Trump, seeking damage control, weighs less aggressive approach in Minneapolis
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A federal agent firing a munition towards demonstrators near the site where Mr Alex Pretti was fatally shot by federal agents trying to detain him, in Minneapolis, on Jan 24.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Following fatal shootings in Minneapolis, Trump appointed Tom Homan to "recalibrate tactics" and improve state/local cooperation, aiming to "scale back" federal presence.
- Governor Walz prioritised impartial investigations and reducing the 3,000 federal agents, agreeing with Homan to "continue working toward those goals".
- Trump reassessed the situation, considering body cameras for immigration officers and distancing himself from officials who labelled Pretti an "assassin".
AI generated
WASHINGTON/MINNEAPOLIS - Donald Trump’s border czar, Mr Tom Homan, met with the Minneapolis mayor and the Minnesota governor on Jan 27 in a show of detente, as the White House sought to ease unrest gripping the city after two US citizens were shot dead by federal agents.
Mr Homan was put in charge of the Minneapolis immigration enforcement drive to replace US Border Patrol “commander at large” Gregory Bovino, who sources said was being demoted and removed after having overseen most of Mr Trump’s crackdowns in Democratic-led cities.
The move was part of a broader reset by the Republican president - who faces mounting political pressure - to soften his administration’s aggressive deportation tactics.
Some advisers are concerned that the Jan 24 killing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti
As they did after January’s fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good
Mr Homan’s job in Minneapolis is to “recalibrate tactics” and improve cooperation with state and local officials, a source with ties to the White House said, adding, “The goal is to scale back, eventually pull out.”
Speaking of the Minnesota situation on Fox News on Jan 27, Mr Trump said his administration was “going to de-escalate a little bit”.
“I don’t think it’s a pullback. It’s a little bit of a change,” the president said. Asked whether he retained confidence in US Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem, whose role in the crisis brought calls for her dismissal or impeachment from leading Democrats on Capitol Hill, Mr Trump said: “I do.”
The president met with Ms Noem, at her request, for two hours in the Oval Office on the evening of Jan 26, a source briefed on the matter confirmed.
Recalibrating the surge
A senior Trump administration official said Mr Homan would move away from the broad, public neighbourhood sweeps that Mr Bovino had conducted in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis and other cities and adopt a more traditional, targeted approach.
In a statement, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he had reiterated to Mr Homan his request that the enforcement action, known as Operation Metro Surge, “come to an end as quickly as possible,” and that city leaders would remain in touch with Mr Homan.
The 30-minute meeting included the city’s police chief.
Mr Tom Homan’s job in Minneapolis is to “recalibrate tactics” and improve cooperation with state and local officials.
PHOTO: AFP
In a separate meeting with Mr Homan, Governor Tim Walz said he had outlined the state’s priorities, including impartial investigations into the two shootings and a reduction in the 3,000-strong force of federal agents deployed to the city. Mr Homan and Mr Walz agreed to continue working toward those goals, the governor said.
Mr Homan called the meetings a “productive starting point” for additional “conversations with key stakeholders in the days ahead”.
Tension in Minneapolis stayed high, despite the initial efforts to lower friction.
At a town hall meeting on Jan 27, a man sprayed a foul-smelling liquid at Democratic US Representative Ilhan Omar
Ecuador’s foreign ministry said an ICE agent tried to enter its Minneapolis consulate on Jan 27.
Announcing his plan to send in Mr Homan, the subject of a US Justice Department bribery probe that was abruptly closed in 2025, Mr Trump on Jan 26 sought to cast his designated “border czar” as a neutral figure in the Minnesota crisis who “knows and likes many of the people there”.
In weekend talks between the president and his advisers, discussions included reducing the number of agents in Minnesota, focusing the mission more narrowly on deportations, and exploring greater coordination with state authorities, according to a White House official.
Support for Trump’s immigration drive wanes
The killing of Mr Pretti, a veterans hospital intensive care nurse shot multiple times by Border Patrol agents during daytime protests, has become a full-blown political crisis for Mr Trump, with even some Republicans in Congress calling for investigations.
Coupled with the Jan 7 fatal shooting of Ms Good, a mother of three, by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, Mr Pretti’s shooting sparked renewed anger over the heavily armed federal agents on the Minneapolis streets.
Late on Jan 26, Minnesota’s chief federal judge threatened to hold the acting head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Mr Todd Lyons, in contempt for his agency’s failures to comply with court orders that some detainees receive bond hearings.
Public support for Mr Trump’s immigration enforcement tactics appeared to be waning both before and after the Pretti shooting, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. The issue has put Republicans on the defensive ahead of November’s midterm elections, when the party’s narrow congressional majorities are at stake.
Damage-control mode
The typically combative Mr Trump characterised private conversations with both Mr Walz and Mr Frey on Jan 26 as productive, while the two Democratic leaders offered similarly positive comments, a far cry from the vitriol the sides had previously exchanged.
Mr Walz and Mr Frey were among several Democratic state and local officials subpoenaed one week ago in a Justice Department probe into whether their opposition to Operation Metro Surge amounted to a crime.
At the White House on Jan 27, Mr Trump expressed sympathy for Mr Pretti’s family and said he would be “watching over” the investigation into his killing.
Mr Pretti “certainly shouldn’t have been carrying a gun,” Mr Trump told reporters in Iowa later on Jan 27, comments that put him at odds with gun rights groups and some Republicans.
While Mr Trump stood by Ms Noem, the three top Democrats in the US House of Representatives and the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee said they would seek to initiate impeachment proceedings against her unless she was fired.
Any impeachment would require some level of support from Republicans, who control the House, to move forward. REUTERS
