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ICE surge in Minnesota will end, Tom Homan announces
The ICE surge in Minnesota is coming to an end, Border Czar Tom Homan announced on Thursday.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution urging the Sheriff's Office not to change its policy on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations as the White House winds down Operation Metro Surge, citing new cooperation with local authorities.
Hennepin County ICE policy
What we know:
The board passed the resolution Thursday afternoon, stating they support the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office's current policy regarding cooperating with ICE, which is not honoring detainer requests from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
According to the resolution, the board is telling the sheriff to not make "substantive changes to the policy to voluntarily increase cooperation with federal immigration enforcement."
The board goes on to ask the sheriff to notify the public and the board if there are any changes to the policy that would increase cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
What they're saying:
The resolution comes after U.S. Border Czar Tom Homan announced an end to the ICE surge in Minnesota, citing significant changes in cooperation with local law enforcement.
"We now have the ability to arrest criminal aliens in the safety and security of jails throughout the state at the time they're being released, like we've done in other states," said Homan. "I've also directed the strategic placement of officers in certain areas throughout the states that respond quickly to sheriffs that want to release somebody and notify us. We need to be nearby so they don't hold them unnecessarily. So we worked on a strategic plan to reassign officers in those key locations. Arresting a public safety threat. And the safety and security of a jail is safer for the alien. It's safer for the officer and safer for the community. I think we all can agree on that."
Homan says the cooperation has made Minnesota "less of a sanctuary state."
"As a result of our efforts here, Minnesota is now less of a sanctuary state for criminals," said Homan. "And we are proud of the public safety threats we have removed from the criminal aliens out of the state."
READ MORE: ICE surge in Minnesota is ending, Border Czar Tom Homan says
Calls for independent state investigation into Good, Pretti shootings
Dig deeper:
In the same resolution, the board is "reiterating the need" for an independent investigation by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) into the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
The board also passed a resolution prohibiting law enforcement from wearing face coverings in county-owned facilities when the face covering is used to hide the identity of the law enforcement officer or agent.