Following mounting public opposition in Minneapolis due to federal immigration officials, evidence of the indiscriminate stopping of U.S. citizens, and widespread allegations of unconstitutional search and seizure violations, President Donald Trump’s top immigration adviser states that he has requested plans to withdraw some of the thousands of federal immigration officers in Minnesota.

However, immigration agents will continue to make arrests in Minnesota, Trump’s ‘border czar’ Tom Homan told reporters in Minneapolis on Thursday. “We are not going to abandon our mission at all; we’re just going to execute it more intelligently,” he said.

Trump, a former acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), traveled to Minnesota on Monday night for emergency meetings with local officials. In a press conference on Thursday, Homan said he had met with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, state Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, all of whom had been outspoken critics of Trump’s decision to deploy heavily armed, masked immigration agents to conduct arrests on the streets.

“I’m not here because the federal government has carried out its mission flawlessly,” Homan said. “President Trump and I have recognized that certain improvements can be made — and that’s precisely what I’ve been doing here.”

He said he is working on “making this operation safer, more efficient, and in accordance with the rules.” Those remarks seemed to be a thinly veiled criticism of the leadership of the Border Patrol commander, who openly encouraged the harsh tactics and has reportedly been transferred out of the state.

As a result of those meetings, Homan said that he has asked for a plan to start removing the substantial deployment of federal immigration agents from Minnesota. He didn’t specify when the drawdown would begin or how many of the influx of ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers would remain. “I have staff from CBP and ICE working on a drawdown plan. What will it look like based on the cooperation? What will it look like based on the number of targets we still have to find?” Homan told reporters, indicating that behind-the-scenes discussions are ongoing.

Homan connected the withdrawal of federal immigration forces in the state to ICE’s ability to make arrests inside jails and prisons. He said that many of those arrests are already taking place and expressed hopes of expanding that cooperation. “I will emphasize that the Minnesota state prison system under the department of corrections has been honoring ICE detainers, and we appreciate that important collaboration, and we are going to build on that — that decision has made Minnesota safer,” Homan said.

A rapid hiring spree has brought in thousands of new ICE officers in recent months, raising concerns that federal officers were being sent to Minnesota without sufficient vetting or training. To increase its workforce, ICE last year relaxed age restrictions for new hires and shortened training by several weeks. Democrats in Congress are demanding that ICE agree to a list of requirements. They’re calling for ICE to impose a uniform code of conduct, require independent investigations of violations, and mandate that agents wear body cameras, carry identification, and not conceal their faces behind masks.

Homan said that immigration officials need to perform their duties according to standards of conduct.

“I want to be clear, ICE and CBP officers are carrying out their duties in a challenging environment, under difficult circumstances, but they are attempting to do so professionally,” he said. “If they don’t, they will be dealt with — like any other federal agency, we have standards of conduct.”

Homan argued that arresting more people inside jails and prisons will enable immigration agents to make more “targeted” arrests of those in the U.S. illegally. He also said that people who have no criminal record but are in the U.S. without authorization will still be arrested if encountered by ICE.

“If you’re in the country illegally, you’re always at risk,” he warned.