End to ICE surge: Gov. Walz says feds need to 'pay for what they broke here'

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Gov. Tim Walz says he's cautiously optimistic about the Trump administration announcing an end to the ICE surge in Minnesota but is demanding the federal government take accountability for what happened during the surge, including "the incredible and immense costs."

ICE surge ending

The backstory:

President Trump's Border Czar, Tom Homan, announced Thursday morning that the surge would end. Officers have already started leaving the state, but the drawdown will continue through next week. Homan cited several factors in ending the drawdown but primarily continued cooperation with local authorities.

Local perspective:

Last week, City of Minneapolis officials discussed the strain the surge had put on the city.

While approving $1 million in rental assistance for families impacted by the ICE surge, Minneapolis Budget Director Jayne Discenza said every city department had faced financial impact from the surge. Discenza said Minneapolis police overtime costs during the ICE surge were at about $4.3 million. Discenza added that the city has been "put on notice" by bond rating agencies, meaning they are watching the city's use of fund balance. If the city's bond rating were to drop, it would become more costly for the city to borrow money.

Outside of that, the surge has caused disruptions for businesses and workers.

Walz calls on feds to pay for what they broke

What they're saying:

Speaking less than two hours after Homan's announcement, Gov. Tim Walz said he was cautiously optimistic about the announcement. But, while the ICE officers might leave, Walz says the damage left behind by the surge will remain.

"We are cautiously optimistic, as we've said, that this surge of untrained, aggressive federal agents are going to leave Minnesota," said Walz. "And I guess they'll go wherever they're going to go. But the fact of the matter is, they left us with deep damage, generational trauma. They left us with economic ruin in some cases. They left us with many unanswered questions."

Questions, Walz explained, like where are children that have been detained by ICE or what is the status of the investigations into the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti? At the same time, Walz says the surge 

"While the federal government may move on to whatever next thing they want to do, the State of Minnesota and our administration is unwaveringly focused on the recovery of what they did," Walz continued. "And there will be many steps in this process, many answers that we still need to get and will pursue."

What's next:

Walz says the first thing he is focused on is economic recovery from the surge. The topic of Thursday's press conference was originally a budget proposal to help businesses impacted by the ICE surge.

Along with that proposal, Gov. Walz is pushing federal leaders to pay for "what they broke."

"I'm going to make appeals to our federal delegation," said Walz. The federal government needs to pay for what they broke here. There is going to be accountability on the things that happened. But one of the things is the incredible and immense costs that were borne by the people of this state. The federal government needs to be responsible. You don't get to break things and then just leave without doing something about it."

Walz says he has reached out to lawmakers as negotiations are underway on funding for the Department of Homeland Security, hoping reimbursement for Minnesota can be included along with other reforms for ICE.

At the same time, Walz admits that might not happen. "I'm not going to hold my breath that the federal government is going to do the right thing."

Walz says he will make helping local businesses a focus of the upcoming legislative session.