The Trump administration has suggested it is planning to “draw down” federal forces in Minnesota if there is co-operation from officials, after the fatal shootings of two US citizens in the state.
At a news conference in Minneapolis on Thursday, White House border tsar Tom Homan vowed to continue the immigration enforcement operation, but added he wants “common sense co-operation that allows us to draw down on the number of people we have here”.
“We are not surrendering our mission at all. We’re just doing it smarter,” Homan said.
The deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti have ignited local protests and public outcry across the country, and led to criticism from lawmakers.
It was unclear how many federal forces might leave the city or when, raising new questions about how far the Trump administration will scale back its operation after the US president said he was seeking to “de-escalate” in Minneapolis.
Homan added: “President Trump wants this fixed, and I’m going to fix it.”
Hours later, in a social media post, Trump labelled Pretti an “agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist”.
Trump said the 37-year-old’s “stock has gone way down” following the release of footage that shows an altercation between Pretti and federal officers 11 days before his death.
“It was quite a display of abuse and anger, for all to see, crazed and out of control. The ICE Officer was calm and cool,” said Trump.
In response to the video, Steve Schleicher, a lawyer for the Pretti family, told the BBC’s US news partner CBS: “A week before Alex was gunned down in the street, despite posing no threat to anyone, he was violently assaulted by a group of ICE agents.
“Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing at the hands of ICE on Jan 24.”
The killings of Good and Pretti by agents carrying out Trump’s immigration crackdown this month have provoked protests in Minneapolis, public outcry across the US and calls from lawmakers in both parties for some administration officials to be removed.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have called for a withdrawal of federal agents entirely from the state’s capital region. The state has also asked a federal judge to stop “Operation Metro Surge”, which involves approximately 3,000 immigration, border patrol and other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers.
The administration, meanwhile, has blasted local officials, saying they should work with federal officers and agents and also criticised Minneapolis for having a “sanctuary city policy” that bars city employees from enforcing immigration laws.
Homan said on Thursday that changes in the operation would depend on how much state and local officials co-operate with federal authorities, and added the administration disagreed with some of Frey and Walz’s demands, but did not specify which ones.
In the hours after Pretti was killed on Saturday, Walz spoke to the White House twice and, since then, he and Frey, both Democrats, have had phone calls with Trump.
In general, Homan provided few clues on what changes the administration would be willing to make. He said the federal operation in Minneapolis would be more “targeted”, but did not offer more details.
While he pledged to “fix” the crackdown in Minneapolis, Homan also defended the administration’s immigration enforcement measures, saying that tightening border security and targeting undocumented immigrants for deportation had made the country safer.
In Trump’s first year back in office, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is part of DHS, carried out over 480,000 deportations, according to an agency document obtained by CBS News.
The figure exceeds the previous high of 410,000 recorded in 2012, when former President Barack Obama was in office. The DHS is currently holding more than 75,000 people in detention, according to the document.
Trump has sent federal agents, as well as the National Guard, to major US cities over the past year to make good on his campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration. They have been met with protests and legal challenges in Democrat-led cities like Portland, Los Angeles and Chicago.
After frustration with the administration’s handling of Good and Pretti’s deaths appeared to reach a boiling point, both on the streets of Minneapolis and in the halls of Capitol Hill, Trump sent Homan to the city to take over the operation, sidelining Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino, who had also led crackdowns in Chicago and other cities.
It is unclear whether Homan’s remarks on Thursday will appease lawmakers in Washington, though.
Several House and Senate Republicans have called for investigations into the Good and Pretti shootings.
Senate Democrats have threatened a partial government shutdown if a spending package includes new funding for DHS, as well.
On Thursday, seven Senate Republicans joined Democrats in blocking a procedural vote on the spending bill, Senate leaders and the White House then worked on a deal that would remove DHS funding from the package, allowing the government to send money to other agencies and give both sides more time to negotiate a separate spending plan for DHS.
“Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together to get the vast majority of the Government funded until September, while at the same time providing an extension to the Department of Homeland Security,” Trump wrote on social media.
Senate Democrats want any bill to fund DHS to restrict the tactics that ICE uses in the field, specifically calling for them to stop wearing masks and carrying out searches and arrests without a judge’s warrant. In a memo made public earlier this month, ICE authorised its agents to make warrantless searches.
“This is a moment of truth,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech on Thursday. “What ICE is doing, outside the law, is state-sanctioned thuggery and it must stop.”
Trump said during a cabinet meeting on Thursday that the White House was working with Democrats to avoid a shutdown.
Speaking at a conference for mayors in Washington on Thursday, Frey continued calling for an end to the federal operation in his city. He also visited Capitol Hill.
There were 3,000 to 4,000 federal forces in Minneapolis, Frey said, vastly outnumbering the city’s 600 local police officers. Homan did not confirm how many federal forces were present when asked to provide an updated figure on Thursday.
“People have been indiscriminately pulled off the street,” Frey said. “American citizens have been yanked away from their homes after that, solely because they look like they are from Mexico or Ecuador or Somalia.”
He added: “That’s not how we operate in America.”
About the Author
