Kristi Noem humiliated as ICE bows down in Minnesota

Kristi Noem has been left utterly humiliated as her hard-charging ICE agents were given new rules last night to ignore ‘agitators’ and only arrest ‘criminal’ migrants as part of Trump’s new deportation agenda. 

Border czar Tom Homan confirmed that immigration agents would be moving forward with ‘targeted, strategic, enforcement operations’ at a press conference in Minneapolis on Thursday.

Trump appointed Homan to take command of immigration enforcement in Minnesota. Homan is a longtime rival of Noem and her rumored lover, Corey Lewandowski. 

‘This is common sense cooperation that allows us to draw down the number of people we have here. Yes, I said it. Draw down the number of people here,’ Homan told reporters.

‘My main focus is draw down based on the great conversations I’ve had with your state and local leaders.’

New guidance for ICE directs agents to only target immigrants who have criminal charges or convictions, avoid confrontation with protesters and ‘verbalize every step of the arrest process.’

The Homan-led drawdown hinges on local officials agreeing to help capture criminals. Homeland Security has sent approximately 3,000 immigration agents to the Minneapolis area. 

The constraints on ICE mark a complete departure from the broad immigration enforcement tactics that have seen two protesters shot dead this month.

‘DO NOT COMMUNICATE OR ENGAGE WITH AGITATORS,’ read an email to ICE agents in the Twin Cities obtained by Reuters. ‘It serves no purpose other than inflaming the situation. No one is going to convince the other. The only communication should be the officers issuing commands.’

Under the new guidance outlined in the email, ICE officers will receive megaphones so that they can issue commands to the public and ‘need to verbalize every step of the arrest process.’ The guidance does not describe what sort of actions would trigger commands or what officers should do if commands are ignored.

The updated guidance came from Marcos Charles, the top official in ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division, according to the email. Officers could only target immigration offenders who had a previous criminal history, it said. 

‘We are moving to targeted enforcement of aliens with a criminal history,’ it read. ‘This includes arrests, not just convictions. ALL TARGETS MUST HAVE A CRIMINAL NEXUS.’

Homan addressed concerns about how immigration agents will deal with demonstrators at the press conference. 

‘You have your First Amendment rights — I support that,’ Homan said. ‘You have the right to protest. I’m just asking to keep it peaceful.’

Homan’s comments mark a clear departure from Noem, who has slammed immigration activists as ‘rioters’ and ‘insurrectionists.’ 

He noted that assaulting law enforcement is ‘never okay’ and there will be ‘zero tolerance’ for doing so. 

Homan says he outlined Trump’s expectations for immigration enforcement during meetings with local officials and ICE leadership in Minneapolis.

‘We will conduct targeted enforcement operations. Targeted. Like we’ve done for decades.’

Federal agents will use ‘numerous databases’ and criminal records to identify and target migrants, Homan said, insisting the administration is not backing down from the president’s mass deportation agenda.

‘We are not surrendering the President’s mission on immigration enforcement,’ Homan added.

An administration official responded to new guidance by stating, ‘There are ongoing conversations on how to most effectively conduct operations in Minnesota. No guidance should be considered final until it is officially issued.’

Under former president Joe Biden, ICE officers were required to focus on serious criminals, but the Trump administration rescinded that policy, allowing officers to arrest non-criminals without restrictions.

Federal agents can run license plate checks to identify potential targets and should arrest the vehicle’s registered owner if the owner is an immigrant with a criminal history, the guidance said.

Donald Trump said earlier this week his administration would ‘de-escalate’ tensions in Minnesota following the fatal shootings of two US citizens, Reene Good, a mother of three, and Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse. 

Noem is also retreating from an ICE immigration crackdown in Maine as bipartisan backlash grows following the Minnesota killings. 

Maine’s Republican Senator Susan Collins said Thursday that Noem had agreed to pull ICE out of the state following complaints that the agency had arrested legal immigrants. 

‘While the Department of Homeland Security does not confirm law enforcement operations, I can report that Secretary Noem has informed me that ICE has ended its enhanced activities in the State of Maine,’ Collins wrote on X.