The ICE Drawdown in Minneapolis / Epstein Files Collateral Damage

WSJ Opinion: Potomac Watch

The Wall Street Journal

News, Society & Culture

4.2 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Border czar Tom Homan says 700 immigration officers are leaving Minnesota, and those that remain will get body cameras, while Congress gives itself mere days to negotiate a funding bill with ICE reforms. Plus, the government publishes three million pages of Epstein files, with victim details inadvertently left unredacted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	How are the U.S. businesses of Philip Morris International invested in America?
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0:19.0	disaster relief, and economic empowerment.
0:22.5	Because we're proud to be invested in America. See how at uspMI.com.
0:32.4	From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch.
0:39.1	Borders our Tom Holman announces an immediate drawdown of federal immigration agents in Minneapolis.
0:44.7	As Congress passes a government funding bill giving itself only a matter of weeks to cut a deal on new rules for ICE agents.
0:53.1	Plus, the Justice Department releases more than 3 million pages
0:56.7	of the Epstein files while failing to redact
0:59.7	sensitive information for dozens of victims.
1:03.3	Welcome, I'm Kyle Peterson with the Wall Street Journal.
1:06.3	We're joined today by my colleague on the opinion pages,
1:09.0	Matt Contenetti, who writes for the WSJ's new
1:11.9	free expression newsletter. About 700 federal agents are now scheduled to leave Minneapolis
1:18.5	immediately, borders our Tom Homan said in a press conference on Wednesday morning. That will
1:24.4	bring the total force in the Twin Cities down to about 2,000, which is so much more than the usual, he said, of about 150 officers.
1:33.8	Holman also insists that this is no retreat from Minneapolis.
1:37.7	Listen to this.
1:38.6	Given this increase in unprecedented collaboration, and as a result of the need for less law enforcement officers
1:46.7	to do this work in a safer environment I have announced effective immediately
	...

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