Good morning. So long, January!

Border czar Tom Homan took a far less confrontational tone than the prior immigration enforcement leaders dispatched to Minnesota, as he gave his first press conference yesterday in the state. Homan said he is looking to reduce the number of federal agents in Minnesota — currently around 3,000 — but gave no formal timeline. He pinned the force reduction decision to getting more cooperation from state and local officials, including getting more access to county jails. A key point of frustration between local jails and federal immigration is some local jails not informing ICE every time someone with an ICE detainer is in their custody. MinnPost explained the history and cooperation between jails and ICE in a story this week.

Homan emphasized that he is in Minnesota to seek solutions, acknowledging that there have been problems with the ongoing surge of federal agents. But he also stressed that federal immigration officials are not abandoning their operation. He said there will be a renewed focus on “targeted enforcement operations” — something he said federal agents may have gotten away from in recent weeks. “We are not surrendering our mission at all,” Homan said. “We are just doing it smarter.” One thing that caught our ear during Homan's press conference is his use of "in theater" — a term of war — to describe the duration of officer rotations into American cities. Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Democrat who met with Homan this week, said he explained how Minnesota cooperates and where it will stand its ground. “We will not allow the federal government to intimidate or coerce Minnesota into acting against our values or our duly enacted laws,” Ellison said. “We will not make any concessions or compromises to undermine our state sovereignty.

The man accused of spraying a liquid onto Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar during a public event Tuesday is facing both state and federal charges.   Anthony Kazmierczak, 55 and of Minneapolis, was charged with assaulting, impeding or interfering with Congresswoman Omar's official duties by a federal court. He made his first court appearance yesterday. Meanwhile, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty also filed state charges of threats of violence and fifth-degree assault. Tuesday evening at a town hall event in North Minneapolis, Kazmierczak ran toward Omar as she was speaking, spraying her with a liquid that the charging document identifies as a mixture of water and apple cider vinegar. Omar ran toward him with her fists raised as he charged her, and then security tackled him. Omar returned to speaking after Kazmierczak's arrest. The federal charging document says Kazmierczak has a history of social media posts critical of Omar. Moriarty, in a video, explained why she decided to pursue state charges: “Threats of violence is a felony level offense, and a successful prosecution will result in a state level conviction that is not subject to presidential pardon now or in the future, we will not play politics with safety in our community.” 

The move to suspend payments to Medicaid services providers so far isn’t uncovering new avenues of alleged fraud. Ellie Roth reports that state Senate hearings this week have instead detailed how some legitimate providers are being pushed to the brink as they await payment. Amid questioning, temporary Department of Human Services Commissioner Shireen Gandhi told lawmakers that two cycles of 100,000 claims have gone through a review process and none have been flagged as fraudulent. It produced a compelling exchange. “Unfortunately, within those 100,000 claims, I think there probably is fraud, we’re just not catching it. Yet, we’re having disruptions for service providers that we’re hearing about,” said Sen. Jordan Rasmusson, R-Fergus Falls . “I worry that we’re still in that payment spot where DHS can’t tell a good provider from a fraudulent one.” Gandhi responded: “I don’t think Minnesota has a problem any different than any other state in the nation. If you have humans, you have fraud.”

How do you take on one of the other party’s most popular figures in a race for the state’s most important office?  Republicans are now working to figure that out. But Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s entrance yesterday into the Minnesota governor’s race has GOP candidates adopting some common themes against the Democratic lawmaker. Republican hopefuls are calling Klobuchar a career politician. They’re questioning her past moves to fight fraud, saying she didn’t do much. For her part, Klobuchar is playing up her past role as a prosecutor. “I don’t like fraud or waste in government,” she says in her launch video. “That’s why I went after crime as county attorney.” Republican candidates also say they’ll make a case that a Klobuchar governorship wouldn’t be much different than another under Gov. Tim Walz, who dropped his third-term bid this month (yes, that was this month). Businessman Kendall Qualls, a GOP contender, called Klobuchar "Tim Walz 2.0.” and House Speaker Lisa Demuth put up a microsite and ad with the message “she’s more of the same.” Rep. Kristin Robbins uses almost identical language in her written statement but also based her criticism more on issues that separate the two parties, saying Klobuchar “has not stood up to the radical left in her party who want open borders, boys in girls' sports and higher taxes.” We’ll learn soon enough which message cuts through and which rival candidate has momentum in the hunt for the Republican ballot spot.