President Donald Trump has announced a partial reduction in federal immigration operations in Minnesota after Border Patrol agents fatally shot nurse Alex Pretti. The incident marks the second such killing by immigration officers in the state, sparking nationwide protests and calls for accountability.
The Department of Homeland Security replaced operation leader Gregory Bovino with White House border chief Tom Homan on Monday. Homan met Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and police officials, describing the discussions as a productive starting point focused on officer safety and criminal removals.
Trouble started in early January when 37-year-old Renee Good, a mother and poet serving as a legal observer, was shot three times despite driving away from an ICE officer. Pretti, an ICU nurse at a veterans’ hospital, died on 24 January during a traffic stop; agents fired 10 rounds, including six after disarming him, per video evidence. Local reports confirm his gun was legal and holstered, with a phone in his other hand.
“Bottom line, it was terrible. Both of them were terrible,” Trump said on Fox News Tuesday. He pledged to “going to de-escalate a little bit” while calling Pretti’s death “a very unfortunate incident.” On “domestic terrorist” labels, he said, “I haven’t heard that.” He added, “He shouldn’t have been carrying a gun.”
Secretary Kristi Noem claimed Pretti was “brandishing” a weapon to “perpetuate violence” in “domestic terrorism,” though a DHS review omitted this.
Adviser Stephen Miller told CNN the White House “provided clear guidance to DHS that the extra personnel that had been sent to Minnesota for force protection should be used for conducting fugitive operations to create a physical barrier between the arrest teams and the disruptors.”
“We are evaluating why the [US Customs and Border Patrol] team may not have been following that protocol,” Miller added.
Trump touted removing “thousands of hardened criminals” for improved crime stats: “That’s all working out, we have Tom Homan there now.” Republicans like Senator Pete Ricketts demanded probes—”The nation witnessed a horrifying situation this weekend”—while backing ICE funds. A judge barred evidence tampering.
The deaths have fuelled demands to withdraw 3,000 agents. At an Iowa rally, Trump cited a Harvard Harris poll showing 80 per cent support for deporting criminal migrants.