If they're in the country illegally, they're not off the table.
In the long American argument over who belongs and who must leave, Tom Homan stepped before the Border Security Expo in Phoenix to defend a policy that has already cost lives and sparked rare bipartisan alarm. The Minneapolis operation — marked by the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens by federal agents — forced a tactical retreat, but Homan insists the destination has not changed, only the road. What the administration calls 'smarter' enforcement, critics call a quieter version of the same sweeping ambition, and the difference between those two readings may determine how the next chapter of mass deportation unfolds.
- Two U.S. citizens were killed by ICE agents during Minneapolis enforcement sweeps, triggering bipartisan outrage and forcing the White House to wind down the operation.
- A retired Border Patrol commander who led the aggressive campaigns publicly accused the administration of retreating from its own deportation promises — a charge that stings an administration built on hardline immigration rhetoric.
- ICE has pivoted to 'targeted' operations focused on immigrants with criminal records, pulling agents from the parking-lot sweeps and public-space stops that generated damaging viral footage.
- The pivot is narrower than it appears: any undocumented immigrant encountered during any operation remains subject to arrest, preserving the sweeping reach beneath a more surgical surface.
- Homan points to roughly 800,000 deportations since Trump's return as proof the mission is intact, framing the Minneapolis fallout not as failure but as a tuition paid for a more durable strategy.
Tom Homan arrived at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix this week with a defense and a distinction. The Minneapolis operation had problems — he admitted as much — but the Trump administration's deportation campaign, he insisted, is neither finished nor retreating. What happened in Minnesota was a learning experience, not a surrender.
The Minneapolis crackdown had become impossible to ignore. Federal agents killed two U.S. citizens during enforcement actions, producing bipartisan outrage and prompting Trump himself to order a wind-down. Asked whether agents could face consequences if investigations find wrongdoing, Homan said plainly: yes. Beyond that, he declined to comment while inquiries remain open.
What has shifted is method, not mission. ICE now conducts 'targeted' operations centered on immigrants with criminal records, stepping back from the visible parking-lot sweeps that flooded social media with alarming footage. The optics have changed. But Homan was careful to note that any undocumented immigrant encountered during these operations is still subject to arrest — the net remains wide, even if it is cast more quietly.
The recalibration puts Homan at odds with Gregory Bovino, the retired Border Patrol commander who led the more aggressive campaigns before departing in March. Bovino has called the new posture a 'softer' retreat. Homan rejected the word entirely, preferring 'smarter,' and offered 800,000 deportations as his counter-argument. He has aligned on the new approach with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and outgoing ICE acting director Todd Lyons.
Mass operations will continue, Homan said — especially in sanctuary cities — but without the scale and visibility that made Minneapolis a national controversy. Whether a strategy designed to be less seen can remain as forceful as the one it replaced is the question the administration has not yet had to answer.
Tom Homan sat down in Phoenix this week with a familiar refrain: the Minneapolis operation had rough edges, but the Trump administration's commitment to mass deportation remains unshaken. The border czar, speaking at the annual Border Security Expo, acknowledged that "things weren't perfect" during Operation Metro Surge, the large-scale immigration enforcement crackdown that unfolded in the Minnesota city earlier this year. Yet he framed the problems not as a fundamental failure but as a learning opportunity—one that has led to what he calls a "smarter approach."
The Minneapolis operation had become a flashpoint. Federal immigration agents killed two U.S. citizens during enforcement actions, triggering bipartisan outrage and prompting Trump himself to order a wind-down of the campaign. When asked whether agents involved in those fatal shootings should face consequences if wrongdoing is found, Homan was direct: yes. "If they violated the law, they've got to be held responsible," he said, though he declined to elaborate further while government investigations remain ongoing.
What has changed, according to Homan, is the operational philosophy. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has shifted toward what he describes as "targeted" operations—focusing enforcement efforts on people with criminal records who are also in the country illegally. The result, he noted, is fewer of the viral videos that circulated during the Minneapolis crackdown, showing agents making seemingly random stops in parking lots and public spaces. Border Patrol agents have largely stopped conducting those kinds of sweeps in visible locations.
But the shift is narrower than it might sound. Homan made clear that undocumented immigrants encountered during any operation remain vulnerable to arrest, regardless of whether they have criminal histories or were the original focus of the enforcement action. "If they're in the country illegally, they're not off the table," he said. The administration is not retreating from deportations; it is simply recalibrating how they happen.
This distinction matters because it directly contradicts criticism from Gregory Bovino, a retired Border Patrol commander who led the more aggressive sweeps in Minneapolis and other cities before retiring in March, following the fatal shooting of an agent. Bovino recently characterized the new approach as a "softer" retreat from the administration's mass deportation promise. Homan rejected that framing entirely, calling it instead a "smarter approach." He pointed to raw numbers as his evidence: roughly 800,000 deportations since Trump returned to office. "Look at the numbers of arrests and removals in the past year, and you give me one year we've done more. Never," Homan said.
He has discussed these operational adjustments with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Todd Lyons, the acting head of ICE who is departing the agency later this month. The consensus, Homan said, is that mass deportations can continue but must be executed differently. The public should not expect a return to the scale and visibility of the Minneapolis campaign, he indicated. Yet "mass operations" will persist, particularly in cities with sanctuary policies that restrict local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
Homan framed the entire effort as a response to what he called a "historic illegal immigration crisis" during the previous four years. That crisis, in his view, demands a historic response. The question now is whether the recalibrated approach—more targeted in appearance, but still sweeping in scope—can proceed without the collateral damage and public backlash that derailed the Minneapolis operation. The administration appears confident it can. Whether the distinction between "smarter" and "softer" holds up under operational pressure remains to be seen.
Citas Notables
Things weren't perfect. We addressed it. We fixed it.— Tom Homan, border czar
We can have mass deportations, but do it in a smarter way, which we're doing.— Tom Homan
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
When Homan says "smarter approach," what does he actually mean? Is this a real change in how ICE operates, or just a change in messaging?
It's both, I think. They're genuinely shifting away from the visible, random sweeps that generated those viral videos. But "smarter" doesn't mean narrower—it means more selective about who gets caught, not whether they get caught. If you're undocumented and you're in the wrong place during an operation, you're still going.
So the Minneapolis operation was a problem because of the optics, not because of the principle?
Partly. The fatal shootings forced a reckoning—you can't ignore two dead U.S. citizens. But Homan's framing suggests the real mistake was being too visible, too random. A more targeted operation, he's arguing, can achieve the same deportation numbers without the backlash.
Does he actually believe that, or is he just managing expectations?
Hard to say. But he's betting on numbers—800,000 deportations. That's his answer to anyone who says the administration is backing down. Whether those numbers came from the aggressive approach or the "smarter" one doesn't seem to matter to him.
What about the agents who killed those two people? Is accountability real?
Homan said yes, they should face consequences if wrongdoing is found. But he wouldn't say more because investigations are ongoing. It's the right answer, but it's also the safest one. We don't know yet what "held responsible" actually means.
And Bovino, the retired commander—why does Homan care what he thinks?
Because Bovino led the aggressive sweeps and now he's saying the administration is retreating. That's a threat to Homan's credibility. If the guy who actually ran these operations says it's softer, then maybe it is. Homan has to push back hard on that.