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Why Trump sending Tom Homan to Minnesota is a stroke of absolute genius
By Chad Wolf
Published January 30, 2026
This week, President Trump’s decision to deploy former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director and current border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota signals a deliberate and strategic approach to public safety — one grounded in accountability and a deep understanding of how law enforcement operates.
Minnesota has become a flash point in the national immigration debate. Already in focus for widespread fraud, Minneapolis is ground zero for violent protests, ICE operations and two fatal officer-involved shootings. State and local officials have responded by demanding limits on federal enforcement activity, with some openly calling for ICE to withdraw from the state altogether. At the same time, progressives in Congress are outright calling for the abolishment of ICE.
That reaction may satisfy political activists and agitators, but it ignores a far more dangerous question: what would actually happen if ICE were removed from Minnesota?
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One of ICE’s primary missions is to identify, detain and remove anyone who has violated immigration law, particularly those with violent criminal histories. In Minnesota, where state and local authorities are prohibited from working with federal law enforcement due to sanctuary policies, ICE is the only agency capable of preventing repeat illegal alien offenders from returning to the community after arrest or incarceration.
Eliminate that role, and the consequences are predictable. Illegal aliens with records of violent assault, sexual offenses, gang activity or homicide are more likely to be released — not because they pose no threat, but because there is no lawful mechanism to remove them. That is not compassion. It is negligence.
In Minnesota, over 1,300 criminal illegal aliens currently sit in taxpayer-funded jails that ICE has been unable to access. Just last year, nearly 500 criminal illegal aliens were released back into communities. These are the results of dangerous sanctuary city policies under Mayor Jacob Frey and Governor Tim Walz.
This is where Tom Homan matters — and why his new role is a stroke of genius by President Donald Trump.
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Homan is not a political firebrand looking for headlines. He is a career law enforcement professional, with over 30 years of experience at ICE and U.S. Border Patrol, who understands the operational realities of immigration enforcement. Sending him to Minnesota is not about provocation; it is about restoring coherence to a situation that has grown dangerously fragmented.
Law and order is not a slogan. It is the foundation of our national sovereignty and public safety. When enforcement disappears, laws become suggestions, and communities bear the cost of repeated crimes and preventable tragedies.
That reality comes into sharp focus this week with the one-year anniversary of President Trump signing the Laken Riley Act into law. Riley was killed by an illegal alien who should never have had the opportunity to harm again. Her death is a painful reminder that policy failures are not abstract. They fall hardest on victims and families who had no voice in the decisions that failed them.
Victim advocacy groups and law enforcement leaders have long warned that limiting ICE cooperation increases the likelihood that violent offenders will reoffend. When federal immigration enforcement is curtailed, local police are left holding the bag — expected to protect the public without the authority to fully do so.
This reckoning is unfolding as Washington barrels toward a partial government shutdown. With Department of Homeland Security funding set to expire on January 30, Senate Democrats have pledged to block funding unless sweeping restrictions are placed on ICE.
Supporters frame this standoff as a moral fight. But morality without responsibility is hollow.
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Even if DHS funding lapses, ICE and Border Patrol agents will continue working. They are mission-critical and will remain on the job, many without pay, supported in part by funding from last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. But there will be consequences: eroding morale, delayed operations and increasing pressure on officers. This budget fight may fit the political leanings of some, but the consequences will be measured in innocent victims.
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Americans want immigration enforcement and violent agitators prosecuted. But they also want accountability from law enforcement once all the facts are analyzed. Trust must be rebuilt.
But accountability does not mean abandonment.
Weakening ICE does not make communities safer. It leaves violent offenders in place and guarantees future victims will pay the price for political symbolism. It also increases the burden on local police, some of whom have been instructed not to cooperate with federal law enforcement.
President Trump’s decision to send Tom Homan to Minnesota reflects a willingness to confront uncomfortable truths rather than evade them. This represents genuine presidential leadership. Public safety cannot be governed by protest slogans or political optics. A humane system still requires enforcement. A lawful society still requires consequences. A government shutdown may be a useful political tool, but using it to undermine public safety is not principled. It is reckless and breeds more of the chaos we have witnessed recently.
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This is a test of whether lawmakers will prioritize ideology or responsibility, messaging or outcomes. In the end, governance is not about winning arguments. It is about whether people can live safely in their own communities.
That is a responsibility no government can afford to abandon.
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https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/why-trump-sending-tom-homan-minnesota-stroke-absolute-genius