Let’s talk about what actually happened.

The “criminal” claim doesn’t hold up. DHS says they arrested 4,000 people but has never released a breakdown of how many had criminal records. Before the surge, 73% of people detained by ICE in Minneapolis had zero criminal convictions. Only 6% had violent convictions. Detentions of people with no criminal record increased 2,450% under this administration. They arrested a 2-year-old with an active asylum case. They detained airport workers who had passed federal background checks. They grabbed a food shelf volunteer at a community center. But sure — “worst of the worst.”

The fraud investigation was their excuse for the unprecedented numbers. This was supposed to be about Somali community services fraud. Out of everyone DHS highlighted as dangerous criminals, only 23 were from Somalia — and NONE had ties to the fraud cases under investigation. Minnesota’s Department of Human Services said there has been “no measurable impact” on fraud prevention from the surge.
Even worse? Six lead federal prosecutors — including the lead attorney on the Feeding Our Future case — resigned after Renee Good’s killing. Eight more followed. The operation that was supposed to fight fraud wrecked the fraud cases.

“No arrests in churches, schools, or hospitals” - Careful word games. They didn’t need to go inside when they could stake out food banks until visits dropped 50-80%, stop school district vans carrying students, hide near school bus stops, and arrest a man and his toddler coming home from grocery shopping. The terror worked just fine from the parking lot.

He’s calling your exercise of your constitutional rights “agitator activity." Thousands of Minnesotans trained as legal observers. Tens of thousands marched in subzero temperatures. The community organized the first general strike in decades. The “decline in agitator activity” Homan is celebrating came after agents pointed guns at observers, arrested 200+ people for protesting, killed two U.S. citizens, and a federal judge found ICE violated at least 96 court orders. When the administration calls people exercising their rights agitators, one wonders what they think about voting.

What about the damage? Schools went remote. Businesses closed because workers were afraid to show up and customers were afraid to leave home. Food shelf visits dropped by as much as 80%. Families are separated. Children are traumatized. Workers with legal status lost jobs they’re not getting back. Communities that took generations to build have been shattered in weeks. And two Minnesotans were killed on our streets. Another died in custody. Who pays for that? Homan doesn’t say, because the damage was the point.

And about that timing… DHS funding expires TOMORROW. Democrats have been demanding ICE reforms — judicial warrants, body cameras, an end to roving patrols — as conditions for any new funding. Homan’s “mission accomplished” the day before a funding vote is…odd.

But let’s be honest: none of this happens if Minnesota doesn’t stand up. They didn’t leave because the mission was accomplished. They left because Minnesota made this operation unsustainable. Because neighbors blew whistles in the cold. Because observers showed up every day. Because workers walked off the job. Because lawyers filed hundreds of habeas petitions. Because a federal judge held the line. Because this state refused to look away.
Homan will never say that. So we will.

Questions that still need answers:
Where are the 4,000 people? How many deported? How many still detained?
What accountability for the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti?
How many agents stay behind, and for how long?
Who investigates the 96+ court order violations?
Which county jails cut cooperation deals — and did county boards have a say?
Where are the “drawn down” agents being sent next?
The operation may be ending, but the people taken are still gone. The families are still broken. And the agents are heading somewhere else. Feels like we still have a lot to process before we can take a sigh of relief.