The White House asserted Wednesday that President Trump is delivering on his pledge to improve public safety following the arrests of more than 4,000 criminal illegal immigrants since the launch of Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis.
“President Trump’s commonsense immigration enforcement policies are delivering the public safety results the American people demanded, with more than 4,000 dangerous criminal illegal aliens already arrested in Minnesota,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“Democrats opened our borders and allowed vicious criminals, including murderers, rapists, gang members, and terrorists, to invade our communities,” Leavitt continued. “President Trump is reversing that horrific damage and removing these threats from our country.”
The Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown in Minnesota, focused on violent offenders in the Twin Cities, was launched in early December.
The Department of Homeland Security’s latest milestone comes after it eclipsed the 3,000 arrest mark in Minneapolis on Jan. 19.
A DHS spokeswoman vowed that federal agents would not “back down” despite “coordinated attacks of violence against our law enforcement.”
“We need sanctuary politicians to cooperate with us by notifying us before releasing public safety threats back onto the streets to commit more crimes and create more victims,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “We will not back down from our mission to remove criminal illegal aliens from American neighborhoods.”
The milestone was announced on the same day border czar Tom Homan revealed that the Trump administration is reducing its federal law enforcement footprint in Minneapolis by 700 officers, leaving “right around 2,000” personnel in the Twin Cities.
Homan said the increased cooperation between county jails and ICE made the partial withdrawal possible – a point echoed by the White House.
“At President Trump’s direction, Tom Homan’s commitment to draw down forces in Minneapolis today follows these achievements and the new, unprecedented cooperation from state and local officials in Minnesota,” Leavitt said.
“Commitments like these from elected officials to work with the President and federal law enforcement produce tremendous outcomes that help keep Americans safe.”
