By Yasin Gungor
ISTANBUL (AA) - Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz met US President Donald Trump's border czar Tom Homan on Tuesday, demanding "impartial investigations" into fatal shootings by federal agents and a significant reduction in federal forces deployed to the state.
The two officials "agreed on the need for an ongoing dialogue and will continue working toward those goals," Walz's office said in a statement delivered by FOX 9 news.
Walz requested that the federal administration stop “the campaign of retribution against Minnesota" and designated the Minnesota Department of Public Safety as the primary liaison to Homan "to ensure these goals are met," his office added.
Trump announced Monday he was dispatching Homan to Minnesota following two fatal shootings of Americans by immigration enforcement agents during operations that sparked mass protests.
The White House said Homan will manage Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations on the ground "to continue arresting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens."
Trump said separately that Walz requested cooperation on criminal enforcement and noted they "seemed to be on a similar wavelength."
The US president urged Minnesota officials Saturday to let ICE agents do their jobs, claiming 12,000 undocumented criminals have been arrested, warning those still present would create "something far worse than you are witnessing today."