Gov. Walz says Trump has agreed to consider reducing federal surge in Minnesota after phone call

Gov. Tim Walz says that he and President Trump shared a “productive” phone call Monday morning, during which he says the president agreed to consider a reduction of federal immigration enforcement forces in Minnesota following the second fatal shooting of a resident by federal agents.

A spokesperson for Walz’s office said the governor “made the case that we need impartial investigations of the Minneapolis shootings involving federal agents, and that we need to reduce the number of federal agents in Minnesota,” and added that Mr. Trump “agreed to look into reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota.” 

Walz’s office also said that Mr. Trump agreed to speak with Department of Homeland Security officials “about ensuring the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is able to conduct an independent investigation, as would ordinarily be the case.” 

Mr. Trump, on his Truth Social network, posted that Walz “(requested) to work together with respect to Minnesota.” He went on to say that he and Walz “seemed to be on a similar wavelength,” and added “I told Governor Walz that I would have Tom Homan call him, and that what we are looking for are any and all Criminals that they have in their possession. The Governor, very respectfully, understood that.”

Walz’s office says the governor also took time to remind Mr. Trump that “the Minnesota Department of Corrections already honors federal detainers by notifying Immigration and Customs Enforcement when a person committed to its custody isn’t a U.S. citizen. There is not a single documented case of the department’s releasing someone from state prison without offering to ensure a smooth transfer of custody.”

The Minnesota Department of Corrections earlier this month disputed a claim made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that the state was not honoring ICE arrest detainers, calling those claims “categorically false.”

The call between Mr. Trump and Walz Monday comes just one day after Walz stridently denounced the actions of federal immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis-St. Paul and throughout greater Minnesota during Operation Metro Surge, and called the president out by name.

“What’s the plan, Donald Trump? What is the plan?” Walz said in a news conference Sunday. “What do we need to do to get these federal agents out of our state? If fear, violence and chaos is what you wanted from us, then you clearly underestimated the people of this state and nation.”