President Donald Trump said his administration was going to de-escalate a little bit in Minnesota, after the second fatal shooting of a US citizen by federal immigration officers there.
Bottom line, it was terrible. Both of them were terrible, he said in a Fox News interview on Tuesday.
In early January Renee Good was fatally shot by an immigration officer, followed by Alex Pretti, who was killed after being stopped by border agents this past weekend.
Pretti's death reignited local protests and public outcry across the country, and led to criticism from lawmakers in both parties. Trump's remarks are the latest sign his administration is taking a step back on its operations in Minnesota.
On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pulled the Minnesota mission's leader and figurehead, Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, from the state.
DHS said it was deploying the White House's border tsar, Tom Homan, to take over there and Homan was set to meet with local officials this week. On Tuesday, Homan posted on social media that he had met with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and local law enforcement officials.
Speaking to other reporters ahead of a rally in Iowa Tuesday night, Trump said he viewed the killing of Pretti, an intensive care nurse at a veterans' hospital, as a very unfortunate incident.
Asked by reporters about whether he agreed with characterisations of Pretti as a domestic terrorist, Trump said: I haven't heard that. He then added: He shouldn't have been carrying a gun.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated that Pretti was shot because he was brandishing a gun during a confrontation; however, local authorities noted that the gun was legally registered and that Pretti had been shot after the firearm was removed.
DHS has also claimed the agents fired in self-defence after Pretti resisted attempts to disarm him. Eyewitnesses and local officials, however, have challenged that account, asserting he had a phone in his hand, not a weapon.
He wasn't there to peacefully protest, he was there to perpetuate violence, Noem said in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, accusing Pretti of domestic terrorism.
Pretti's death, occurring two weeks after Renee Good's fatal shooting, sparked renewed outrage among local residents and fresh calls from state and city officials for the Trump administration to withdraw its 3,000 immigration agents and officers from the area.
In the Fox News interview, Trump appeared to defend the Minnesota operation, asserting, we took thousands of hardened criminals out of the state to produce better crime statistics.
That's all working out, we have Tom Homan there now, he added, before stating the administration would de-escalate.
Stephen Miller, a senior White House aide involved in the administration's immigration initiatives, mentioned that the White House had provided clear guidance to DHS regarding the deployment of additional personnel sent to Minnesota for protection, employing them instead for fugitive operations to create a barrier between arrest teams and potential disruptors.
Some Republican leaders have demanded an investigation into Pretti's death, including Vermont Governor Phil Scott and US Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska. Ricketts condemned the weekend's events as horrifying and called for a prioritized and transparent investigation.
A federal judge has since blocked DHS from destroying or altering any evidence related to the incident.
In a speech dedicated to his economic policies at an Iowa rally on Tuesday night, Trump did not delve deeply into the situation in Minnesota but broadly discussed his immigration strategies, citing recent polling showing substantial public support for his administration's crackdown on illegal immigration.
