Tom Homan Has a Simple Message for Minnesota’s Sanctuary Leaders

The Common Sense Solution Nobody Wants to Hear

Tom Homan doesn’t mince words. He never has. And during a telephone town hall hosted by Texas Congressman Tony Gonzales this week, the border czar delivered a message to Minnesota officials that was so straightforward it almost felt revolutionary: Stop being a sanctuary state. Let us into the jails.

That’s it. That’s the fix.

The violence tearing through Minneapolis right now, the chaos that left one anti-ICE protester dead after she drove her vehicle toward a federal agent, the nearly 25 assaults on law enforcement in just four days? All of it could end overnight if Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey would simply cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. Give ICE access to county jails. Let agents take custody of criminal illegal aliens in a controlled environment instead of hunting them down in neighborhoods where agitators can turn every arrest into a street battle.

It’s almost too simple, isn’t it? Which is probably why it won’t happen.

When Policy Becomes Theater

Here’s what gets lost in all the noise about sanctuary policies: They don’t protect vulnerable immigrants. They protect criminals. The people ICE is looking for in Minneapolis aren’t families seeking a better life. They’re individuals who’ve already been arrested, already processed through local law enforcement, already identified as deportable based on criminal activity.

Sanctuary policies force federal agents onto the streets to find these people. And when you’re conducting operations in neighborhoods instead of jails, you create opportunities for exactly the kind of violence we’re seeing right now. Frozen water bottles. Fireworks. Bottle rockets. These aren’t peaceful protests. They’re coordinated assaults on federal officers doing their jobs.

Chief Border Patrol Agent Greg Bovino, currently commanding CBP forces in Minneapolis, spelled it out in stark terms. His agents faced nearly 25 assaults in four days in Minnesota. Compare that to New Orleans, where a similar operation resulted in just one assault. The difference? Louisiana State Police Superintendent Colonel Hodges actually supported federal law enforcement. His officers maintained order. They drew a clear line between peaceful protest and obstructing federal agents.

Minnesota offers no such support.

The Price of Virtue Signaling

You know what’s maddening about this whole situation? The people getting hurt are the ones just trying to enforce the law. ICE agents. Border Patrol officers. These aren’t storm troopers. They’re Americans doing a job that most of us wouldn’t want, enforcing laws that Congress passed and presidents signed.

Congressman Gonzales introduced Homan as “a patriot to our wonderful country who has spent his entire adult life protecting our borders.” That’s not hyperbole. Homan is a 32-year veteran of immigration enforcement. He knows what works and what doesn’t. And what doesn’t work is forcing agents into hostile environments to arrest criminals that local jails could hand over safely and quietly.

Gonzales is pushing the COPS Act, legislation that would increase penalties for people who assault law enforcement officers. It’s a start. But honestly, we shouldn’t need new laws to protect federal agents from frozen water bottles and fireworks. We need local officials to stop treating cooperation with ICE like some kind of moral failing.

The agents getting hurt aren’t carrying out some rogue operation. They’re enforcing federal immigration law. The same law that’s been on the books for decades. The same law that sanctuary cities conveniently ignore when it suits their political brand.

What Cooperation Actually Looks Like

The contrast between Minnesota and Louisiana tells you everything you need to know. In states where local law enforcement works with federal agents, operations proceed smoothly. Criminals get arrested. Nobody gets hurt. Life goes on.

In sanctuary jurisdictions, every arrest becomes a potential riot. Federal agents face organized resistance. People get injured. And occasionally, like in Minneapolis, people die.

This isn’t complicated. When local jails refuse to cooperate with ICE, they’re not standing up for immigrant rights. They’re creating dangerous situations that put everyone at risk. The agents. The protesters. The communities where these arrests have to happen.

Homan’s advice cuts through all the political theater: “Give us access in the jails so we can take custody of criminals in a controlled environment. Then we don’t have to go into neighborhoods to find them.”

It’s not about mass deportations or family separations or any of the other scarecrows the left likes to trot out. It’s about arresting criminals efficiently and safely. That’s it.

The Choice Minnesota Faces

Governor Walz and Mayor Frey have a decision to make. They can continue their sanctuary policies, keep federal agents out of local jails, and watch the violence escalate. Or they can put public safety above political posturing and let ICE do its job the smart way.

The chaos in Minneapolis isn’t some unavoidable consequence of immigration enforcement. It’s the direct result of policies designed to obstruct that enforcement. And the longer Minnesota’s leaders cling to those policies, the more dangerous their streets become.

Tom Homan has given them the roadmap. The question is whether they care more about virtue signaling to their progressive base or protecting the people, including federal agents, who are getting hurt because of their choices.

My guess? They’ll choose the applause. They always do.

American Conservatives