The president said he was sending US border czar Tom Homan, who is seen as relatively measured compared to rivals, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, to Minneapolis in a bid to deescalate tensions.
Trump also spoke with Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, telling the Democrat, who he has derided as “grossly incompetent” that he would consider independent investigations into the shootings and reducing the number of federal agents in his state.
Later, the White House suggested it could remove US Customs and Border Protection personnel from Minnesota if state and local law enforcement adopted additional “cooperative measures” to assist in the apprehension of undocumented migrants.
Greg Bovino, the US border patrol commander who has become the face of the latest operation, is expected to leave to Minneapolis on Tuesday, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
Taken together, the comments indicated that Trump might recognise that his maximum pressure deportation campaign has eroded public faith in immigration officials as well as his own political standing. That poses a risk for Republicans heading into November’s midterm elections.
The federal government is at risk of a partial government shutdown at the end of the week after senate democrats said they could not back a funding bill without new curbs on immigration enforcement.
Conservative commentators and interest groups have begun publicly questioning some of the statements and claims made by the administration, particularly in the aftermath of Saturday’s killing of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse whom Trump administration officials portrayed as a violent agitator despite video evidence to the contrary. Public opinion polls suggest the president’s political support is nearing historic lows.
“Nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed in America’s streets,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday.
Senate majority leader John Thune, in a social media post, called Trump’s efforts a “positive development and one that I hope leads to turning down the temperature and restoring order in Minnesota”.
Still, any attempted pivot will likely be difficult for the White House to pull off, particularly as officials remained defiant in defending Trump’s agenda.
While Homan is seen as more focused on tailored immigration enforcement efforts than Noem or Bovino, he’s still an avowed supporter of Trump’s sweeping deportation policies.
“I am sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight. He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there. Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me,” the president posted on social media.
Reporters raise their hands to ask a question as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks in the press briefing room (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Leavitt insisted that Noem retained the “utmost confidence and trust” of Trump. She also said Bovino would remain in his role.
And while Trump celebrated his conversation with Walz, Leavitt continued to lay blame for the crisis at the feet of Minnesota officials from the White House press briefing room.
“They have also used their platforms to encourage left-wing agitators to stalk, record, confront and obstruct federal officers who are just trying to lawfully perform their duties, which has created dangerous situations threatening both these officers and the general public and Minnesotans alike,” Leavitt said. “This is precisely what unfolded in Minneapolis on Saturday morning.”
The White House must also contend with initial public statements following Pretti’s killing from administration officials that drew bipartisan blowback as well as their combative remarks after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shot and killed Renee Good in her car that was partially blocking the road in early January, an incident that was also captured on video.
Noem portrayed the 37-year-old mother of three as a domestic terrorist and said the officer who shot her was acting in line with established protocols and took actions to defend himself.
Local officials in Minnesota, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, have rejected the claim. Trump has described the video “as a horrible thing to watch” even as he accused Good of running over the ICE officer.
Senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller intimated that Pretti was an “assassin” and “domestic terrorist” on social media following his killing, while Noem said the demonstrator showed up to “impede a law enforcement operation.” Available video of the incident did not show Pretti brandishing the firearm he was carrying, and suggested that the officers had disarmed him before shooting him.
And even as the president signaled some desire to calm tensions in Minnesota, he also said that his administration would continue to investigate cases of fraud in the state, as well as the finances of Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat and frequent critic.
Mounting pressure
But allies have mounted pressure on Trump to change course on his deportation drive, with polls showing Americans disapprove of federal agents’ tactics. Trump has spent recent days denouncing polling methodology on social media, as the most recent Real Clear Politics average shows his approval rating below 43%.
Nearly half of Americans in a recent Politico poll said Trump’s deportation campaign is too aggressive; one in three Trump voters said while they support the goals of the effort, they disapproved of they way he is implementing the effort.
Chris Madel, a Republican who was running for Minnesota governor, dropped out of the race on Monday following Pretti’s death.
“I cannot support the national Republicans’ stated retribution on the citizens of our state,” Madel said in a social media post.
The National Rifle Association criticized Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli, a Trump appointee, for saying on social media that approaching law enforcement would be highly likely to have legal justification for shooting someone who approached them with a firearm.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said the president needed to outline an “end game” during an interview Sunday with CNN.
“Nobody likes the feds coming to their states,” the Republican, who is chair of the National Governors Association, said. “And so what is the goal right now? Is it to deport every single non-US citizen? I don’t think that’s what Americans want.”
Trump suggested that he may look to limit the scope of immigration operations during his conversation with Walz, a Democrat who has been highly critical of the administration’s enforcement surge in his state. The president said Walz was “happy” with Homan’s deployment.
“It was a very good call, and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength,” Trump said. “I told Governor Walz that I would have Tom Homan call him, and that what we are looking for are any and all Criminals that they have in their possession. The Governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future.”
Walz’s office described the call as “productive” and said he had encouraged Trump to authorise impartial investigations of the shootings involving federal agents, as well as reduce the overall footprint of immigration agents.
“The president agreed that he would talk to his Department of Homeland Security about ensuring the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is able to conduct an independent investigation, as would ordinarily be the case,” his office said in a statement.
“The president also agreed to look into reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota and working with the state in a more coordinated fashion on immigration enforcement regarding violent criminals.”
More than 60 chief executive officers of Minnesota-based companies, including Target, Best Buy, Land O’Lakes and Cargill, also called for an immediate “de-escalation of tensions” between state, local and federal authorities.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer pledged to block a spending package this week unless Republicans strip funding for DHS, increasing the odds of a partial US government shutdown. Some Republican senators also called for an impartial investigation into the incident.
Trump told the Wall Street Journal in an interview over the weekend that he was “reviewing everything and will come out with a determination.”
“I don’t like any shooting,” the president said. “But I don’t like it when somebody goes into a protest and he’s got a very powerful, fully loaded gun.”