I met yesterday with White House Border Czar Tom Homan. The meeting was cordial and, as someone who believes in dialogue as a path to solving problems, I welcomed the opportunity to share my perspective with Mr. Homan.

My purpose in meeting with him was to restate my commitment to protecting Minnesota and Minnesotans from Operation Metro Surge and to insist upon an independent, joint state-federal investigation into the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal immigration agents. I did not negotiate with Mr. Homan, come to any agreement, or offer any compromise on the goal of keeping Minnesotans safe. I raised with him directly the rage Minnesotans feel at the unconstitutional tactics federal immigration agents have been using in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and elsewhere in our state.

Mr. Homan asked for cooperation from state officials in removing people with criminal histories of violence who are not authorized to be in the United States. While Mr. Homan and I agree no Minnesotan wants actual violent criminals on our streets, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, I firmly expressed to him that right now, Minnesotans’ foremost concern for their and their neighbors’ safety is the overwhelming presence and brutal tactics of federal immigration agents on those streets that are disrupting everyday life in our communities and doing harm to our neighbors.

Throughout our meeting, I outlined relevant Minnesota law for Mr. Homan and made clear that Minnesota will continue to follow the law. I disagreed with the administration’s position that the largest single deployment of immigration agents in the history of the United States, and the violence it has caused, was made necessary because of the alleged lack of cooperation from local and state officials. I shared with him the existing state law that requires state and local authorities to share information with federal immigration authorities regarding non-citizens convicted of felonies. I also explained that county sheriffs, not the attorney general, run county jails and are also covered by the same state law. I did not make, and could not have made, any agreement with him about how sheriffs share with ICE information about people in their county jails.

I also reiterated that in Minnesota, it is against the law to hold an incarcerated person solely on an ICE detainer if there is no other legal reason to hold them, a fact I clarified in a legal opinion nearly one year ago. This is a fact that county sheriffs and chiefs of police recognize and accept and Mr. Homan did not dispute. I further pointed out that the federal government’s debunked claims about a supposed lack of cooperation from local sheriffs and the state prison system in honoring ICE detainers have further eroded trust in the federal government among members of state and local law enforcement. I provided him with the Minnesota Department of Corrections’ Fact Sheet that sets the record straight with accurate information about State policies and practices.

I also raised with Mr. Homan the fate of non-citizen immigrants who are authorized to be in Minnesota — including people with work permits or pending applications for asylum — who are afraid to leave their homes. I stressed the outrage we all feel at the arrests and disappearances of legal observers exercising their constitutional rights and of people with no criminal history at all, including 5-year-old Liam Ramos.

I asked Mr. Homan to take these concerns back to Washington and he said he would. Even though he and I disagree politically, he listened and respected what I had to say on Minnesotans’ behalf. I also told him that our lawsuits to end Operation Metro Surge and preserve evidence in the death of Alex Pretti, and our fight to make sure the federal government shares the investigations of Alex’s and Renee’s deaths with state authorities, will continue without pause.

It was distressing, then, to discover that shortly after our meeting, Attorney General Pam Bondi posted the names and images of 16 protesters that the Department of Justice arrested.

Huge numbers of Minnesotans, especially in the Twin Cities, have lost all trust in the federal government’s ability to treat all states, cities, and individuals equally under the law. Operation Metro Surge is clearly about political retribution against a state that has never voted for Donald Trump and that has policies in opposition to his agenda. While Mr. Homan did not say anything to that effect in our meeting, several administration officials, including President Trump and Attorney General Bondi, have made statements that clearly reveal the surge’s true purpose.

Federal courts in Minnesota also appear to have lost trust in the Trump Administration’s unconstitutional and illegal overreach: yesterday, one judge ordered a halt to all detention and deportation of legal refugees, while another wrote, “ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.”

The Administration’s demands for policy changes and for our sensitive voter data make plain that this surge is an attempt to use brute force to coerce Minnesota into compliance with the President’s agenda after their other attempts to do so have failed in court. Nothing else explains why Minnesota — which ranks 28th among the states in immigrant population, with undocumented immigrants making up less than 2% of our population — is currently the theater of operations for close to 10% of the nation’s immigration agents.

We will not allow the federal government to intimidate or coerce Minnesota into acting against our values or our duly enacted laws. We will not make any concessions or compromises to undermine our state sovereignty. While Minnesotans continue to with courage, compassion, and care for each other, I will continue to use every tool I have available to make the surge end.

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