Homan says Minneapolis crackdown will shift to targeted ops (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: This morning, the administration is adjusting its tone on the crackdown in Minneapolis.

[00:00:06] Speaker 2: I do not want to hear that everything that's been done here has been perfect. Nothing's ever perfect, and anything can be improved on. And what we've been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient by the book. The mission is going to improve because of the changes we're making internally. Based on the discussions I've had with the governor and the AG, we can start drawing down those resources. As far as those looking for public safety threats being released, and doing it in jail with much less people. So the drawdown is going to happen based on these agreements. But the drawdown can happen even more if the hateful rhetoric and the impediment and interference will stop.

[00:00:54] Speaker 1: I want to bring in CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, who covers immigration for us. You have been covering immigration for so long, Priscilla, and Tom Homan himself. He is a veteran, right, in DHS. What stood out to you from his press conference?

[00:01:07] Speaker 3: Well, Pamela, what we heard from Tom Homan this morning is really his classic approach to immigration enforcement. This is a philosophy that he has held for years, and that is essentially doing targeted enforcement operations, but not foreclosing that if there is another undocumented immigrant or immigrants in the vicinity that they too can be swept up. So let's walk through what this means for Minneapolis. Well, first of all, Tom Homan had said that he is going to stay until the problem is gone. So over the course of this news conference, he acknowledged multiple times that the status quo was not okay, and he had been having conversations with local and federal officials over the last several days to try to create a path forward. And that path forward, he said, is drawing down the number of federal agents who are in Minneapolis, but also hinging that on cooperation with local officials. Of course, one of the points of tension between the state of Minnesota and the city of Minneapolis, along with the federal government, is the cooperation with local jails. So giving notification to Immigration and Customs Enforcement if someone is being released from a jail that is undocumented and could pose a public safety threat. He said that he was having multiple conversations about that so that there can be more working together and collaboration between the federal government and the local officials. And he said that this is going to be more efficient and, quote, the mission is going to improve because of the changes we're making internally. But on targeted enforcement, this is something we've heard multiple times from Tom Homan, and it is very traditional for Immigration and Customs Enforcement generally, which is to say that they identify who they are going to go after, that in this case, they would have a criminal record, and they would pursue that target in these operations. But there is also still the option of collaterals. That is what they're called within ICE. That means any undocumented immigrant that is in the area of that operation that they could take in because of immigration violations. So it doesn't foreclose the idea that that may happen. But to give this a big picture, it means that there is an adjustment that goes away from the broad immigration sweeps that we have been seeing that have been led by Gregory Bovino, a top Border Patrol official. And in many ways, this speaks to the difference in philosophies. This is a veteran ICE official who's coming in to do targeted ICE operations, the thing that ICE has done for years, compared to a Border Patrol official typically focused on border security doing sweeps in the interior of the United States. So tactically, this is expected to look different. We still don't know until we see it. But Tom Homan expressing some level of optimism that the two, the federal government and local officials, can work together to an end that tamps down on the chaos within the city.

[00:03:56] Speaker 2: I'm not here because the federal government has carried this mission out perfectly. First thing I said to senior staff when I walked in here, is what I told you. I didn't come here looking for photo ops or headlines. I come here looking for solutions. And what we've been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient by the book. The mission is going to improve.

[00:04:25] Speaker 4: Well, this now is Congressman Seth Magaziner, a Democrat from Rhode Island. He is a member of the Homeland Security Committee. Congressman, thank you for being here. Congressman, thank you for being with us. So the announcement, a drawdown is being planned. It's in the works, conditional, but it's being planned. Also said a focus now on targeted operations, which Homan admitted they got away from. How significant are these statements?

[00:04:50] Speaker 5: Well, first of all, no kidding, they haven't been targeted. And it's a shame that it has taken two dead American citizens, children being locked up, people having their houses barged into without warrants in order for this to happen. We never should have had this to begin with. And to be clear, it's not just Minneapolis. All across the country under the Trump administration, they've been violating people's civil liberties, including United States citizens, by being untargeted. By their own data, only about 5% of the people who they have locked up and deported are people with violent criminal records. The vast majority of the people they've been detaining are people with no criminal records at all. And so, you know, it's good to hear someone in the administration finally telling the truth that they have not been operating in a targeted way and that there needs to be change. It's just a tragedy that it's taken so many shattered families and unfortunately, the killings of two Americans in order to get to this point. The other important thing I'd say is we can't take the administration at its word on anything. And I think we've learned that clearly. They've asked people to not believe what we've seen with our own eyes in the videos of these shootings. And so while it is good to hear Homan finally admit that the way that they've been acting is inappropriate, that's not enough. And that is why we need to pass laws that will constrain the ability of ICE to violate people's civil liberties. And so, you know, the Senate Democrats, like most House Democrats, are doing the right thing, saying that we will not vote for any Homeland Security funding until there are major, major changes, not just in the behavior of the administration, which they could, of course, go back on tomorrow if they wanted to, but in law as well.

[00:06:46] Speaker 1: Joining us now is Republican Senator John Husted of Ohio. He is among the growing list of lawmakers calling for a thorough and objective investigation into the Preddy shooting. Senator, thanks for coming on. First off, what is your response to what you just heard there from the Border Czar?

[00:07:00] Speaker 6: I think that represents a reset, which I think is a good thing. Targeted enforcement is what they were supposed to be there doing. It escalated from that, and it's time to reset and focus on what the mission is, which was to target violent criminals, people who are, you know, on the worst of the worst list. And I think that's where they should focus.

[00:07:20] Speaker 1: He did talk about what he called progress over the last couple of days, meeting with local officials, talking about working with the county jail on these detain requests from ICE, where the jail would possibly turn over people who were here illegally with criminal backgrounds. But what is still not clear is whether state officials and local officials can join up forces with federal officials to do this objective, impartial investigation that you've been calling for. What would you like to see happen here?

[00:07:53] Speaker 6: Well, we need to make sure that the investigation is impartial, that ultimately everyone has access to all the evidence that's used to determine what happens going forward. I think that transparency of that process is what builds trust. And we do need to see more cooperation between state and local authorities. I know in Ohio, in almost every place, if there is a local arrest of somebody who has committed a crime and they're in this country illegally, they turn those individuals over to ICE. In Minneapolis and other places, that's not happening. We need to see that happen so that we can basically, we don't need these ICE enforcements because there is more cooperation between federal and local officials.