While there is no sign the aggressive tactics used by immigration enforcement are coming to an end, the administration may begin to walk back its harsh rhetoric about the incident. During a White House press briefing on Monday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt also struck a more conciliatory tone, calling Pretti’s death a “tragedy” and appearing to walk back previous comments from adviser Stephen Miller calling the intensive care nurse a “would-be-assassin”.
Trump said earlier on Monday that his administration was reviewing the shooting of Pretti in Minneapolis by a federal officer, and that he would send border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota? “Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday.
(Meanwhile, Homan has been the subject of controversy and is unlikely to de-escalate the situation in Minnesota. Undercover FBI agents
recorded him accepting $50,000 in cash in 2024 in exchange for promising future government contract help. Trump’s justice department closed the bribery investigation last year, citing insufficient evidence, which Democratic leaders have described as a cover-up
)
Trump told the Wall Street Journal in a
short interview on Sunday that immigration enforcement officers would leave the Minneapolis area “at some point”. The Trump administration is facing criticism from all sides over the shootings and upscaled enforcement.
The NRA attacked the suggestion by a Trump-appointed federal prosecutor that armed protest creates “a high likelihood” that federal agents “will be legally justified” to shoot protesters. The Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, described comments from the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, the senior border patrol leader Greg Bovino and other officials about the shooting as “lies”.
The widespread outrage is registering in Washington as well, as a growing number of Republicans are pressing for a deeper investigation into
federal immigration tactics in Minnesota after Pretti’s fatal shooting – a sign that the Trump administration’s accounting of events may face bipartisan scrutiny.
The Republican chair of the House homeland security committee, Andrew Garbarino, has sought testimony from leaders at ICE, Customs and Border Protection and US Citizenship and Immigration Services, saying “my top priority remains keeping Americans safe”, according to the Associated Press.
Other congressional Republicans have pressed for more information, including the Texas representative Michael McCaul and the senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Their statements, in addition to concern expressed from several Republican governors, reflects a party struggling with how to respond to federal agents’ killing of Pretti.
President says his administration is reviewing fatal shooting as Republicans and Democrats criticize ICE surge
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Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former House Republican from Georgia,
posted in support of law enforcement, but defended the right to legally carry firearms. She added: “I support American’s 1st and 4th amendment rights. There is nothing wrong with legally peacefully protesting and videoing.”
Since Sunday night, there has been a marked change in tone from the White House. Veteran's Affairs Secretary Doug Collins offered condolences to the Pretti family. The president posted a message on his Truth Social website calling the death "tragic" and blaming it on "Democrat ensued chaos" – a message echoed by Vice-President JD Vance, etc…
The White House has shifted how it talks about Alex Pretti's killing as more Republicans express concern over the deadly encounter.
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"The credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake," said one Republican lawmaker after federal agents fatally shot a second U.S. citizen.
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