Read our editorial on mass deportations here.
The Trump administration removed Gregory Bovino as “Commander-at-Large” of operations in Minnesota in late January, replacing him with “border czar” Tom Homan after wide-scale rebellions against the Minnesota mass deportation operation “Metro Surge” intensified when federal officers murdered a second anti-ICE activist in the city. Bovino publicly defended the murder in its immediate aftermath, earning the fury of the people across the country and ultimately resulting in his demotion.
Following his appointment, Homan announced roughly 700 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers would be withdrawn immediately from Minnesota, with about 2,000 officers remaining.
Unlike his predecessor, Homan announced increased collaboration with Democrat mafia officials, meeting individually with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. Homan also signaled a shift in DHS tactics from roving terror gangs to “targeted enforcement operations”.
The tactical retreat follows weeks of mass rebellion in Minneapolis that spread across the country after federal agents murdered two anti-ICE activists and carried out increasingly violent abductions in the city. Protesters entered pitched battles against federal agents and the police officers defending them, erecting barricades, setting dumpsters on fire, and throwing tear gas canisters back at state forces. Anti-ICE patrols grew throughout the city and thousands mobilized in large demonstrations. A January 23 call for a general strike saw over 50,000 people marching in the streets of downtown Minneapolis demanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leave the state.
Homan, who has been presented as a sensible replacement for Bovino by both Democrat and Republican mafias, has held high-level positions in ICE across several administrations. Under Obama, Homan served as Executive Associate Director of ICE and engineered the child separation policy that he would pilot during Trump’s first term. He went on to serve as Acting Director of ICE under Trump in his first term. In 2024, Homan was being investigated for accepting a $50,000 cash bribe from two undercover FBI agents disguised as business executives. This investigation was later closed under the second Trump administration. At a July 2024 National Conservatism Conference meeting, Homan said that “If Trump comes back… I will run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen. They ain’t seen shit yet.”
Through concessions and increased collusion, the two party mafias hope to quell the flames of mass rebellion in order to once again intensify their terror campaigns when they are on better footing. The victories of the people’s rebellion in Minneapolis provide insight into how the anti-ICE mass movement can realize its demand to force ICE out.
Correction 02/09/26: Information regarding when Tom Homan held a position in ICE was corrected.
Image: Gregory Bovino at a press conference following the murder of Alex Pretti.
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