Friday, accused in a protest at a Minnesota church where an ICE official is a pastor.
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Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press reporters Tim Sullivan in Minneapolis and Sarah Raza in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, contributed to this report.
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