Tom Homan tells Minnesota leaders be grateful for immigration enforcement
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Border czar Tom Homan said Minnesota leaders should be grateful that the Trump administration is making their state safer after some called on the federal government to compensate them for damages they claim occurred during immigration enforcement operations.
““A lot of things were broken, but it wasn’t because of the Trump administration,” Homan said Sunday on “Fox & Friends Weekend.”
“The border; over 10 million illegal immigrants crossed the border in the last four years. That was violated. Where were they then? Did Governor Walz oppose it because of overdose deaths, sex trafficking, and… terrorists? No.”
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Border czar Tom Homan turned down requests for federal funding from Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. (Steve Karnowski/AP Photo; Go Nakamura/Reuters; Annabelle Gordon/Reuters)
While Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey publicly called for federal funding after what they described as the massive economic impact of recent immigration enforcement operations, Homan argued that the mission was a “huge success” that made Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests safer and reduced sanctuary-style barriers to cooperation.
Frey claimed his city had “$203 million in economic impact in January alone.”
“And that’s why we’re calling on the federal government to step in fully to provide direct financial assistance to our city,” he said at a news conference.
Federal agents prepare to leave the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on February 4, 2026, after border Czar Tom Homan announced the withdrawal of 700 immigration enforcement personnel from the state amid the end of Operation Metro Surge. (John Moore/Getty Images)
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Walz said the federal government should “pay for what they broke.” He proposed a $10 million emergency aid package for small businesses across the state affected by the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants.
The proposal calls for forgivable loans of $2,500 to $25,000 to be distributed to eligible businesses that can demonstrate “significant revenue loss” during “specified dates” tied to Operation Metro Surge.
Homan argued that Democrats “broke the border” and President Donald Trump fixed the border, adding that Minnesota refuses to work with ICE because it is a “sanctuary state.”
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“Across the state, state prisons weren’t working with us. Well, you know what? We fixed that. They should be thankful. That’s why the state is safer,” he said, adding that ICE agents are much safer making arrests in jail than on the street.
The border czar also noted that “more than 4,000 people were arrested”; among them “14 illegal aliens convicted of murder. [and] 87 [with] “Mostly sexual assaults on children.”
Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz contributed to this report.
