Tom Homan, Donald Trump’s border czar, met with the governor of Minnesota on Tuesday before meeting with the mayor of Minneapolis. The White House is attempting to diffuse the turmoil that has engulfed the city following the shooting deaths of two American citizens by federal agents.
As part of a larger reset by the president to soften his administration’s aggressive stance in Minneapolis, Homan was appointed to lead the operation in place of Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, who sources said is departing after leading the majority of Trump’s crackdowns in Democratic-led cities. Some advisors fear that Trump’s immigration policy could be derailed by the shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by federal authorities on Saturday, which caused widespread indignation.
According to a source with connections to the White House, Homan’s role in Minneapolis is to “recalibrate tactics” and enhance collaboration with state and local leaders.”Scaling back and eventually pulling out is the goal,” the person continued.
According to a senior Trump administration official, Homan would use a more conventional targeted approach instead of the extensive, public neighborhood sweeps that Bovino had carried out in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, and other cities.
Governor Tim Walz said in a statement that he had given Homan a list of the state’s top priorities, which included cutting back on the 3,000 federal agents stationed in the city and conducting unbiased investigations into the two shootings. Walz and Homan decided to “continue working toward those goals,” according to the governor.
SUPPORT FOR TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION DRIVE WANES
Even some Republicans in Congress have called for probes into the death of Pretti, an ICU nurse who was shot multiple times by Border Patrol officials on Saturday during daytime protests. This has turned into a full-fledged political catastrophe for Trump.
Pretti’s shooting, along with the death of Good, a mother of three, earlier this month at the hands of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, provoked fresh outrage over the harsh methods used by the federal officers who have been prowling Minneapolis’ streets for weeks.
The chief federal judge in Minnesota threatened to hold Todd Lyons, the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in contempt late on Monday over his agency’s disregard for court orders requiring bond hearings for certain inmates.
U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz wrote, “The court’s patience is at an end,” directing Lyons to appear before him on Friday.
According to a Ipsos poll, public support for Trump’s immigration enforcement strategies seemed to be declining both before and after the Pretti shooting. Ahead of the midterm elections in November, when the party’s slim congressional majorities are at risk, the problem has put Republicans on the defense.
TRUMP IN DAMAGE CONTROL MODE
According to a person aware on the situation, the president met with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for two hours on Monday night in the Oval Office after Noem requested a meeting. The encounter was initially reported by the New York Times.
In public statements, the usually confrontational Trump has also adopted a more accommodative tone. He described Monday’s private talks with Walz and Frey as fruitful, and the two Democratic leaders made similarly encouraging remarks—a far cry from the animosity the two sides had previously exchanged.
Tuesday at the White House, Trump said he would be “watching over” the inquiry into Pretti’s murder and offered his condolences to his family. However, he also stated that Noem would not be resigning and defended her.
After Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called Pretti a “assassin” and Bovino implied he planned to “massacre” officers—despite widely circulated recordings to the contrary—Trump privately informed advisors that he did not want to defend the agents’ actions or attack Pretti.
According to the White House official, the president talked about distancing himself from Miller and Noem’s public remarks and instructed senior officials not to publicly criticize Pretti.
A senior administration official told Reuters on Monday that Bovino, who claimed that the police who killed Pretti were the real victims of Saturday’s shooting, is anticipated to leave Minneapolis with a few Border Patrol agents who were assigned to accompany him.
Bovino would return to his previous position as a top patrol agent along California’s El Centro sector of the U.S.-Mexico border before retiring shortly after, according to another source familiar with the situation. Bovino had been stripped of his specially constructed title of “commander at large.”
When asked about Bovino’s future on Tuesday, DHS cited a statement from Monday stating that he had not been removed of his responsibilities. Although video showed Pretti carrying a phone, not a pistol, as agents pulled him to the ground, DHS authorities claimed that agents fired in self-defense after Pretti approached them with a firearm.
Additionally, it depicted police taking a gun from his waistband just before they shot him to death after subduing him. Pretti resided half a mile away from the site and was a licensed gun owner.
In a rare election-year schism between Republicans and one of their most devoted voter blocs, gun rights organizations have retaliated against Trump administration officials’ assertion that Pretti shouldn’t have been armed.
Additional reporting by Ted Hesson, Steve Holland, Jarrett Renshaw, Andrew Hay, and Susan Heavey; writing by Joseph Ax, editing by Paul Thomasch and Deepa Babington; reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington and Brad Brooks in Minneapolis
