Trump, seeking damage control, weighs less aggressive approach in Minneapolis
US President Donald Trump is considering a softer immigration approach in Minneapolis as his administration seeks to ease tensions following a deadly enforcement operation.
US President Donald Trump speaks with the media in Washington, DC, US, on Jan 27, 2026. (File photo: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)
MINNEAPOLIS: Donald Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, met with the mayor of Minneapolis and the governor of Minnesota on Tuesday (Jan 27) in a show of detente, as the White House - facing mounting political pressure - sought to ease the unrest that has gripped the city after two US citizens were shot dead by federal agents.
The move to put Homan in charge of the immigration operation in Minneapolis in place of Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, who sources said is leaving after having led most of Trump's crackdowns in Democratic-led cities, is part of a broader reset by the president to soften his administration's aggressive tactics.
Some advisers are concerned that Saturday's killing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, which sparked national outrage, could derail Trump's immigration agenda.
Homan's job in Minneapolis is to "recalibrate tactics" and improve cooperation with state and local officials, a source with ties to the White House said.
"The goal is to scale back, eventually pull out," the source added.
A senior Trump administration official said Homan would move away from the broad, public neighborhood sweeps that Bovino had conducted in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis and other cities and adopt a more traditional targeted approach.
In a statement, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he had reiterated to Homan his request that the enforcement action, known as Operation Metro Surge, "come to an end as quickly as possible", and that city leaders would remain in touch with Homan. The 30-minute meeting also included the city's police chief.
In a separate meeting with Homan, Governor Tim Walz said he had outlined the state's priorities, including impartial investigations into the two shootings and a reduction in the 3,000-strong force of federal agents deployed to the city. Homan and Walz agreed to "continue working toward those goals", the governor said.
The president spent the weekend huddling with advisers to reassess the administration's response to Pretti's death, according to the same source and a White House official.
As in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good earlier this month, some administration officials initially responded by accusing Pretti of "domestic terrorism", a claim belied by witness video verified by Reuters that showed he posed no threat.
The discussions included reducing the number of agents in Minnesota, recalibrating the mission to focus more narrowly on deportations and exploring greater coordination with state authorities. Trump also weighed whether immigration officers should be required to have body-worn cameras, as many police officers do, according to the White House official.
SUPPORT FOR TRUMP'S IMMIGRATION DRIVE WANES
The killing of Pretti, an ICU nurse shot multiple times by Border Patrol agents on Saturday during daytime protests, has turned into a full-blown political crisis for Trump, with even some Republicans in Congress calling for investigations.
Coupled with the shooting of Good, a mother of three, earlier this month by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, Pretti's death sparked renewed anger over the federal agents who have been roving the streets of Minneapolis for weeks.
Late on Monday, Minnesota's chief federal judge threatened to hold the acting head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Todd Lyons, in contempt for his agency's failures to comply with court orders that some detainees receive bond hearings.
Public support for Trump's immigration enforcement tactics appeared to be waning both before and after the Pretti shooting, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. The issue has put Republicans on the defensive ahead of November's midterm elections, when the party's narrow congressional majorities are at stake.
DEMOCRATS THREATEN TO IMPEACH KRISTI NOEM
The president held a two-hour meeting with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in the Oval Office on Monday evening after Noem asked to meet, a source briefed on the matter confirmed. The New York Times first reported the meeting.
The typically combative Trump has also struck a more conciliatory tone in public remarks. He characterised private conversations with both Walz and Frey on Monday as productive, while the two Democratic leaders offered similarly positive comments, a far cry from the vitriol the sides had previously exchanged.
At the White House on Tuesday, Trump expressed sympathy for Pretti's family and said he would be "watching over" the investigation into his killing. But he also defended Noem and said she would not be stepping down.
The three top Democrats in the US House of Representatives said they would initiate impeachment proceedings against Noem unless Trump fires her. Any impeachment would require support from at least some Republicans, who control the House, to move forward.
Privately, Trump has made clear to advisers he did not want to defend the agents' actions or attack Pretti, after Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller labeled Pretti an "assassin" and Bovino suggested he intended to "massacre" officers, despite widely shared videos contradicting those claims.
Bovino was expected to depart Minneapolis along with some Border Patrol agents deployed with him, a senior administration official told Reuters on Monday.
Another person familiar with the matter said Bovino had been stripped of his specially created title of "commander at large" and would return to his former job as a chief patrol agent along California's El Centro sector of the US-Mexico border, before retiring soon after.
Asked about Bovino's future on Tuesday, DHS referred to a Monday statement that said he had not been relieved of his duties.
DHS officials said agents fired in self-defence after Pretti approached them with a handgun, even though video showed him holding a phone, not a gun, as agents wrestled him to the ground.
It also showed officers removing a firearm from his waistband after he was subdued, seconds before they fatally shot him. Pretti was a licensed gun owner who lived half a mile from the scene.
Gun rights groups have pushed back on suggestions from Trump and other officials that Pretti should not have been armed, a rare election-year rift between Republicans and one of their most loyal voting blocs.
