MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Trump administration is reducing the number of immigration officers in Minnesota but will continue its enforcement operation that has sparked weeks of tensions and deadly confrontations, border czar Tom Homan said Wednesday.

About 700 federal officers — roughly a quarter of the total deployed to Minnesota — will be withdrawn immediately after state and local officials agreed over the past week to cooperate by turning over arrested immigrants, Homan said.

But he did not provide a timeline for when the administration might end the operation that has become a flashpoint in the debate over President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts since the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

About 2,000 officers will remain in the state after this week’s drawdown, Homan said. That’s roughly the same number sent to Minnesota in early January when the surge ramped up, kicking off what the Department of Homeland Security called its ” largest immigration enforcement operation ever.”

Since then, masked, heavily armed officers have been met by resistance from residents who are upset with their aggressive tactics.

A widespread pullout, Homan said, will occur only after there’s more cooperation and protesters stop interfering with federal agents carrying out arrests.

Trump told NBC News that he ordered the reduction and added that one lesson coming out of the turmoil in Minnesota is “maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch. But you still have to be tough.”

Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats who have heavily criticized the surge, said pulling back 700 officers was a good first step but that the entire operation should end quickly.

“We need a faster and larger drawdown of forces, state-led investigations into the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, and an end to this campaign of retribution,” Walz posted on social media.

Vice President JD Vance said the officers being sent home were mainly in Minneapolis to protect those carrying out arrests. “We’re not drawing down the immigration enforcement,” Vance said in an interview on “The Megyn Kelly Show.”

Trump administration has pushed for

cooperation in Minnesota

Trump’s border czar took over the Minnesota operation in late January after the second fatal shooting by federal officers and amid growing political backlash and questions about how the operation was being run.

Homan said right away that federal officials could reduce the number of agents in Minnesota, but only with the cooperation of state and local officials. He pushed for jails to alert Immigration and Customs Enforcement about inmates who could be deported, saying transferring those inmates to ICE is safer because it means fewer officers have to be out looking for people in the country illegally.

Homan said during a news conference Wednesday that there has been an “increase in unprecedented collaboration” resulting in the need for fewer public safety officers in Minnesota and a safer environment, allowing for the withdrawal of the 700 officers.

He didn’t say which jurisdictions have been cooperating with DHS. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the administration will monitor local officials to make sure they keep their commitments.

The Trump administration has long complained that places known as sanctuary jurisdictions — a term applied to local governments that limit law enforcement cooperation with the department — hinder the arrest of criminal immigrants.