With already 79 Nigerians set to be deported from the United States, relief may be in sight for some Nigerians living there as President Donald Trump’s administration has announced it is pulling out 700 federal agents out of the state of Minnesota, following large protests against the crackdown on immigrants.

Although the Trump administration is reducing the number of immigration officers in Minnesota, it will, however, continue its enforcement operation that has sparked weeks of tensions and deadly confrontations, border czar, Tom Homan, said yesterday.

About 700 federal officers — roughly a quarter of the total deployed to Minnesota — will be withdrawn immediately after state and local officials agreed over the past week to cooperate by turning over arrested immigrants, Homan said.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 on when the administration might end the operation that has become a flashpoint in the debate over President Trump’s mass deportation efforts since the fatal shootings of US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Already, many Nigerians in Minnesota have gone underground in a bid to avoid being arrested and deported from the US. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have said the surge in Minnesota that ramped up dramatically in early January