The emerging blame game over the Trump administration\u2019s handling of the deadly shooting by border authorities in Minneapolis this week has exposed the internal jockeying for power within the Homeland Security Department over President Trump\u2019s expansive federal immigration crackdown, and left the department in what current and former officials say is a severe crisis.<\/p>\n
In the days since federal agents fatally shot a Veterans Affairs nurse, a bellicose Border Patrol agent leading the operation in the city was cast aside. The embattled homeland security secretary scrambled to get face time<\/a> with Mr. Trump amid calls to step down. And a top White House official who designed Mr. Trump\u2019s immigration agenda said the administration was examining whether border agents had violated protocol.<\/p>\n The situation has engulfed the department in turmoil and prompted widespread concern among the rank and file and members of Congress over the future of an agency tasked with protecting the United States from threats at home and abroad. Current and former homeland security officials have already described a growing sense of frustration and disillusionment<\/a> at the agency leading Mr. Trump\u2019s push to arrest and deport millions of immigrants.<\/p>\n \u201cIt appears to be chaos,\u201d Deborah Fleischaker, who was the assistant director for policy for ICE during the Biden administration, said of the leadership of the Homeland Security Department. \u201cImmigration has been politicized for a long time. But what we\u2019re seeing is such an escalation of that and such an embrace of power as the ultimate tool.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe morale inside the department has got to be suffering,\u201d she added. \u201cIt\u2019s got to be hurting. They see what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n None of the top immigration officials appeared at imminent risk of losing their jobs. After Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, met with Mr. Trump for nearly two hours this week, he said she had done a \u201cvery good job.\u201d And Stephen Miller, the deputy White House chief of staff who has played an outsize role in shaping and directing the immigration crackdown, remains one of the administration\u2019s more influential figures.<\/p>\n Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol chief whose tactics in immigration operations in American cities have garnered lawsuits and protests, was pulled out of Minneapolis. But White House officials maintained he was not at risk of losing his position. The White House has directed Tom Homan, the president\u2019s border czar, to replace Mr. Bovino in Minnesota and meet with local authorities to \u201cde-escalate\u201d the situation in Minneapolis, in Mr. Trump\u2019s words.<\/p>\n And amid all the finger-pointing and pushing to overcome the political fallout of the shooting, neither Mr. Trump or any of his advisers have explained why they falsely said the man the agents killed, Alex Pretti, had been brandishing a gun before he was shot, or why administration officials labeled him as a domestic terrorist before any investigation.<\/p>\n The aggressive tactics and false statements have mirrored a top-down combative approach set by Mr. Trump, in which the administration immediately attacks its opponents with inflammatory language, even if it is undercut by video evidence later.<\/a><\/p>\n A White House spokeswoman referred to comments this week by Mr. Trump, in which he indicated he was open to an investigation into the shooting.<\/p>\n Still, multiple homeland security officials said the fallout over Minneapolis has revealed what one person familiar with the internal dynamic called a \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d-style battle over power in the department that has simmered for months and now come to a boil. Other ICE officials have expressed difficulty navigating directions from the White House and the Homeland Security Department\u2019s leadership, with the two sometimes not being on the same page.<\/p>\n Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, disputed any assertion that there was a power struggle at the agency.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is only one page: the president\u2019s page,\u201d Ms. McLaughlin said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n After Ms. Noem faced intense pushback for calling Mr. Pretti a domestic terrorist, a U.S. official said her messaging had been crafted in part by Mr. Miller. Mr. Miller, who called Mr. Pretti a \u201cterrorist\u201d over the weekend, issued a statement on Tuesday saying the Homeland Security Department had chosen its language \u201cbased on reports from C.B.P. on the ground.\u201d Ms. McLaughlin repeated that explanation on Wednesday.<\/p>\n