Federal response following fatal shooting
President Donald Trump said his administration was “going to de-escalate a little bit” in Minnesota following the second fatal Minnesota shooting of a US citizen by federal immigration officers in the state.
“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.
Speaking to other reporters ahead of a rally in Iowa on 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 whether he agreed with characterisations of Pretti as a “domestic terrorist”, Trump said: “I haven’t heard that.”
Trump then added: “He shouldn’t have been carrying a gun.”
Conflicting accounts of the incident
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said shortly after the shooting that Pretti “wasn’t there to peacefully protest, he was there to perpetuate violence,” and accused him of “domestic terrorism”.
The Department of Homeland Security has also said the agents fired in self-defence after Pretti resisted attempts to disarm him.
Noem said Pretti was shot because he was “brandishing” a gun during a confrontation. Eyewitnesses and local officials, however, have challenged that account, saying he had a phone in his hand, not a weapon.
Local authorities said the gun had been legally registered and that Pretti had been shot after the firearm was removed.
A preliminary report drafted by US Customs and Border Protection also appears to contradict the initial DHS account of events. It says two of its agents fired their weapons at Pretti.
The report does not mention that Pretti was reaching for his firearm, according to a copy seen by the BBC’s US partner, CBS News.
Changes in leadership and calls for investigation
On Monday, DHS pulled the Minnesota mission’s leader and figurehead, Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, from the state. The department said it was deploying the White House’s border tsar, Tom Homan, to take over operations.
Homan said on social media on Tuesday that he had met with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and local law enforcement officials.
Pretti’s death, coming two weeks after the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good, angered local residents and sparked renewed calls from state and city officials for the Trump administration to withdraw its 3,000 immigration agents and officers from the region.
In his Fox News interview, Trump defended the Minnesota operation, saying “we took thousands of hardened criminals” out of the state, “so they have good crime numbers”.
“That’s all working out, we have Tom Homan there now,” he said, before adding the administration would “de-escalate”.
White House aide Stephen Miller told CNN that the administration had given clear guidance to DHS on how additional personnel should be deployed and that questions were being examined over whether protocol had been followed.
Several Republican leaders and lawmakers have called for an investigation into Pretti’s death, including Vermont Governor Phil Scott and US Senator Pete Ricketts.
A federal judge has blocked DHS from destroying or altering evidence.
During his Iowa rally on Tuesday night, Trump focused largely on economic policy and did not address the Minnesota situation in depth, instead referring broadly to his immigration crackdown and citing polling data suggesting strong public support for deporting undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes.
Source: BBC
Also read: Chief of Trump immigration crackdown set to leave Minneapolis
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