<\/p>\n
Donald Trump has declined to say whether the federal officer who fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis had acted appropriately, as he said his administration was reviewing the incident and that he will be sending his border czar to Minnesota.<\/p>\n
The US president told the Wall Street Journal in a short interview<\/a> that immigration enforcement officers would leave the Minneapolis area \u201cat some point\u201d.<\/p>\n The publication said Trump did not directly answer when asked twice whether the officer who shot Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, had done the right thing. Pressed further, he said: \u201cWe\u2019re looking, we\u2019re reviewing everything and will come out with a determination.\u201d<\/p>\n Then on Monday morning, Trump announced on Truth Social that he was sending his border czar, Tom Homan, to Minneapolis<\/a>. \u201cTom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me,\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n Undercover FBI agents recorded<\/a> Homan accepting $50,000 in cash in 2024 in exchange for promising future government contract help. Trump\u2019s justice department closed the bribery investigation last year, citing insufficient evidence, which Democratic leaders have described as a cover-up.<\/p>\n The Trump administration<\/a> is contending with the fallout from the surge of federal immigration officers to Minnesota and the death of two American citizens in confrontations with federal agents. Lawsuits from state and local officials seeking an end to the federal surge will be heard on Monday in federal court, where a judge will consider a novel legal question: are the thousands of arrests, three shootings and two deaths in the surge so disruptive to civil order that it violates the 10th amendment rights of state sovereignty?<\/p>\n In the Wall Street Journal interview, Trump criticised Pretti for carrying a gun during protest activity<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t like any shooting. I don\u2019t like it,\u201d Trump told the publication. \u201cBut I don\u2019t like it when somebody goes into a protest and he\u2019s got a very powerful, fully-loaded gun with two magazines loaded up with bullets also. That doesn\u2019t play good either.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump signaled a willingness to eventually withdraw immigration enforcement officials from the Minneapolis area, saying: \u201cAt some point we will leave. We\u2019ve done, they\u2019ve done a phenomenal job.\u201d<\/p>\n A growing number of Republicans are pressing for a deeper investigation into federal immigration tactics in Minnesota<\/a> after Pretti\u2019s fatal shooting \u2013 a sign that the Trump administration\u2019s accounting of events may face bipartisan scrutiny.<\/p>\n The Republican chair of the House homeland security committee, Andrew Garbarino, has sought testimony from leaders at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection and US Citizenship and Immigration Services, saying \u201cmy top priority remains keeping Americans safe\u201d, according to the Associated Press.<\/p>\n 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\u2019 killing of Pretti.<\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) almost immediately alleged Pretti had \u201cviolently resisted\u201d officers, saying they fired \u201cdefensive shots\u201d. Video evidence contradicts that account<\/a>. Trump also shared an image of the pistol allegedly found on Pretti in a Truth Social post<\/a>, writing: \u201cThis is the gunman\u2019s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!) and ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n Pretti was reportedly legally permitted to carry a gun. Widely circulated video of his shooting death does not appear to depict him holding a gun; it does show an officer reaching to Pretti\u2019s lower back and stepping away with what appeared to be a pistol \u2013 and Pretti being subsequently shot to death.<\/p>\n