US President sent Tom Homan to Minnesota
Two days after the death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis at the hands of immigration agents (ICE), Donald Trump changed his tone and moved from confrontation to a strategy of direct contact with the state’s Democratic authorities. The US president revealed that the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, called him “with a request to work together on Minnesota” and that, following that conversation, he facilitated contact between Walz and Tom Homan, former ICE director who Trump decided to send to the state as “border czar”.
“It was a great decision and we actually seemed to be on the same page,” Trump wrote in Truth Social, in an unusually conciliatory tone given his previous attacks on Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
“I told Governor Walz that I would ask Tom Homan to call him. What we are looking for are all the criminals they have in their power. The governor respectfully understands that and I will talk to him soon,” Trump said, adding that Walz is “happy” about Homan going to Minnesota.
Hours later it was Walz’s turn, also a former candidate for US vice president in the 2024 elections for the Democrats, to take stock of the talks. In a statement released by the governor’s office, Walz explained that he advocated the need for “impartial investigations into the Minneapolis shootings involving federal agents” – “we need to reduce the number of federal agents in Minnesota.”
According to the same statement, Trump agreed to speak with DHS, the United States Department of Homeland Security, “about ensuring that the Minnesota Department of Criminal Investigation can conduct an independent investigation, as would normally be the case”, and to “examine the possibility of reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota and working in a more coordinated way with the state in enforcing immigration laws relating to violent criminals”.
Tom Homan, the man Trump believes can change the reality of Minnesota
White House “border czar” Tom Homan speaks during the presentation of the Mexican Border Defense Medal in the Oval Office on December 15, 2025, in Washington. AP Photo/Alex Brandon
With the decision already underway, the eyes of Americans now turn to a man who is well known internally for being close to Trump: Tom Homan.
“I’m sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight. He hasn’t been involved in that area, but he knows and likes a lot of people there,” the US president announced on Truth Social, describing him as a “tough but fair” man who will report “directly” to the president.
Homan, the former acting director of ICE, was a leading proponent of the most controversial immigration policies of Trump’s first term, including the separation of children and families at the border.
If for some it may represent a threat to Kristi Noem, the US Secretary of Homeland Security, for others the sending of the “border czar” to Minnesota is seen positively. Sources close to Republicans told CNN that deputies are relieved with Trump’s decision.
“He knows what he’s doing. He understands the subject,” a Republican deputy told CNN, stating that Homan understood the system and knew how to carry out inspection operations in the “correct way.”
According to the same sources, Republicans have been emphasizing for weeks the importance of conveying the right message about immigration to the White House, stressing that they still support Trump’s restrictive immigration policy and that they believe the country also supports it. Still, they say, they feel that the White House is not presenting a well-structured plan to the public.
Still in the same message published on social media, Trump made it known that “a major investigation is underway into the massive fraud of more than 20 billion dollars in social benefits that occurred in Minnesota”, which, according to him, will be “responsible, at least in part, for the violent organized protests”.
The change in strategy comes two days after the death of Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse, a 37-year-old US citizen, shot by immigration agents on Saturday morning, on a street in south Minneapolis, after being immobilized during a demonstration against Trump’s immigration policy.
