Donald Trump has declared that the administration plans to ‘de-escalate’ its immigration operation in Minnesota after a protester was shot dead on Saturday.
‘We have Tom Homan there now, we put him in there. He’s great, and they met with the governor, the mayor, everybody else and we’re gonna de-escalate a little bit,’ the President told Fox News on Tuesday ahead of a rally in Urbandale, Iowa.
Trump deployed ICE veteran and longtime Kristi Noem rival Tom Homan to take over the migrant crackdown in Minnesota after 37-year-old VA nurse Alex Pretti was killed by federal agents during a protest in Minneapolis.
The President was frustrated by the Homeland chief after she branded Pretti a ‘domestic terrorist’, according to reports.
Speaking to Fox on Tuesday, Trump said of the killing: ‘This whole thing is terrible. I don’t like the fact that he was carrying a gun that was fully loaded…
‘He had two magazines with him, and it’s pretty unusual. But nobody knows when they saw the gun, how they saw the gun, everything else.’
The President added that ‘both of them were terrible,’ referring to Renee Good, who was shot dead by ICE agents at a protest in Minneapolis on January 7.
He felt the tragedy particularly keenly because Good’s family were Trump voters.
Representative Zach Nunn (R-IA) and his daughter Olympia look at U.S. President Donald Trump as he speaks, in Machine Shed restaurant in Urbandale, Iowa, on Tuesday
Pretti, 37, was shot dead by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis on Saturday during a targeted immigration enforcement operation
A screengrab from a video obtained by Reuters shows a law enforcement officer pinning down a man identified as Alex Pretti, before he was fatally shot when federal agents were trying to detain him in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 24
‘I’m not sure about his parents, but I know [Good’s] parents were big Trump fans,’ Trump added.
‘It makes me feel bad anyway, but I mean, I guess you could say even worse. They were tremendous Trump people, Trump fans, and, you know, the daughter was, she was, I don’t know if you could say radicalized, maybe radicalized.’
Trump earlier said he was standing by Noem despite ordering Homan to oversee the Minnesota operation and report directly to him.
‘I think she’s doing a very good job,’ the President told reporters outside the White House on Tuesday.
‘The border is totally secure … we had a border that we inherited where millions of people were coming through, now we have a border where no one is coming through.’
The President met Noem late Sunday night and grilled her over her handling and initial response to the shooting, reports say.
Noem’s adviser and rumored lover Corey Lewandowski was by her side at the Oval Office summit which was attended by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
By the end of the night, Noem was ordered to shift her focus away from interior immigration enforcement operations and instead concentrate on securing the Southern Border.
Kristi Noem is facing Trump’s wrath as he orders her longtime rival, border czar Tom Homan, to clean up the chaos caused by her immigration crackdown in Minneapolis
Despite the furor, Noem is expected to keep her job – for now.
Noem’s law enforcement ally on the ground, Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, was also withdrawn along with scores of his agents. Initially, Noem and Lewandowski elevated Bovino to oversee high-profile immigration raids in U.S. urban centers including Los Angeles, Chicago and, most recently, Minneapolis.
The decision stirred internal anger among immigration agents aligned with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) because those operations traditionally fell under their jurisdiction, not Border Patrol’s.
Bovino was sent packing to California on Monday night as Homan prepared to take over ground operation of Minneapolis. The Daily Mail can confirm that Border Patrol Commissioner Rodney Scott revoked Bovino’s access to government-issued social media accounts.
Trump on Tuesday praised Bovino but hinted that the aggressive tactics that had made him the face of Border Patrol may have gone too far.
‘Bovino is really good,’ Trump told Fox. ‘He’s a pretty out-there kind of guy – in some cases it’s good, maybe not here. It’s not a pullback, just a little change. You make little changes.’
Homan was present in the West Wing throughout Monday before departing to Minneapolis.
Trump is betting that the ICE veteran can work out a deal with Minnesota’s Gov. Tim Walz for state and local cops to work with federal agents in exchange for their gradual departure from the Twin Cities.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a news conference in Blaine, Minn., Sunday
Noem with her close adviser and rumored lover Corey Lewandowski (right)
House Democrats on Capitol Hill have launched an investigation into Noem, while 140 members of the party have co-sponsored an impeachment resolution.
Republican lawmakers, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Kentucky Rep. James Comer, have also expressed concern that Noem’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota may have gone off the rails.
The Democratic impeachment bill alleges that Noem has been self-dealing, obstructed Congress and violated public trust.
A spokesperson for DHS said that the efforts were ‘silly’ and Democrats should focus on fixing crime problems in their districts.
The minority party will also launch an investigation into Noem’s work at DHS without any assistance from Republicans.
Senator Elizabeth Warren publicly called on the House to impeach Noem and demanded she resign.
Republican Rand Paul has also called multiple top immigration officials to testify at a February 12 hearing.
Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott, US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons have had their presence requested.
Noem will testify before the Senate on March 3 as part of regular oversight, Politico reported.
