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New Orders Tell ICE Agents Not to Interact with Agitators; Border Czar Tom Homan Holds News Conference in Minneapolis. Aired 8:00-8:30a ET

Aired January 29, 2026 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: ... enforcement operations on the ground. It comes as we're learning some new details. Reuters now reporting that a top ICE official sent an e-mail directing its officers in Minnesota to, quote, do not communicate with agitators.

And it says it serves no purpose other than inflaming the situation. He adds, we are moving to targeted enforcement of aliens with a criminal history, all targets must have a criminal nexus. Now, CNN has not reviewed that internal e-mail, but it is very significant because what it tells you is that they are seeing their agents do something other than these targeted enforcements, which we have seen on the ground where they have actually picked up American citizens at times or picked up people who have legal papers at times.

This is all coming after the second time in less than a month that they killed an American citizen, that American citizen, the last to die, Alex Pretti. We are getting some new video of him. This is long before he was shot and killed in an incident where he was using his cell phone to record agents.

Let's look at this video. It was first posted by the news movement. It appears to show Pretti.

It does show, actually, because his family just confirmed to us, it does show Pretti in the brown jacket there and hat kicking out the taillight of an SUV and agents exit their vehicle and tackle him to the ground. The encounter lasts just a few seconds before Pretti is let go. And at one point, you can see that he has a gun visible in his waistband, but it is unclear if the agent saw it at that time.

And he has a legal right to carry. An attorney for Pretti's family says nothing in this new video would justify federal agents shooting and killing Pretti 11 days later. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins me now.

What more do we know about this targeted approach by ICE? Because what it seems to tell you is that that is not what they were doing while they were here before we're seeing this internal document.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, in my conversations with sources, what I have heard is that the talks, the contours of the plan since Tom Homan has been on the ground in Minneapolis is to move toward targeted enforcement of undocumented immigrants with criminal records. Now, this suggests a slightly different strategy than what had been unfolding on the ground, which was the much broader immigration sweeps. It wasn't just Minneapolis where we saw this.

We saw this in many cities last year as well at the command of Gregory Bovino, a top Border Patrol official. However, now, with this targeted approach that would go -- or specifically focus on those undocumented immigrants with criminal records, that is more in line with the way immigration and customs enforcement carries out operations. And that is in many ways what Tom Homan brings to this situation and to these discussions as a veteran ICE official.

And it is also something, Sara, that Homeland Security officials or at least some of them have been itching for, because that is where ICE has typically focused or put a sharper focus on. Now, we should note that Tom Homan has always said that if they are doing a targeted operation, they're focusing on someone with a criminal record, and there are other undocumented immigrants in the vicinity that they too may be swept up. This is something that ICE officials call collaterals.

Now, again, given the tone of that internal e-mail that you mentioned, we'll see if Tom Homan is switching at all the posture on that front. But certainly that is what he has said repeatedly, focus on the criminal undocumented immigrants, but if there are others, they could be swept up. So hopefully he'll provide more information on that during the press conference.

I'll also note what you said about agitators and this memo that you cited that Reuters obtained about how ICE agents should conduct themselves around agitators. I will tell you in my conversations with sources, earlier this month, federal law enforcement officers who were deployed to Minneapolis had been told not to engage with agitators and protesters and instead to call local police departments for backup. So what this tells me is that they are doubling down on that.

And again, this is something we'll hear from Tom Homan. But this press conference, Sara, comes after, of course, he was dispatched to Minneapolis earlier this week and has been, according to people we have talked to, in back-to-back meetings with federal officials and with local officials. And they have been trying to develop a plan to move forward to continue to execute the president's immigration enforcement agenda, but also keenly aware of the way that that has been done and the way in which there has been waning support among the American public about the handling of those operations.

[08:05:00]

So this press conference will provide more clarity. And, Sara, you're on the ground. I'm sure you'll hear from folks to see if they're breathing a sigh of relief.

But all -- everything points to right now is Immigration and Customs Enforcement going back to their core mission and focusing on those undocumented immigrants with criminal records -- Sara. SIDNER: Yes, great reporting from you, Priscilla, throughout this time. And it is really interesting that you note this sort of targeted move and also not to respond to the protesters out there, because we have seen quite a bit of that happening. And then I really find it interesting that you're saying, look, they were told that if there is some sort of confrontation to call local police, and therein lies a huge problem for the city of Minneapolis, because there are 3,000- some-odd ICE and federal agents here, and there are only about 600 police here in this city who have other things that they are supposed to be doing, which is why the mayor has been saying this is not about safety, this is about retribution on the city.

There is a huge chasm between what the president wants and what the mayor will do here. Thank you so much, Priscilla, for your reporting throughout this. Joining me now is CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former deputy director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe.

Andy, thank you for being here. Let's talk about this memo that has been sent out that we have seen, internal memo, telling people, telling the agents, hey, let's make this just a targeted enforcement. Isn't that what it was supposed to be in the first place?

Isn't that how law enforcement generally works, not just sweeping up anybody and everybody?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, that's exactly right, Sara. It's not only how it was supposed to be from the start, it's actually how high-level administration officials, including the secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, have told us repeatedly again and again that's the way they're doing it. Despite the fact that we see video after video, we hear witness after witness testifying to the fact that they're not, that these are, in many cases, just roundups, people who are being approached on the street.

We hear reports of ICE and CBP officers going to Home Depot parking lots and just randomly questioning people who show up there looking for day work. So what we're hearing, once again, from the administration, not jibing with reality.

Well, this memo actually shows, the language that you've quoted here on the air shows that this is a shift back to targeted operations, which, you know, the unmistakable implication there is that they're acknowledging that they haven't been doing them that way for some time.

SIDNER: Yes, it really struck me when I saw it, that this is an acknowledgement internally as to what they have been doing, and now they want to change and go back to what they said they were going to be doing. Andrew, I want to talk about something that Priscilla just brought out, her reporting, that they are being told, the agents on the ground are being told, do not interact with protesters, do not interact with what they called agitators. But we have seen a lot of interactions.

We've seen some pretty disgusting words coming out of the mouth of some of these agents here, and we've seen the blowback where protesters are having their words right back at them. But something particular that caught my ear is that Priscilla was saying that they are being told to call the police when there is some kind of big encounter. I mean, the police here are a very small department.

It's only about 600 people for the entire city. What kind of problem does that create? And do you, from your perspective, understand why the mayor is saying, we don't want our police involved in this unless they have to be for public safety?

MCCABE: Yes, it's a massive problem, a massive issue for local officials. So let's set the stage here. The city of Minneapolis has about 430,000 people.

They have about 600 sworn police officers to do all the police work in that city. That's investigating every type of crime, from murders and homicides and rapes down to frauds and people who are mugged on the street or, you know, jaywalking, whatever it is. It's a massive scope of responsibility for a fairly small force.

Now into that mix, you send not just 3,000 other law enforcement agencies -- or agents, but 3,000 law enforcement agents whose very presence is provoking a massive public and civic response. And I should add, not a very happy one.

[08:10:00]

So you're essentially heaving a huge public problem, something that changes every single day by the way that these ICE and CBP officers are executing their mission. Depending on where they go, what parts of the city they target, how many people are out that day, and what sorts of crowds they end up interacting with. So you can see how this is an absolutely unmanageable situation for the city, and it takes them away from that core law enforcement responsibility that they have to protect the citizens of Minneapolis.

And that's what you heard the mayor talking about last night. He said our job is to keep citizens safe. It's not to do the work of the federal government, which is immigration.

SIDNER: Yes, it's a really good point, Andy McCabe. And we did hear that very strikingly from the mayor in our town hall last night. Stick with us.

I know you'll be watching Tom Homan's comment, the Border Czar, the first time he has spoken since coming on the ground here and since there has been a big shakeup in the leadership apparatus from the federal government here. I want to get back quickly to Priscilla Alvarez, who has some new reporting, brand new reporting for us this morning. What are you learning, Priscilla?

ALVAREZ: Well, Sara, you've been talking a lot about the federal agents that are on the ground. Remember, there was an unprecedented number of 3,000 who were on the ground in Minneapolis. This was part of a deployment that started in December and picked up in January.

Well, sources tell CNN that the number of agents that are on the ground are expected to taper off in the coming days and weeks. And part of the discussion as well has been having U.S. Border Patrol serve in a support mission to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This has caused a lot of confusion, not only in Minneapolis, but also in other cities, because you have two immigration agencies who are operating in these cities.

You have Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol, and they each conduct enforcement operations a bit differently. Of course, ICE has been trained to do interior operations, again, that targeted enforcement that we were talking about a little bit ago. U.S. Border Patrol, however, is usually focused on border security, and their landscape is the U.S.-Mexico border. Yes, there are U.S. Border Patrol agents in the interior of the U.S. in some areas, but typically they're serving as support or coming in if local law enforcement tells them that they have come across an undocumented immigrant or have a situation on their hands that they need their help with. So the broad immigration sweeps was something that we saw really kick off early last year when U.S. Border Patrol was put in command. And I think one of the things to watch out for in this press conference is how Tom Homan talks about these two agencies and the way they're supposed to cooperate moving forward after, you know, he's had these conversations.

But similarly, Sara, the uphill challenge for this administration has been this pledge to do mass deportation. And the numbers that they have directed these agents to reach are unprecedented numbers. 3,000 was the daily quota that Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, had provided.

And if you're doing targeted enforcement, you're simply not going to reach those numbers. And so here is where the conflict lies for the administration, is trying to reach these mass deportations while trying to also provide some calm for the American public that they are going for the worst of the worst. That's not to suggest that they haven't been going after people with criminal records.

They have, and they have announced to put that on press releases. But the reality is they've also been sweeping up other undocumented immigrants. So it'll be interesting to hear Tom Homan and how he squares the operations in Minneapolis moving forward and the president's mass deportation campaign pledge.

SIDNER: Priscilla, great reporting for us this morning. I do want to get back to Andy McCabe now. Upon listening to this, I have been wanting to ask you this for a bit now.

You've got Stephen Miller, who is the hardest line person when it comes to immigration. He has said repeatedly that he wants 3,000 people a day to be captured and deported. A day.

Quotas used to be a thing that law enforcement shied away from. What do you make of this quota of 3,000 a day? And what have we learned in the past about what happens when law enforcement has quotas that they're supposed to meet?

MCCABE: Yes, Sara, so you're exactly right in focusing on the overwhelming significance of Stephen Miller in this equation. He is the guy, by his own statements and by all the reporting we have, who has imposed that 3,000 detentions, 3,000 arrests a day on our immigration infrastructure. And this has led to the classic example of quantity over quality.

[08:15:00]

Let's remember that President Trump, as a key element of his campaign, was running on this idea that we're going to get the worst of the worst out of the country. We're going to remove those people who come into the country and have committed crimes that have lost the right and the privilege to be here. That's what the public supported.

But the imposition of the quota has pushed ICE and CBP and everyone engaged in immigration enforcement into these situations where they're rounding up anybody who shows up at the Home Depot parking lot or approaching citizens on the street and saying, show me your ID. You don't -- you sound like you have an accent.

That is a level of, from a public standpoint, that's a level of policing that most Americans do not support. Yes, get rid of the criminals around us, make us safer, but there's no reason to terrorize all these communities about, you know, going after people who are already likely in the immigration process.

Maybe they're here on asylum claims, whatever that, that might be. And from a pure law enforcement perspective, you have now taken, hopefully, a trained, disciplined, well-directed force. I know there's some arguments here about that when we talk about CBP and ICE, but if you have that sort of force and you are shooting it in so many different directions. Forcing these agents to up the volume, as it were, beyond what is necessary or even reasonable, you are just -- you're abusing that resource and you're wasting a good portion of it on folks who shouldn't be the target of your enforcement efforts. Let's hope we hear from Mr. Homan today that they are refocusing these resources on the actual immigrants who are most important for us to focus on and get out of the country.

SIDNER: Yes, I mean, Andy, look, the problem here is that even if the number of federal agents comes down, which we are told that about 800 have been removed of the 3,000 that were here, still now doubling the number of police that exists in this town. But even with a smaller number of agents here, the people on the ground who are in the streets who I have spoken with, and just everyday Minnesotans who live here, they're tired of this and they just want it all to end. They feel like their daily lives are being interrupted.

People are not coming to school. They're not going to shop. It is affecting the schools, and it is affecting the businesses.

And so overarching message is just stop, get out while you can. Priscilla, is there any chance of that? Are you getting some sense that the Trump administration, and sort of as you're looking at your beat in immigration, is trying to find a graceful, if you will -- if that's a word that can even be used at this point in time after two Americans have been killed -- but a way to exit that leaves them some ability to say, hey, we did what we came for.

ALVAREZ: Well, remember, Sara, the overarching immigration policy here has not changed. What does that mean? That the president and his team are still pursuing an aggressive immigration enforcement agenda.

So they have maintained that they are going to remain on the ground. What can change, however, is how many people remain on the ground, which we're told is expected to taper off over time. But ICE has always been in Minneapolis.

They've been there for decades. The question is, do they go back to the operation that they previously had with the agents that were stationed there versus this 3,000 federal agents who are on the ground? And similarly, does U.S. Border Patrol also start to recede from these interior operations?

Because in many of these cases that you were talking there with Andrew McCabe, it was U.S. Border Patrol who was at the center of the heavy- handed tactics and the controversy. And they were not trained to be doing the type of operations that ICE has been doing for many, many years. And it's also worth noting, Sara, that even internally within the Department of Homeland Security, officials were frustrated with what they were seeing and this dynamic that was unfolding on the ground, because while they do coordinate with their fellow agencies, this was not working, according to the officials that I was speaking with.

So there is some hope among the Homeland Security officials I'm in touch with that this could sort of level out over time. But the reality is that there is still immense pressure from the White House to continue this immigration enforcement agenda. You were talking about Stephen Miller there moments ago.

He is someone who leads morning calls with the heads of these agencies and where they are, again, expected to provide results to him as part of the president's agenda. And I see here that we have some folks who are coming in, and there's Tom Homan coming into the press conference.

[08:20:00]

SIDNER: Yes, Priscilla Alvarez, Andrew McCabe, thank you so much. Let's listen in. This is the first time we're hearing from Border Czar Tom Homan, who has arrived in Minneapolis.

TOM HOMAN, BORDER CZAR: Good Morning. Too early, isn't it? Look, I've been given talking points, and I don't like reading speeches, never have. But my Chief of Staff did put some stuff down here in writing just to make sure I don't miss anything.

So I'm going to be reading a little bit, and then we're going to open up for questions. I've been on the ground less than three full days. I got in here on Monday.

The President of the United States called me Monday morning and asked me to deploy here. Got here Monday evening, and I'm staying until the problem's gone. But we've made a lot of progress, a lot of progress, in the last three days.

Marcos Charles, he's running ICE operations here. Rodney Scott, Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, standing here beside me.

Good morning, I'm Tom Homan, Border Czar for President Trump. I'm here on behalf of the President, along with U.S. Commissioners, Commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Rodney Scott, and Marcos Charles, who's leading the enforcement effort here right now. I've been on the ground since Monday to regain law and order in the City beloved by many, and work together to remove threats from the community.

During the past administration, we all remember more than 10 million illegal aliens entered this nation. Many were national security threats, public safety threats. We can't remember where 2 million, 2 million known "Gotaways," 2 million people who paid more to get away.

Why? That's just scary the hell out of everybody. President Trump promised the American people, including the residents of Minnesota, that he would work to ensure our communities are safe.

And with that, this administration is absolutely focused on identifying removal aliens that pose a public safety threat and national security threats. And the numbers prove it. The data proves it.

In the past few days, I've met with Governor Walz, Attorney General Ellison, Mayor Frey, and numerous police chiefs and sheriffs, and I have more to meet. I'll also be continuing the dialogue with business and religious leaders in partnership with Minnesota, your community leaders.

I'll be meeting with them too because I want to hear what they have to say. In my meetings with folks so far, and most importantly, the Governor and the AG, the Mayor Frey, we didn't agree on everything. I didn't expect to agree on anything.

I've heard many people want to know why we're talking to people who they don't consider friends to the administration. Bottom line is you can't fix problems if you don't have discussions. I didn't go to Minnesota for photo ops or headlines.

You haven't seen me. I came here to seek solutions and that's what we're going to do. And we've come a long way, and we got some good wins for the people of Minnesota, I think, and for the administration and for the safety and security of this city.

One thing we did agree on though, everybody I talked to agreed on, was that community safety is paramount. One thing we all agreed on was U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement is a legitimate law enforcement agency that has a duty to enforce the laws enacted by Congress and keep this community safe. Like I've said many times for the last several years, even before this administration, jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities are sanctuaries for criminals. Sanctuary cities are sanctuaries for criminals and endangers the residents of the community. To be clear, we did not agree with Minnesota state and local officials that they would be involved in immigration enforcement. I didn't ask them to be immigration officers.

I'm asking them to be cops working with the cops to help us take criminal aliens off the street. What we did agree upon is not to release public safety arrests back in the community, and they could be lawfully transferred to ICE. I'll speak more about that.

[08:25:00]

I will highlight that the Minnesota State Prison System under the Department of Corrections have been honoring ICE detainers, and we appreciate that important collaboration, and we're going to expand upon that.

That decision has made Minnesota safer, not only for residents of Minnesota, but the men and women in law enforcement, not just ICE, all law enforcement. Rather than arresting the same public safety threat, significant public safety threat over and over again, they agree to work with us to identify those people and remove them. I'm also pleased to announce I had a very good meeting with Attorney General Ellison, and he has clarified for me that county jails may notify ICE of the release dates of criminal public safety arrests so ICE can take custody of them upon their release from the jail.

And let me tell you why that's important. I know people are a lot of concern about the manpower has been set in law enforcement manpower. Look, I've said this many times before, I've said it for the last several years.

Give us access to the illegal alien public safety threat and the safety and security of a jail. It's common sense. It's safer for the community, it's safer for the agent, and they're safer for the alien.

Because anything can happen on a street arrest. It just makes common sense. And for the people that argue, well we're welcoming community because we want victims and witnesses of crime that are here illegally to feel safe to come to police without fear they're working with ICE.

We're not going to talk to the victim witness of crime. There's no problem there. They should feel safe to come to police and ask for help.

All we want is to talk to the person that local and state law enforcement authorities locked in a jail cell. They chose to lock this person up. That's who we want to talk to, the public safety threat.

So the argument is that protects victim witnesses of crime. It's a bunch of crap. Victims and witnesses of crime don't want the bad guy back in their neighborhood either.

So great progress with Attorney General and local sheriffs. And one thing, when we have these agreements, it takes less law enforcement agents to do the job. One agent can arrest one bad guy in the safety and security of a jail where he's behind the we know we don't have weapons.

But when you normally release that public safety threat illegal alien back in the community, we have a job to do. We're going to arrest him. So we're going to find him.

And what happens is now we got to arrest somebody on his turf who has access to who knows what weapons. Now we got to send the whole team out. Cover the back door, cover the front door, officer safety reasons.

Then because of the hateful rhetoric and the attacks on ICE officers, now we got to send a security team behind the arrest team. So what could have been done with one person in a safety and security jail, now we got 15, 16 people out there doing it. I know that causes stress in the community.

So if we get these agreements in place, that means less agents on the street. More agents in the jail means less agents in the street. This is common sense cooperation that allows us to draw down on the number of people we have here.

Yes, I said it. Draw down the number of people here. Because we have the efficiency and safety of the jails and the prison.

Matter of fact, I have staff from CBP and from ICE working on a drawdown plan. What does that look like based on the cooperation? What does that look like based on how many targets we have less to find.

In my meetings with Governor Walz, A.G. Ellison, and Mayor Frey, as well as state and local law enforcement, again, I appreciate they all acknowledge that we do have federal immigration laws in this country that have been passed by Congress and that ICE is in fact a legitimate law enforcement agency charged with enforcing those laws. We're not making this up, folks.

ICE is enforcing the laws enacted by Congress. They're a federal statute. That said, I'm not here because the federal government has carried this mission out perfectly ...

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