(AFP) – President Donald Trump sent his top border enforcer to Minneapolis on Monday and struck a conciliatory note in a bid to tamp down nationwide outrage over the second killing of a US citizen protesting militarized immigration raids this month. The White House was scrambling as video of the latest shooting went viral, prompting street protests, criticism from former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and, increasingly, from within Trump’s Republican Party. Trump said Tom Homan, his point man for border security, “will report directly to me.” Homan’s new role appears to acknowledge the administration has run into political damage, with polls showing a majority of Americans disapprove of the often brutal crackdown by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
In a marked change of tone, Trump said he held a “very good” talk with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat whom he has repeatedly accused of corruption. Trump also said he had called Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, another Democrat, with the latter saying “the president agreed the present situation can’t continue.” Frey also said “some federal agents” will begin leaving Minneapolis on Tuesday, without providing specifics. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed.” She also expressed sorrow for the death of Alex Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse who was gunned down Saturday at point-blank range by immigration officers while protesting in Minneapolis. Earlier, top Trump officials had branded Pretti, 37, a “domestic terrorist.” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Sunday accused the Trump administration of pushing a “flat-out insane” narrative.
In yet another indication of a pivot, US media reported that controversial Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino was leaving Minneapolis — though the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has vehemently denied he is being let go. “Chief Gregory Bovino has NOT been relieved of his duties,” DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted on X, reiterating the White House messaging that Bovino “is a key part of the President’s team and a great American.” Despite his recent moves, there was no sign Trump was retreating from the broader, hardline policy of sending heavily armed, masked, and unidentified ICE agents into Democratic-run cities to track down people breaking immigration laws — actions that Bovino has relished leading. There remain “hundreds of thousands” of “the worst illegal aliens” left to deport, Leavitt said. Campaigning against illegal immigration helped Trump get elected in 2024, but daily videos of violent masked agents, and multiple reports of people being targeted on flimsy evidence, have helped send Trump’s approval ratings plummeting.
Minneapolis has become ground zero in the turmoil. Huge rallies took place despite bitter cold on Friday to protest an ICE agent’s killing of protester Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, on January 7. Like Pretti, she had been shot at close range and was a US citizen.
Opening a new front in the crisis, a federal judge in Minneapolis heard arguments on Monday on whether the deployment of federal officers violates the state of Minnesota’s sovereignty. In a separate hearing, a judge was considering a request to force federal officials to preserve evidence in the killing of Pretti, saying she would rule quickly. Pressure is also mounting in Congress, where Democrats are threatening to hold up funding for the US government unless immigration enforcement agencies are reformed.
Monday’s shift in White House messaging came as Republicans — who rarely criticize their 79-year-old party leader in public — began to express alarm, including House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer and Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Republican Chris Madel sent shockwaves when he dropped out of the running for Minnesota’s upcoming governor race to replace Walz, saying he could not remain a member of a party inflicting “retribution on the citizens of our state.”
– Roberto Schmidt with Sebastian Smith in Washington
© 2024 AFP
