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President Donald Trump spoke with reporters Thursday night about Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s trip to Washington, weighing in on Israeli domestic politics, Iran’s nuclear negotiations, and accountability for the October 7 attacks.

During the exchange, Trump sharply criticized Israeli President Isaac Herzog over his handling of a potential pardon for Netanyahu. “President Herzog should be ashamed for not granting Netanyahu a pardon. He has the power to pardon and didn’t use it. The people of Israel should shame him.”

Turning to Iran, Trump issued a stern warning to Tehran, saying its leaders face serious consequences if diplomacy fails. “must make a deal, or it will be traumatic for them. I don’t want that to happen. They should have made a deal, and they didn’t. If they don’t reach an agreement, it will be a different story.”

Discussing his conversation with Netanyahu, Trump characterized the meeting as productive but emphasized that any agreement with Iran would hinge on his own judgment. “I had a good meeting with the prime minister, and he understands, but it depends on me. If the deal is fair, it will be tough for them. It needs to be quick-within a month, I think.”

Asked whether Netanyahu had urged him to cease communications with Tehran, Trump dismissed the suggestion. “He didn’t ask me to stop. I’ll speak with them as much as I want. But if we don’t reach phase two, it will be tough for them. I don’t expect that to happen.”

When questioned about Netanyahu’s responsibility for the October 7 assault, Trump said blame extended broadly. “Everyone is responsible. It was a terrible attack. He didn’t see it coming, and no one else would have in his place. He was a great prime minister for a time of war.”

In response to Trump’s remarks about a possible pardon, the Israeli president’s office issued a statement clarifying the status of the request. “For clarity, as repeatedly emphasized, the prime minister’s request is under review according to Ministry of Justice procedures. Only after this process is complete will the president examine the request based on the law, the best interest of the state, and his conscience, without any influence from external or internal pressures.”

The statement continued by underscoring Israel’s legal framework and expressing appreciation for Trump’s support. “President Herzog appreciates President Trump’s significant contribution to Israel and its security. Israel is a sovereign state governed by law. Contrary to the impression created by President Trump’s remarks, President Herzog has not yet made any decision on this matter.”

{Matzav.com}

Large swaths of the Department of Homeland Security are set to shut down Saturday unless lawmakers strike a last-minute deal to fund the agency after Senate Democrats blocked a funding bill Thursday because it did not include new restrictions they are seeking on federal immigration agents.

Democrats demanded a long list of changes to DHS after federal immigration agents killed Alex Pretti last month in Minneapolis, including tighter rules on warrants and a ban on agents wearing face masks. President Donald Trump appears to be open to some of them, but Democrats rejected the White House’s latest proposal Thursday, raising the odds of a partial government shutdown.

“They have not addressed most of our major concerns at all,” Sen. Patty Murray (Washington), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, told reporters.

The White House sent Democrats the proposal Wednesday night, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations. But Senate Democrats swiftly dismissed it as insufficient. Asked whether Democrats could reach an agreement with the White House, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) said “not today.”

Republicans have accused Democrats of being unreasonable. They have asked Democrats to support a short-term funding extension for DHS while negotiations continue – though Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) warned that Democrats would have to make concessions of their own.

“Democrats are never going to get their full wish list,” Thune said Thursday on the Senate floor. “That’s not the way this works.”

Democrats have said they will vote against any funding extension if they do not reach an agreement with the White House. All but one Democrat voted against advancing legislation Thursday to fund DHS through Sept. 30. The motion received 52 votes, far short of the 60 it needed to advance.

“Democrats have been very clear: We will not support an extension of the status quo,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) said Thursday on the Senate floor before the vote.

The stalemate means much of DHS will shut down after the end of the day on Friday absent an unexpected breakthrough in negotiations. Many lawmakers are planning to leave Thursday to travel to the Munich Security Conference, putting further pressure on negotiations, although leadership could try to keep them in Washington if a deal appears within reach.

The House would also need to pass any last-minute deal to fund the department. Republicans have a perilously narrow majority in the chamber, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) said Thursday that the White House proposal was not enough to win House Democrats’ votes.

“Funding for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security should not move forward in the absence of dramatic changes that are bold, meaningful and transformational,” Jeffries told reporters.

A funding lapse would trigger the third full or partial federal government shutdown in barely three months. The government shuttered for 43 days in the fall amid a standoff between the two parties over expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies; that was followed by a shutdown of much of the government for several days that ended last week.

This shutdown would affect only DHS – but it would not shutter Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection, because Republicans sent those agencies tens of billions of dollars in additional funding last year that would allow them to continue to operate.

Instead, the brunt of a shutdown would fall on the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and other agencies within DHS. It would affect about 13 percent of the federal civilian workforce, most of whom would be forced to work without pay, according to data from DHS and the Office of Personnel Management.

Republicans have emphasized the potential impact on agencies unrelated to the administration’s immigration efforts if DHS funding lapses.

“The pain will be felt by the men and women of TSA, who will once again work to keep our airways safe without a paycheck,” Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nevada), who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security, said Wednesday. “There will be uncertainty for our Coast Guard men and women – who have no choice but to show up for work. … It will reduce the amount of funding in the Disaster Relief Fund – just weeks after massive winter storms affected wide swaths of the country.”

Democrats said the administration’s announcement Thursday that it would end its surge of federal immigration agents in Minnesota was not enough to earn Democrats’ support.

“The announcement that the surge is over in Minneapolis changes in no way the tactics that are used there and across the country,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) told reporters. “There needs to be a complete overhaul of this department.”

The Senate is expected to vote Thursday on taking up legislation to fund the agency through Sept. 30, but Democrats have said almost unanimously that they will oppose any bill to fund DHS without new restrictions on immigration agents.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada), who broke with her party during last year’s shutdown and voted for a Republican funding bill, said Tuesday that she would not do so this time.

“We are asking our colleagues and the White House to work with us,” Cortez Masto told reporters. “It’s common sense. Work with us. Unfortunately, we are not seeing that.”

The restrictions demanded by Democrats include requiring federal immigration agents to wear identification and body cameras and barring them from operating near schools, medical facilities, churches, polling places, child care facilities and courts. They also want to ensure that states and local jurisdictions can investigate and prosecute potential crimes committed by agents and excessive use of force, among other demands.

Republicans have criticized many of the Democrats’ demands, arguing that they would needlessly hamstring agents. Thune has said he expects the White House to make its own demands, including new protections for federal immigration agents and measures cracking down on cities that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, sometimes known as “sanctuary cities.”

Still, Thune said he thought that negotiations between the White House and Democrats were making progress and that a deal was still possible with more time.

“There’s been clear movement there, which to me suggests that discussions ought to continue,” Thune told reporters Thursday. “And I hope the Democrats feel the same way.”

(c) 2026, The Washington Post 

A shutdown for the Department of Homeland Security appeared certain Thursday as lawmakers in the House and Senate were set to leave Washington for a 10-day break and negotiations with the White House over Democrats’ demands for new restrictions had stalled. Democrats and the White House have traded offers in recent days as the Democrats have said […]

A federal judge ordered the Defense Department to halt pending disciplinary proceedings against Sen. Mark Kelly, saying in a ruling Thursday that the retired Navy captain’s right to free speech was under attack by the Trump administration.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon barred Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from enforcing a censure against Kelly over comments that the Arizona Democrat made in a social media video reminding service members that they can refuse illegal orders. The judge also ordered a halt to disciplinary proceedings that Hegseth had ordered, which could have reduced Kelly’s rank and cut his military retirement benefits.

“This Court has all it needs to conclude that Defendants have trampled on Senator Kelly’s First Amendment freedoms and threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees,” Leon wrote in a 29-page opinion.

Hegseth said in a brief post on X that the ruling would be appealed immediately. “Sedition is sedition, ‘Captain,’” Hegseth said in a reference to Kelly, who serves on the Senate Armed Forces and Intelligence committees.

The injunction came two days after a federal grand jury in D.C. declined to indict Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers over the social media video last year that drew President Donald Trump’s ire.

Members of the military, the lawmakers said in the video, could refuse to follow illegal orders amid the administration’s controversial uses of the armed forces to patrol Democratic-run cities and conduct strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.

Although active-duty members of the military can be punished for comments seen as insubordinate, those restrictions on speech have never been applied by the federal courts to retired service members such as Kelly, Leon said.

The judge, who was nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush, said the case had ramifications far beyond one senator – millions of retired service members’ free-speech rights could be chilled, he said.

“Rather than trying to shrink the First Amendment liberties of retired servicemembers, Secretary Hegseth and his fellow Defendants might reflect and be grateful for the wisdom and expertise that retired servicemembers have brought to public discussions and debate on military matters in our Nation over the past 250 years,” the judge wrote. “If so, they will more fully appreciate why the Founding Fathers made free speech the first Amendment in the Bill of Rights!”

In a statement responding to the ruling, Kelly said the Trump administration was using increasingly strong-armed tactics to stifle peaceful dissent, not just in Congress but across the country.

“This administration was sending a message to millions of retired veterans that they too can be censured or demoted just for speaking out. That’s why I couldn’t let it stand,” Kelly said.

He added: “They don’t like when journalists report on the consequences of their policies. They don’t like when retired veterans question them. And they don’t like when millions of everyday Americans peacefully protest. That’s why they are cracking down on our rights and trying to make examples out of anyone they can.”

In a formal censure letter last month, Hegseth said Kelly had “undermined the chain of command,” “counseled disobedience” and displayed “conduct unbecoming an officer.”

Kelly’s attorneys said the lawmakers in the video were invoking a well-established principle of military law. The Uniform Code of Military Justice says all orders from superiors are presumed lawful except in the case of “a patently illegal order, such as one that directs the commission of a crime,” they said.

They cited remarks from a speech Hegseth gave in 2016: “If you’re doing something that is just completely unlawful and ruthless, then there is a consequence for that. That’s why the military said it won’t follow unlawful orders from their commander in chief. … There’s a belief that we are above what so many things that our enemies or others would do.”

Kelly retired from the military in 2011 after 24 years of service. His career included flying fighter jets over Iraq during the Persian Gulf War and becoming an astronaut. He left the Navy several months after his wife, former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Arizona), was shot in the head during a constituent event and survived.

At a hearing this month, a Justice Department attorney argued that Congress had made clear that military retirees could be recalled to active duty and that they remain subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. If the court granted Kelly’s injunction, it would “effectively veto” an ongoing military disciplinary process, and that “would be very troubling,” the Justice Department attorney, John Bailey, argued.

(c) 2026, The Washington Post 

 

A growing political storm is gathering around Israel’s presidency as public pressure from Washington collides with sensitive legal and constitutional procedures in Jerusalem. Israeli President Yitzchak Herzog’s office said Thursday that PM Netanyahu’s formal request for a pardon is still under review. The statement came in response to President Trump’s comments earlier in the day, […]

Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch has formally invited Donald Trump to attend the Israel Prize Award Ceremony in Jerusalem on April 22, where the U.S. president is set to receive the country’s top civilian honor. Kisch announced Tuesday on X that he had sent Trump an official invitation to participate in the ceremony, which is […]

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to allow a group of Venezuelans who were hastily flown out of the country last year under the president’s wartime powers to return for court proceedings challenging their deportations.

Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of D.C. said the Trump administration had denied due-process rights under the Constitution to 137 Venezuelan men who were deported in March under the rarely invoked Alien Enemies Act. The men were sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador, then moved to Venezuela months later as part of a prisoner swap.

For now, because of political and logistical challenges, Boasberg’s ruling does not cover deportees who remain in Venezuela and applies only to those who have moved to another country. The judge said those men must be paroled into the United States for court proceedings if they want the opportunity to challenge their removals.

Lawyers involved in the case said only a few of the plaintiffs are currently able to benefit from the ruling, because many of the 137 deportees are unreachable in Venezuela.

The ruling, which the Justice Department has vowed to appeal, was the latest judicial setback for the Trump administration’s efforts to ramp up deportations nationwide, in many cases without court hearings or advance notice.

The ruling covers deportees who show up at U.S. land ports of entry and those who take commercial flights into the country. Boasberg ordered the U.S. government to pay for the flights, granting a request from the plaintiffs’ lawyers.

“It is worth emphasizing that this situation would never have arisen had the Government simply afforded Plaintiffs their constitutional rights before initially deporting them,” Boasberg wrote.

Lee Gelernt, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney working with the Venezuelan migrants, said a handful of them had “managed to get out of Venezuela and want to pursue their rights.” Efforts to reach the others continue, he added.

“Recognizing that the nightmare these men suffered was the fault of the government’s failure to abide by the Constitution, the Court has taken the first critical step to providing them with the due process that even the government now concedes they were denied,” Gelernt said.

Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin defended the deportations.

“Nothing has changed; in addition to being in our country illegally, these aliens are foreign terrorists designated as alien enemies by the President,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “They were removed under the proper legal authorities.”

Justice Department lawyers had argued that federal judges were not legally empowered to second-guess the executive branch’s decisions on deportations and that there was no feasible way to locate or provide court hearings for the Venezuelan migrants, especially after U.S. forces deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro this year and began delicate negotiations with the country’s new leadership.

Boasberg, a former prosecutor appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, has drawn President Donald Trump’s ire over his rulings in the Venezuelan migrants’ case. The president and some of his Republican allies have called for Boasberg’s impeachment, and the Justice Department filed a judicial misconduct complaint against him. It was later dismissed by a federal appeals court judge.

The Trump administration, in turn, has drawn rebukes from the judge for using the Alien Enemies Act to hastily deport the Venezuelan men, who were all designated members of the Tren de Aragua gang by the government and denied the opportunity to offer evidence to the contrary before being flown out of the country.

Boasberg began a contempt-of-court inquiry last year after top administration officials ignored orders he gave to return and stop the flights transporting the Venezuelans to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center. The federal appeals court in D.C. has temporarily paused the contempt inquiry.

In Thursday’s ruling, Boasberg said the deported Venezuelans could challenge Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to remove them or their individual designations as Tren de Aragua members. The judge said any migrants who return for their court proceedings should be prepared to be detained and possibly re-deported at their conclusion.

The deportees also may start submitting court filings from Venezuela, and hearings for them could be held later, Boasberg ruled.

Akshaya Kumar, the crisis advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, which studied and produced a report about the detentions, said the judge’s order is an acknowledgment of the harm the group says came about from the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to carry out the deportations.

“A lot remains to be seen on how the appeals play out but what this decision represents is a recognition that these people shouldn’t have been removed without process in the first place,” Kumar said.

If the case ends up before the Supreme Court, Kumar said, she urged the justices to “make clear that the president shouldn’t be able to assert that there’s a war when there isn’t a war or that people are enemies when they are simply immigrants.”

Although migrants who remain in Venezuela were not covered by Thursday’s ruling, the judge said the Trump administration should continue exploring the “the feasibility of returning Plaintiffs still in Venezuela who wish to return for their proceedings” and ordered the government to submit a report on those efforts next month.

(c) 2026, The Washington Post 

The recruitment of children by armed groups in Haiti tripled last year as poverty and violence deepens across the troubled Caribbean country, according to a new UNICEF report released Thursday. The surge comes as gang violence displaces a record 1.4 million people across Haiti — more than half of them children whom experts say are […]

Gallup announced Wednesday that it will discontinue its long-running presidential approval ratings, bringing to a close an 88-year practice that has long been viewed as a benchmark of public opinion on White House performance.

The polling organization confirmed to The Hill that it plans to stop releasing approval and favorability scores for specific political leaders beginning this year. In a statement, the firm explained that the move “reflects an evolution in how Gallup focuses its public research and thought leadership.”

“Our commitment is to long-term, methodologically sound research on issues and conditions that shape people’s lives,” a Gallup spokesperson told the outlet. “That work will continue through the Gallup Poll Social Series, the Gallup Quarterly Business Review, the World Poll, and our portfolio of U.S. and global research.”

For decades, the Gallup Presidential Approval Rating has been widely cited by news organizations as a key indicator of how Americans view a president’s job performance.

When asked by The Hill whether the company had received any reaction or communication from the White House or individuals within the Trump administration prior to making the decision, a spokesperson responded, “This is a strategic shift solely based on Gallup’s research goals and priorities.”

“This change is part of a broader, ongoing effort to align all of Gallup’s public work with its mission,” the spokesperson said. “We look forward to continuing to offer independent research that adheres to the highest standards of social science.”

Gallup will continue surveying Americans on a broad array of topics beyond partisan politics, including religion, the labor market, artificial intelligence, and confidence in major public institutions.

{Matzav.com}

A student group at City University of New York School of Law is facing mounting criticism after promoting an event that frames Hamas terror infrastructure as a form of “resistance.” The campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine announced a March 5 discussion featuring Hadeel Assali, an anthropologist affiliated with Columbia University Center for […]

President Donald Trump is set to present a sweeping, multi-billion-dollar rebuilding initiative for Gaza and outline the formation of a U.N.-authorized international stabilization force at the first official gathering of his Board of Peace next week, according to two senior U.S. officials who spoke on Thursday.

The session, scheduled for Feb. 19 in Washington, D.C., is expected to draw representatives from at least 20 nations, including numerous heads of state. Trump will preside over the meeting, the officials told Reuters, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the plans.

Specific details regarding the agenda for this inaugural Board of Peace meeting focused on Gaza have not previously been disclosed.

Trump formally established the Board of Peace on Jan. 23 while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, signing the foundational documents there. The initiative was later backed by a United Nations Security Council resolution, which incorporated the board into the broader framework of Trump’s Gaza proposal.

Several regional players — among them Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar — along with prominent emerging countries such as Indonesia, have aligned themselves with the board. In contrast, major global powers and long-standing Western allies of the United States have responded more cautiously to the initiative.

During his visit to Washington on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel has joined the board. Trump’s effort has raised concerns in some quarters that the Board of Peace could extend its reach beyond Gaza and seek to address additional global conflicts, potentially overlapping with the role of the United Nations.

The U.S. officials emphasized that next week’s discussions will be devoted exclusively to Gaza. A central feature of the meeting will be Trump’s unveiling of a multi-billion-dollar reconstruction fund for the territory, financed through contributions from member states of the board. One official described the pledges as “generous” and noted that Washington had not formally solicited contributions.

“People have come to us offering,” the official said. “The president will make announcements vis a vis the money raised.”

A cornerstone of the upcoming phase of Trump’s Gaza strategy is the deployment of an International Stabilization Force. The broader plan was first introduced in September. Its initial phase led to a delicate ceasefire taking effect on Oct. 10 in the two-year conflict, during which Hamas released hostages and Israel freed Palestinian detainees.

At the meeting, Trump is expected to disclose that multiple countries are prepared to contribute several thousand personnel to the stabilization force, which is anticipated to enter Gaza in the coming months, according to the officials.

One of the most pressing challenges remains the disarmament of Hamas fighters, many of whom have resisted surrendering their weapons. Under Trump’s framework, Hamas members who agree to lay down their arms and commit to peaceful coexistence would receive amnesty. Those opting to depart Gaza would be granted safe passage to countries willing to accept them.

The Board of Peace summit will also feature comprehensive briefings on the activities of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, an entity created to assume civilian governance responsibilities in the Strip from Hamas. The committee publicly named its members and convened its inaugural meeting in January.

Additional updates are expected regarding humanitarian assistance efforts in Gaza and developments involving the territory’s police forces, the officials added.

{Matzav.com}

Sec. Wright in Venezuela: “North of $100M will be invested to upgrade and increase the crude capacity of this facility… we were at a Chevron field earlier today. They’re on target to double production in that particular field in the next 12-18 months.”

Two Mexican Navy ships laden with humanitarian aid docked in Cuba on Thursday as a U.S. blockade deepens the island’s energy crisis. The ships arrived two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country selling or providing oil to Cuba, prompting the island to ration energy in recent days. The Mexican government […]

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu completed a rapid trip to the United States on Thursday, capping the visit with an extended three-hour session at the White House with President Donald Trump that centered largely on Iran and the direction of ongoing negotiations.

Speaking briefly before boarding Israel’s official aircraft, Wing of Zion, Netanyahu described the discussion in positive terms and said President Trump is convinced that Tehran understands the consequences of walking away from a potential agreement.

A primary concern raised during the talks, Netanyahu indicated, was the possibility of a narrowly structured nuclear agreement — one that would address uranium enrichment alone while leaving aside Iran’s ballistic missile program and its backing of regional proxy groups.

“We have a strong, true, and open relationship,” Netanyahu said of Trump, explaining that their meeting “dealt with several issues, but focused mainly on the negotiations with Iran.”

Netanyahu said Trump believes Iranian leaders now recognize the stakes involved. “The President believes that the Iranians have already learned who they are dealing with. I think that the conditions he is setting, together with their understanding that they made a mistake last time when they didn’t reach a deal, may lead them to agree to conditions that will enable a good deal.”

At the same time, the prime minister acknowledged his own reservations about the prospects for a final agreement. “I want to say clearly,” Netanyahu continued, “I do not hide my general doubtfulness about the possibility of reaching any deal with Iran. That being said, I made it clear that if a deal is reached, it must include the components that are important to us, the State of Israel, and in my opinion, the entire international community: not only the nuclear issue, but also the ballistic missiles, and the Iranian proxies in the region.”

Netanyahu concluded by reiterating the tone of the meeting and broadening the scope of the conversation beyond Iran. “It was an excellent conversation. Of course, we spoke about Gaza, the entire region, and other general topics. In any case, it was another conversation with a great friend of the State of Israel, I president like there never was.”

{Matzav.com}

The Trump administration is ending the immigration crackdown in Minnesota, border czar Tom Homan said Thursday of the two-month operation that led to thousands of arrests, angry mass protests and the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens. The operation, which the Department of Homeland Security called its “ largest immigration enforcement operation ever, ” has been a flashpoint in the debate over President […]

A tragic fire has left several families HOMELESS and without even the most basic necessities. Baruch Hashem there were no casualties, but the loss is immense. The families lost EVERYTHING. Please help these families rebuild their homes and their lives, and may this great mitzvah bring bracha to all who give. DONATE HERE: https://thechesedfund.com/vaad-ha-rabbanim/tragic-fire-in-beit-shemesh?aff=L

Ambassador Tammy Bruce addressed the U.N. Security Council this morning, condemning Iran’s unacceptable support for Houthi terrorist activities.

Homan Announces End of Minnesota Immigration Surge After Thousands of Arrests

The Trump administration is winding down its large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota after two months, border czar Tom Homan said Thursday, though he noted that a limited federal presence will remain in the state for the time being.

Speaking in Minneapolis, Homan said the administration is scaling back Operation Metro Surge following what he described as strong results and improved collaboration with local authorities. At the same time, he cautioned that ongoing unrest by far-left activists could complicate a full withdrawal of federal agents.

“With the success that has been made in arresting public safety threats and other priorities since this surge operation began, as well as the unprecedented levels of coordination we have obtained from state officials and local law enforcement, I have proposed — and President Trump has concurred — that this surge operation conclude,” Homan told reporters in Minneapolis.

He said federal personnel have already begun pulling back.

“A significant drawdown has already been underway this week and will continue into the next week,” he added, without specifying how many federal personnel would be leaving the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Homan credited the operation with thousands of arrests and the recovery of thousands of migrant children.

The border czar credited Operation Metro Surge with more than 4,000 arrests and the recovery of 3,364 unaccompanied migrant children, whom he claimed “the last administration lost and weren’t even looking for.”

He also highlighted recent arrests of individuals with serious criminal records.

“Just this week,” Homan continued, ICE nabbed an illegal immigrant who had been convicted of raping a child under the age of 14.

“ICE also arrested two criminal aliens with criminal sexual misconduct convictions, among other violent criminals,” he added.

Addressing criticism of the operation, Homan rejected claims that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carried out enforcement actions in sensitive locations such as schools, churches, or hospitals. He said he had found no evidence to support those allegations, aside from the arrest of demonstrators — including former CNN anchor Don Lemon — who disrupted a church service in St. Paul on Jan. 18.

At the peak of the enforcement effort, more than 3,000 ICE and Border Patrol officers were deployed in Minneapolis, a move that sparked protests and unrest in parts of the city.

Last week, Homan confirmed that approximately 700 personnel had already been withdrawn, reducing the number of federal officers on the ground to around 2,000.

Before the surge began, about 150 federal immigration agents were stationed in Minneapolis, Homan said in remarks last week.

“Operation Metro Surge is ending,” Homan confirmed. “Next week, we’re going to deploy the officers here on detail back to their home stations and other areas of the country. But we’re going to continue to enforce immigration law.”

He stressed, however, that continued reductions in personnel would depend on the security situation.

“since I have been here, I’ve repeatedly emphasized that the unlawful and violent agitator activity is unacceptable and must wind down as a condition for further drawdown of law enforcement personnel.

“I cannot remove law enforcement personnel while violence poses a serious risk to our officers; I will not leave my officers in that position.”

The administration initially launched the Minnesota surge late last year following a large welfare fraud scandal that drew nationwide scrutiny, much of it centered on the Somali community in the Twin Cities.

On Jan. 26, Trump sent Homan to Minnesota after nationwide outrage erupted over the fatal shootings of anti-ICE protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Reports have indicated that Homan and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem differed on enforcement priorities, with Homan favoring a focus on illegal immigrants with criminal records rather than a broader approach targeting all undocumented individuals.

Trump has publicly supported Noem despite sharp criticism from Democrats, who have called for her resignation or dismissal.

Throughout the operation, Homan repeatedly urged local officials to allow federal authorities access to detention facilities holding migrants arrested by local law enforcement.

“As far as the jails, we got more cooperation with more jails than we had before we got here. That’s a good thing. We’re having conversations with the state,” he added. “We’re moving further on other agreements for the state.

“The cooperation we have here, it’s going to keep this city safer. It’s going to keep our agents safer.”

{Matzav.com}

Trump on the expectation-shattering January jobs report: “The jobs report’s amazing in certain ways because we have tremendously fewer federal employees… by getting rid of them, these people became available to work in the private sector.”