Trump shakes up Minneapolis immigration operation as White House seeks damage control

WASHINGTON/MINNEAPOLIS: Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, was set to take over the president’s sweeping immigration operation in Minneapolis on Tuesday, as the White House tries to tamp down national outrage over the second fatal shooting of a US citizen this month by federal agents.

The move to install Homan in place of top Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, who sources said is leaving after having led most of Trump’s crackdowns in Democratic-led cities, is part of a broader reset by the president amid some advisers’ concerns that the killing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by federal agents could derail his immigration agenda.

Trump spent the weekend huddling with senior advisers to reassess the administration’s response to Pretti’s death on Saturday, according to a White House official and a source familiar with the talks.

The discussions included reducing the number of federal agents deployed to Minnesota, recalibrating the ICE mission in the state to focus more narrowly on deportations rather than broad enforcement operations and exploring greater coordination with state authorities. Trump also weighed whether immigration officers should be required to have body-worn cameras, as many police officers do, according to the White House official.

The killing of Pretti, an ICU nurse shot multiple times by Border Patrol agents on Saturday during protests, has become a full-blown political crisis for Trump, with even some Republicans in Congress calling for investigations.

Coupled with the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good earlier this month by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, Pretti’s shooting prompted renewed anger over the aggressive tactics of some 3,000 federal agents who have been roving the streets of Minneapolis for weeks. Late on Monday, Minnesota’s chief federal judge ordered the acting head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Todd Lyons, to appear for a contempt hearing on Friday after the judge said the agency failed to comply with court orders that some detainees receive bond hearings.

“The court’s patience is at an end,” US District Judge Patrick Schiltz wrote.

Bystander video of Pretti’s killing was widely shared, contradicting some Trump officials’ initial claims that Pretti, who was legally carrying a concealed gun but never touched it prior to being shot, posed a threat to law enforcement.

Public support for Trump’s immigration enforcement tactics appeared to be waning both before and after the Pretti shooting, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. Some Republicans have voiced concern that absent a shift in tactics, Trump’s mass deportation push could cost the party its congressional majorities in November’s midterm elections.