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Tom Homan Announces End Of ICE Surge Operation In Minneapolis

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By Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America - Thomas Homan, CC BY-SA 2.0,

MINNEAPOLIS โ€” Border czar Tom Homan announced Thursday that the Trump administration will conclude Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis and the Twin Cities area, saying the large-scale federal immigration enforcement effort achieved its objectives and made the region safer.

Speaking at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling, Homan said the stepped-up ICE operation would be scaled back after weeks of heightened federal presence and cooperation with state and local law enforcement. โ€œI have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude,โ€ Homan told reporters.

Homan said the successful results of the mission โ€” including arrests of individuals with criminal histories and disrupting unlawful agitator activity โ€” warranted the drawdown. โ€œTwin Cities and Minnesota in general are and will continue to be much safer for the communities here because of what we have accomplished under President Trumpโ€™s leadership,โ€ he said during his third press conference since being tasked with leading the surge.

Federal officials say the initiative, which began late in 2025, has resulted in thousands of arrests of dangerous illegal aliens and public safety threats, helping stem criminal activity and bolster cooperation with local law enforcement.

Homan outlined that federal officers will either return to their home duty stations or be reassigned elsewhere once the drawdown is complete. โ€œLaw enforcement officers drawing down from this surge operation will either return to the duty stations or be assigned elsewhere.โ€

In recent days, Homan confirmed that 700 of nearly 3,000 federal immigration officers have already been reassigned, a move he framed as responsive to productive coordination with state officials.

The operation had drawn intense national attention and criticism after two Americans โ€” Renรฉe Good and Alex Pretti โ€” were killed in separate confrontations with federal agents during enforcement actions, sparking protests and legal challenges.

Trump Administration Delivers Historic Border Security Win โ€” Lowest Apprehensions Since 1970

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Trump at the border wall via Wikimedia Commons

The Trump administration has closed fiscal year 2025 with a historic milestone on border security โ€” the lowest U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions in more than five decades, according to preliminary enforcement data released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Border agents recorded 237,565 apprehensions in fiscal year 2025 โ€” slightly above the 201,780 apprehensions in 1970 but dramatically below recent levels. The numbers represent an 87% drop compared to the average of the past four fiscal years (1.86 million apprehensions) and showcase what can happen when the federal government finally enforces immigration laws.

This achievement came even though 72% of this yearโ€™s total apprehensions happened during the final 111 days of the Biden administration โ€” before President Trump returned to office and immediately began reversing his predecessorโ€™s โ€œopen-borderโ€ policies.

โ€œFiscal year 2025 shows what happens when we enforce the law without compromise,โ€ said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott. โ€œFor too long, agents and officers were handcuffed by failed policies. Today they are empowered to do their jobs โ€” and the result is the most secure border in modern history.โ€


Reversing Bidenโ€™s Border Chaos

When President Trump took office in January 2025, he inherited what many described as a border crisis fueled by Bidenโ€™s mass-release policies. In just the first 111 days of the fiscal year, under Bidenโ€™s watch, 172,026 apprehensions occurred โ€” nearly three-quarters of the yearโ€™s total.

But once Trumpโ€™s immigration directives took effect, the situation changed dramatically. Over the next 254 days, apprehensions plummeted to 65,539 โ€” just 27% of the fiscal yearโ€™s total.

September 2025 alone saw only about 279 apprehensions per day along the Southwest border โ€” a staggering 95% decline compared to the Biden-era daily average of 5,110. It also marked the fifth consecutive month of zero illegal immigrant releases by Border Patrol โ€” a stark contrast to 9,144 releases in September 2024.

Across all entry points, CBP recorded roughly 26,000 total encounters in September, down 89% from Bidenโ€™s monthly averages.


Strong Action From Day One

President Trump wasted no time taking decisive action to reestablish border control:

  • Deployed additional personnel to the southern border.
  • Ended โ€œcatch-and-releaseโ€, ensuring illegal migrants are no longer released while awaiting hearings.
  • Shut down Bidenโ€™s CBP One app parole loophole, later repurposing the app to help migrants self-deport.
  • Paused parole programs and authorized ICE to cancel parole statuses.
  • Ordered strict enforcement of existing immigration laws, restoring morale and authority to frontline border agents.

These policies stand in sharp contrast to Bidenโ€™s approach, which relied on controversial โ€œparoleโ€ programs and insisted on new legislation instead of acting on existing laws.

Trump Puts Sanctuary Cities On Notice With New Executiveย Order

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Trump at the border wall via Wikimedia Commons

President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this week to crack down on sanctuary jurisdictions impeding federal immigration enforcement.

The directive requires the Justice Department to compile a list of all sanctuary city jurisdictions and then take action to cut off or suspend federal funding to those places. Under Trump, cities across the country, like Boston, have already made it difficult for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to apprehend illegal immigrants.

โ€œThis invasion at the southern border requires the Federal Government to take measures to fulfill its obligation to the States,โ€ Trump wrote in the executive order. โ€œYet some State and local officials nevertheless continue to use their authority to violate, obstruct, and defy the enforcement of Federal immigration laws. This is a lawless insurrection against the supremacy of Federal law and the Federal Governmentโ€™s obligation to defend the territorial sovereignty of the United States.โ€

After the list of sanctuary jurisdictions is published, those entities would be given the chance to comply with federal law. If they donโ€™t comply, they could lose federal funding.

The executive order also directs the Justice Department and Homeland Security to ensure that federal benefits are not provided to illegals in sanctuary jurisdictions and to โ€œtake appropriate action to stop the enforcement of State and local laws, regulations, policies, and practices favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens that are unlawful, preempted by Federal law, or otherwise unenforceable.โ€

Earlier this month, Trump called sanctuary jurisdictions โ€œdeath trapsโ€ and promised to cut off federal funding.

โ€œNo more Sanctuary Cities! They protect the Criminals, not the Victims. They are disgracing our Country and are being mocked all over the World,โ€ he posted on Truth Social. โ€œWorking on papers to withhold all Federal Funding for any City or State that allows these Death Traps to exist!!!โ€

While contrasting the Biden and Trump administrations, border czar Homan said that between 11,000-15,000 people were crossing the border illegally per day this time of the year under Biden, while under Trump, just 178 had crossed in the last 24 hours. During the same time, he said there were 1,800 known โ€œgotawaysโ€ under Biden, compared to just 38 under Trump. Homan added that from January 20 to April 1, 2024, Biden released 184,000 illegals out of federal custody into the country. The Trump administration has only released nine total, including four so they could testify in criminal cases and four with extreme medical conditions.

In total, Homan said that there have been 139,000 deportations under Trump. He added that the administration was prioritizing the estimated 700,000 illegals who have been charged with crimes.

Trump To Sign Order To Prepare Guantanamo Bay For 30K Prisoners

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President Donald J. Trump participates in a roundtable discussion on immigration and border security at the U.S. Border Patrol Calexico Station Friday, April 5, 2019, in Calexico, Calif. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

Presidentย Donald Trumpย announced Wednesday that he would sign an executive order for the Pentagon to prepare Guantanamo Bay to detain 30,000 “criminal illegal aliens.”

David B. Gleason from Chicago, IL, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

“Today I’m also signing an executive order to instruct the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000 person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay,” Trump said. “Most people don’t even know about it.”

He said they need 30,000 beds to house the detainees, adding that putting them there will ensure they do not come back.

“Itโ€™s a tough place to get out of,” Trump added.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

Federal Judge Blocks Trump Birthright Citizenship Order

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A second federal judge moved to block President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship Wednesday.

Judge Deborah Boardman, a Biden appointee, ruled that the order is likely unconstitutional. This marks the second time a federal court has blocked the policy. The nationwide injunction is slated to remain in place while the case is adjudicated.

Boardman said the civil rights group plaintiffs, five pregnant women whose children would not be granted citizenship under the order, were likely to succeed on the merits. The plaintiffs are represented by the CASA and the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project.

Trumpโ€™s executive order seeks to deny U.S. citizenship to children born in the country unless at least one parent is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. The administration argues that children of undocumented immigrants and temporary visa holders are not โ€œsubject to the jurisdictionโ€ of the United States, a reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment.

In January, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour temporarily blocked President Donald Trumpโ€˜s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship, deeming the presidential directive โ€œblatantly unconstitutional.โ€ (RELATED: Republican Attorneys General Back Trumpโ€™s Executive Order On Birthright Citizenship)

Trump signed Executive Order 14156, titled Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship, on his first day in office. The order seeks to end birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to noncitizen parents, but it has already encountered significant legal pushback.

Judge Coughenour issued a restraining order against its implementation, siding with several states that argued the executive action violates the 14th Amendment and contradicts long-standing Supreme Court rulings.

The executive order was set to take effect in February, marking a bold attempt to reshape the interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which has guaranteed citizenship to nearly all individuals born on U.S. soil since its ratification in 1868. Many legal experts, however, argue that any effort to alter this constitutional guarantee would require far more than an executive order.

The Supreme Court decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) affirmed that the 14th Amendment grants citizenship to nearly all individuals born in the U.S., regardless of their parentsโ€™ nationality. This precedent has formed the legal backbone of birthright citizenship for over a century.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia Taken Into Custody By ICE

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Arrest image via Pixabay

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the immigrant deported to El Salvador who became a political flashpoint for the Trump administrationโ€™s immigration crackdown, wasย detainedย again on Monday

Speaking to reporters outside the ICE Field Office in Baltimore after Abrego Garcia was detained, his lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said ICE officials had declined to tell them where they were detaining Abrego Garcia prior to his removal, or tell them why they were arresting him. 

“As of the last five minutes, Mr. Abrego Garcia has filed a new lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Maryland challenging his confinement and challenging his deportation to Uganda, or to any other country unless and until he’s had a fair trialโ€” as in, an immigration court, as well as his full appeal rights,,” Sandoval-Moshenberg sad.

The habeas petition, filed in the U.S. District Court of Maryland, was assigned to U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who has presided since March over his civil case.

Abrego Garcia, who fled El Salvador as a teenager and lived in Maryland, addressed supporters before entering his appointment.

โ€œMy name is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and I want you to remember this, remember that I am free and I was able to be reunited with my family,โ€ he said. โ€œThis was a miracle. Thank you to God and thank you to the community. I want to thank each and every one of you who marched, lift your voices, never stop praying, and continue to fight in my name.โ€

Abrego Garcia’s legal fight for months has dominated U.S. headlines, after he was deported by theย Trump administrationย to El Salvador in violation of a 2019 court order. He faces a possible second deportation, this time to Uganda.

Shortly before his arrival Monday morning, immigration advocates, faith leaders, and other community members massed outside the field office at sunrise for a vigil, organized by two immigration advocacy groups.

The Trump administration returned him to the U.S. months after sending him to El Salvador, under orders from a federal judge and from the Supreme Court.

He was arrested upon return to the U.S. on human smuggling charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennesee. He remained in federal detention until Friday, when he was released from U.S. custody and ordered to return to Maryland, where a judge said he could remain under electronic surveillance and under ICE supervision while awaiting trial.

ICE officials notified Abrego Garcia’s attorneys shortly after his release on Friday that they planned to deport him to Uganda.

The notice, sent by ICE’s Office of the Principal Legal Adviser, said it was intended to “serve as notice that DHS may remove your client, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, to Uganda no earlier than 72 hours from now (absent weekends).”

Trump’s border czar Tom Homan told Fox News in an interview Sunday night that Abrego Garcia was “absolutely” going to be deported from the U.S, and said Uganda is “on the table” as the third country of removal.ย 

“We have an agreement with them. It’s on a table, absolutely,” Homan said in an interview on “The Big Weekend Show” Sunday evening.

“He is absolutely going to be deported,” Homan reiterated. 

For now, he said, Abrego Garcia “can enjoy the little time he has with his family. And for the person who says we’re not going to separate family, his family can go with him, because he’s leaving.”

Trump Admin. Partners With Indiana To Create New ‘Speedway Slammer’

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The Trump Administration announced an exciting new partnership with the state of Indiana to create a new ICE detention facility modeled after Floridaโ€™s โ€œAlligator Alcatraz,โ€ with the new location called the โ€œSpeedway Slammer.โ€

The new ICE detention facility, which will be established in coordination with the Indiana state government, will be located at the Miami Correctional Facility, located roughly 60 miles north of Indianapolis.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the new facility, explaining that it will allow the federal law enforcement agency to hold another 1,000 illegal aliens at a time.

โ€œCOMING SOON to Indiana: The Speedway Slammer. Today, weโ€™re announcing a new partnership with the state of Indiana to expand detention bed space by 1,000 beds. Thanks to Governor Braun for his partnership to help remove the worst of the worst out of our country,โ€ Noem said in a statement to Fox News announcing the new ICE detention facility.

โ€œIf you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in Indianaโ€™s Speedway Slammer. Avoid arrest and self deport now using the CBP Home App,โ€ she added, referencing the app that the Trump administration is using to encourage illegal alien self-deportations.

Indiana Governor Mike Braun touted the new partnership with the Trump administration and asserted that the โ€œSpeedway Slammerโ€ will assist ICE in its effort to โ€œremove the worst of the worst.โ€

โ€œWe are proud to work with President Trump and Secretary Noem as they remove the worst of the worst with this innovative partnership,โ€ Braun said. โ€œIndiana is taking a comprehensive and collaborative approach to combating illegal immigration and will continue to lead the way among states.โ€

The โ€œSpeedway Slammerโ€ comes on the heels of Floridaโ€™s โ€œAlligator Alcatraz,โ€ the new ICE detention facility located in the Everglades, which appearsย virtually impossibleย to successfully escape from due to the treacherous natural conditions in the area and the dangerous wildlife that populate it.

Trump Officially Deports Migrant Influencer

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Image via Pixabay

President Trump has ensured anย illegal immigrantย from Venezuela who garnered a massive online following by posting videos of him flashing stacks of cash and urging migrants to “invade” American homes and take them over under squatters’ rights laws has been deported.

Leonel Moreno, 26, told his audience he planned to make a business out of his scams.

“He has been deported,” the Trump administration announced Friday on its @RapidResponse47 X account.

In his videos, he mocked U.S. taxpayers and even other immigrants who work for a living, alternately waving stacks of hundred-dollar bills, crying, singing or posing with an infant with mucus running out of his nose.

“I didn’t cross the Rio Grande to work like a slave,” Moreno said in Spanish, according to a translation of his videos. “I came to the U.S. to mark my territory.”

He bragged about raking in cash via TikTok as well as entitlement payments from U.S. taxpayers. He claimed that his family had received $350 a week in government handouts since entering the U.S. illegally and that at one point he was raking in as much as $1,000 a week with his viral videos.

“You’re hurt because I make more than you without much work while you work like slaves, understand?” he said in one of his videos. “That’s the difference between you and me. I’m always going to make lots of money without much work, and you’re always going to be exploited and miserable and insignificant.”

TikTok eventually shut down his account, which had amassed about 500,000 followers.

ICE picked him up after his online profile exploded, but he spent months in custody under theย Biden administration.ย 

El Salvador President Responds After Man Mistakenly Deported

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By Casa Presidencial El Salvador - https://www.flickr.com/photos/fotospresidencia_sv/54351745159/, CC0,

El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele toldย President Donald Trumpย in the Oval Office on Monday that he has no plans to return a Maryland man wrongfully deported to a prison in his country.

Bukeleโ€™s Oval Office meeting with President Trump was the first since the Supreme Court ruled last week that the U.S. must โ€œfacilitateโ€ the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

However, both Trump and Bukele suggested they donโ€™t have the power to return the Maryland man and Salvadoran national to the U.S.

โ€œHow could I return him to the United States? I smuggle him to the United States? Of course Iโ€™m not going to do it. The question is preposterous,โ€ Bukele said, going on to refer to Abrego Garcia as a terrorist.

โ€œI donโ€™t have the power to return him to the United States. Iโ€™m not releasing โ€” I mean, weโ€™re not very fond of releasing terrorists into our country,โ€ he added, saying El Salvador is no longer the murder capital of the world.

Before Bukele spoke, Trump and a number of his aides suggested the decision would rest with El Salvador.

โ€œThatโ€™s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. Thatโ€™s not up to us,โ€ Attorney Generalย Pam Bondiย said.

Duncan Lock, Dflock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Supreme Court ruled last week that the government must โ€œfacilitateโ€ Abrego Garciaโ€™s return. (RELATED: Supreme Court Rules Wrongfully Deported Man Must Return To US)

โ€œThe order properly requires the Government to โ€˜facilitateโ€™ Abrego Garciaโ€™s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,โ€ the Supreme Court ruled, referencing a lower court decision. 

โ€œThe District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs. For its part, the Government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps,โ€ the order reads. 

White House aide Stephen Miller said seeking Abrego Garciaโ€™s return would equate to kidnapping him.

โ€œA district court judge tried to tell the administration that they had to kidnap a citizen of El Salvador and fly him back here. That issue was raised at the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court said the district court order was unlawful and its main components reversed, 9-0, unanimously stating clearly that neither the secretary of state nor the President could be compelled by anybody to forcibly retrieve a citizen of El Salvador from El Salvador, who again, is a member of MS-13,โ€ Miller said during the meeting.

Former First Lady Reveals The Trump Policy That ‘Keeps Her Awake At Night’

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FLOTUS at Fayetteville, N.C. -The Arts Center speech Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian

Former first ladyย Michelle Obamaย expressed fear over Presidentย Donald Trump’s immigration policies, saying they have kept her up at night.ย 

“Now that we have leadership that is sort of indiscriminately determining who belongs and who doesn’t,” the former first lady said Monday during an appearance on the podcast “On Purpose with Jay Shetty,” adding that such deportation decisions “aren’t being made with courts and with due process.” 

“I worry for people of color all over this country, and I don’t know that we will have the advocates to protect everybody,” she continued. “And that makes me โ€ฆ that frightens me. It keeps me up at night.” 

“And I and I see that when I’m driving around LA. I’m just looking in the faces of folks who could be a victim and I’m wondering, how are you feeling, how do you feel standing on the bus stop,” she said. 

“In this current climate, for me itโ€™s whatโ€™s happening to immigrants,” Obama said when asked about “recent tests of fear” related to individuals facing discrimination over the color of their skin. 

Obama noted that the “fear” does not personally impact her as a former first lady who has police protection. 

“Itโ€™s not the fear for myself anymore,” she continued. “I drive around in a four-car motorcade with a police escort. Iโ€™m Michelle Obama. I do still worry about my daughters in the world, even though they are somewhat recognizable.”

“My fears are for what I know is happening out there in streets all over the city,” she added, referring to her hometown of Chicago. 

During a Monday White House briefing to discuss border enforcement during President Donald Trumpโ€™s first hundred days border czar Tom Homan said that under Trump, unlawful crossings were โ€œhistorically lowโ€ and that the border was the most secure it has ever been. Homan drew a sharp contrast to the record number of illegal immigrants that entered the United States under the Biden administration.

โ€œEvery president I ever worked for took border security seriously because you canโ€™t have national security if you donโ€™t have strong border security,โ€ Homan said. โ€œEven President Obama and President Clinton took some steps to secure the border because they understood national security was important. Joe Biden is the first president in the history of this nation who came into office and unsecured a border on purpose. Thatโ€™s just a fact.โ€

Homan accused the Biden administration of weaponizing its immigration policies, motivated by the desire that a future Democrat president would give illegal immigrants released into the country amnesty, saying Biden was โ€œselling this country off for future political power.โ€

Watch:

Contrasting Biden and Trump, Homan said that between 11,000-15,000 people were crossing the border illegally per day this time of the year under Biden, while under Trump, just 178 had crossed in the last 24 hours. During the same time, he said there were 1,800 known โ€œgotawaysโ€ under Biden, compared to just 38 under Trump. Homan added that from January 20 to April 1, 2024, Biden released 184,000 illegals out of federal custody into the country. The Trump administration has only released nine total, including four so they could testify in criminal cases and four with extreme medical conditions.

In total, Homan said that there have been 139,000 deportations under Trump. He added that the administration was prioritizing the estimated 700,000 illegals who have been charged with crimes.