DONALD Trump has promised to “de-escalate” his immigration operation “a little bit” in Minnesota after ICU nurse Alex Pretti, 37, was shot dead.
The US president deployed ICE veteran Tom Homan to take over the state’s migrant clampdown following the fatal shooting on Saturday.
Alex Pretti was shot and killed by border patrol agents on SaturdayCredit: Facebook/Unpixs
Trump has said he will ‘de-escalate’ immigration operations in MinnesotaCredit: Getty
Noting that Homan – dubbed the border tsar – was meeting with local leaders in Minneapolis on Tuesday, Trump said: “We’re going to de-escalate a little bit.”
He called the fresh stance “not a pullback but a change”.
Pressed on the situation in Minneapolis, Trump claimed that crime numbers were “good” because ICE agents had taken “hardened criminals” off the streets.
Trump told Fox News: “We have Tom Homan there now, we put him in there.
“He’s great, and they met with the governor, the mayor, everybody else and we’re gonna de-escalate a little bit.”
The US president was reportedly frustrated that Home Secretary Kristi Noem had branded Pretti a “domestic terrorist” in the aftermath of the shooting.
Trump has also said of the killing: “This whole thing is terrible. I don’t like the fact that he was carrying a gun that was fully loaded…
“He had two magazines with him, and it’s pretty unusual, but nobody knows when they saw the gun, how they saw the gun, everything else.”
Referring to the death of both Pretti and Renee Good – who was shot dead by ICE agent Jonathan Ross just two weeks prior – Trump said “both of them were terrible”.
He also noted that Good’s family were Trump voters.
President Trump added: “It makes me feel bad anyway, but I mean, I guess you could say even worse.
“They were tremendous Trump people, Trump fans, and, you know, the daughter was, she was, I don’t know if you could say radicalized, maybe radicalized.”
Asked earlier on Tuesday about whether he would pull ICE agents out of Minnesota, Trump said: “We’ll do whatever’s appropriate.”
Explaining his decision to remove Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino from the state send Homan to replace him, Trump added: “You shake up your team, if they can’t do the crops fast enough… we have an incredible team.”
It comes as the White House tones down its rhetoric over the shooting of Pretti.
Washington initially issued a hard-line response, but is now rowing back on certain claims in the face of backlash.
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Eze Chidiebere Paul
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