President Donald Trump announced on social media Monday that he would send border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota, two days after a second U.S. citizen was shot and killed by agents working for the federal government in its immigration operations in the state.
Trump posted on social media that Homan would report directly to him.
The president’s statement comes after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino led contentious news conferences over the weekend regarding Saturday’s fatal shooting of Alex Pretti.
Both officials defended the Border Patrol agents’ actions almost immediately, instead of waiting for an investigation to take place.
Videos from the scene reviewed by The Associated Press appear to contradict the Trump administration’s statements that the shots were fired “defensively” at Pretti as he “approached” them with a gun. While Pretti was armed, he was authorized to carry a concealed weapon and may have properly followed the state’s gun carrying laws.
Pretti appears to be seen with only a phone in his hand in videos of the moments before his murder.
Pretti and Renee Good, shot to death on January 7, were bystanders who were not targets of federal operations.
“Phenomenal work”: Trump
Homan was criticized by Democrats in Congress for his outspoken defense of Trump’s harsh immigration policies and deportation efforts, and for taking US$50,000 in cash last year as part of an FBI sting operation, an incident that the Trump administration said did not constitute a criminal matter.
He was acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during Trump’s first term. Before returning to the federal government during this term, Homan was a consultant for a company that invests in private prisons.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a social media post that Homan “will lead ICE operations on the ground in Minnesota to continue to arrest the worst of the worst illegal alien criminals.”
Trump, in an interview published Sunday with The Wall Street Journal, signaled his desire to eventually remove immigration enforcement officials from the Minneapolis area, the newspaper reported.
“At some point we will leave. We did, they did a phenomenal job,” Trump told the Journal, but did not offer a timeline for when the agents would leave.
In two long messages on social networks, the Republican president said that Democrats had encouraged the population to obstruct the operations of law enforcement. He also called on Minnesota authorities to work with immigration officials and “return” people who were in the United States illegally.
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2 court hearings stem from shooting
Meanwhile, a federal judge will hear arguments Monday on whether she should at least temporarily halt Minnesota’s immigration crackdown.
The state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month, five days after Good was shot and killed by an ICE officer.
Since the court case was initially filed, the state and cities have significantly supplemented their initial request in an effort to restore the order that existed before the Trump administration launched Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota on December 1.
RT Rybak, former mayor of Minneapolis, says the city has been attacked by federal government forces, but “we will not give in.” He also claims that Trump administration officials spread disinformation about people killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and other protesters. “No one here is a terrorist,” he said.
The lawsuit asks U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez to order a reduction in the number of federal law enforcement officers and agents in Minnesota to the level before the surge and to limit the scope of the enforcement operation.
Justice Department lawyers called the lawsuit “legally frivolous” and said “Minnesota wants a veto over the application of federal law.” They asked the judge to deny the request or at least stay his order pending a planned appeal.
Attorneys general from 19 states plus the District of Columbia, led by California, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in favor of Minnesota.
“If nothing is done, the federal government will undoubtedly be encouraged to continue its illegal conduct in Minnesota and repeat it elsewhere,” the attorneys general wrote.
It is not known when the judge could rule.
Menendez ruled in a separate case Jan. 16 that federal agents in Minnesota cannot arrest or use tear gas against peaceful protesters who do not obstruct authorities, including people who follow and observe the agents.
An appeals court temporarily stayed that decision three days before Saturday’s shooting. But the plaintiffs in that case, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, asked the appeals court late Saturday for an emergency order lifting the stay in light of Pretti’s killing.
The Justice Department argued in a response filed Sunday that the suspension should remain in effect, calling the injunction unenforceable and overbroad.
In yet another case, another federal judge, Eric Tostrud, issued an order Saturday evening prohibiting the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to the Pretti shooting.
A hearing in the case is scheduled for Monday afternoon in federal court in St. Paul, Minnesota.
A week after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis, another ICE-involved shooting in the city is fueling growing tensions between federal law enforcement and protesters. As President Donald Trump threatens to bring in the National Guard, Andrew Chang explains ICE’s increased presence in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. Images provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the move was necessary after the Justice Department in Washington. declined to further investigate Good’s shooting. The ministry later said was investigating Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. on whether they were hindering federal immigration efforts.
The unrest, largely in Minneapolis-St. Paul, could have political ramifications that would affect Americans outside the state. Democrats’ anger over the immigration blitz tactic has led many of the party’s senators to oppose a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, a position that raises the prospect of a partial government shutdown by the end of the week.
Six of the 12 annual spending bills for the current budget year have been signed into law by the president. Six more are awaiting action in the Senate, and if senators don’t act by midnight Friday, funding for Homeland Security and other agencies covered by the six bills will expire.
Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada accused Noem of trying to “mislead the American public” and said she “must be impeached and removed from office immediately.”
Iimpeachment proceedings are very unlikely in the Republican-controlled Congress, even if several Republicans called for further investigation into federal immigration tactics in Minnesota.
