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A small “security force” will remain in Minnesota temporarily as the Trump administration winds down its immigration enforcement operation in the state, White House border czar Tom Homan said on Feb. 15.

In an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Homan said a limited number of agents would stay in Minnesota to respond if federal personnel find themselves “surrounded by agitators and things get out of control.”

He did not say how many agents would comprise the rapid response force but said he’s “hoping” they can be removed “fairly quickly.”

Homan’s comments come days after he announced the end of Operation Metro Surge, the immigration mission in the Midwestern state that drew nationwide and bipartisan backlash against the Trump administration after the deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal officers.

In his announcement of the withdrawal, Homan cast the operation as a success, touting the arrests of 4,000 undocumented immigrants, some of whom had been charged with violent offenses. Homan credited the withdrawal to “unprecedented” cooperation between national authorities and Minnesota state and local officials.

“As a result of our efforts here Minnesota is now less of a sanctuary state for criminals,” Homan said at a Feb. 12 news conference.

The move was welcomed by state and local officials in Minnesota, but several disputed Homan’s claims and said no deals were struck to broaden cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

“We do not enforce federal immigration law, period. We do not cooperate with (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) or any agency around enforcement of federal immigration law,” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey at a news conference after Homan made his announcement. “The notion there was a deal is false.”

In a separate interview with Fox News’ “Fox and Friends,” Homan on Feb. 15 said Minnesota officials “ought to be saying thank you.”

Homan was sent to Minnesota in the aftermath of the killings of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, and Renee Nicole Good, a poet and mother of three, which triggered nationwide protests and intense scrutiny on the tactics of agents carrying out the administration’s deportation agenda.

The outrage led to a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, as Democrats vowed not to support a funding bill for the agency without reforms to immigration enforcement. Republicans described the demands as unrealistic.

Among the major points of contention are the masks worn by federal agents. Democrats are calling for them to be removed while Republicans say they’re necessary to protect personnel from being doxxed and otherwise harassed.

Homan told CBS News that he was not part of the ongoing Homeland Security negotiations but said he doesn’t “like the masks either.” Still, the border czar called the coverings necessary amid an uptick in threats and assaults on immigration agents.

“These men and women have to protect themselves,” he said.

Homan has conceded that the operation in Minnesota needed reform. In recent statements, Homan highlighted a series of internal changes he made when he arrived in Minnesota, from refocusing enforcement on undocumented immigrants with criminal histories to dispatching more internal affairs agents “to make sure officers in the field was doing the right thing.”

But despite the controversy over the Minnesota operation, Homan has not ruled out future surges.

“I think it depends on the situation,” he told CBS News. “I have said from day one that, you know, we need to – we need to flood the zone in sanctuary cities with additional agents. The number of agents depend on the situation on the ground, how many known criminal targets are out there, because we know we have a problem with sanctuary cities, because we know they’re releasing public safety threats in the public.”

He added: “I’m hoping other sanctuary cities look at what happened in Minnesota and how we got to the place we’re at, which I think is a good place.”

Christopher Cann is a national breaking news reporter for USA TODAY. Contact him via email at ccann@usatoday.com.