Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
Federal agents involved in the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis have been placed on administrative leave, as the Trump administration seeks to contain a widespread backlash to its aggressive immigration policy.
The Department of Homeland Security’s agents linked to the death of the 37-year-old nurse at the weekend were placed on leave on Saturday, a DHS spokesperson said on Wednesday, citing standard protocol.
The move comes as President Donald Trump seeks to defuse outrage, including from within his party, over Pretti’s shooting following immigration officials’ surge to the midwestern city in recent weeks.
Pretti’s killing came less than three weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renée Nicole Good in Minneapolis, sparking a wave of protests in Minnesota and across the country.
Top border patrol official Gregory Bovino on Sunday said all agents involved in Pretti’s shooting were working in locations other than Minneapolis “for their safety” and raised concerns around “doxxing”.
Bovino is expected to leave the city following Pretti’s killing. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his removal.
Trump earlier this week softened his rhetoric and deployed border tsar Tom Homan to Minnesota in a move that was widely seen as a rebuke of Kristi Noem, his homeland security secretary who has overseen the administration’s mass deportation efforts.
The president also extended olive branches to Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey after spending weeks berating the two Democratic leaders.
But his rhetoric turned again on Wednesday as Trump threatened Frey over the mayor’s refusal to co-operate with federal immigration agents.
“Could somebody in his inner sanctum please explain that this statement is a very serious violation of the law, and that he is PLAYING WITH FIRE!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Frey replied in a post on X: “The job of our police is to keep people safe, not enforce fed immigration laws. I want them preventing homicides, not hunting down a working dad who contributes to [Minneapolis] & is from Ecuador.”
Tensions remain high in the midwestern city in the wake of Pretti’s shooting. A man used a syringe to spray an unknown substance on Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar late on Tuesday at a town hall event in the city.
Trump later dismissed the attack, telling ABC News: “I don’t think about [Omar]. I think she’s a fraud. She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.”
The White House has faced significant blowback on Capitol Hill over its immigration crackdown and how it has handled the spiralling crisis in Minnesota.
Democratic House members have threatened to initiate impeachment proceedings against Noem. In the Senate, Democrats have refused to support more federal funding for DHS unless major reforms are made to immigration enforcement tactics — risking a partial federal government shutdown as soon as Saturday.
A growing number of Republican lawmakers have also criticised the administration over its handling of the issue, with at least two senators from the party calling for Noem to lose her job. At least three Republican-led congressional committees have opened investigations into the federal government’s immigration enforcement.
Additional reporting by Myles McCormick in Washington
Credit: Source link
