President Trump says administration will step back operations as protests grow over immigration officers’ fatal shootings in Minnesota.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said shortly after the shooting that Pretti “wasn’t there to peacefully protest, he was there to perpetuate violence,” accusing him of “domestic terrorism”.
The Department of Homeland Security said its agents fired in self-defence after Pretti resisted attempts to disarm him. Noem said Pretti was shot because he was “brandishing” a gun during the confrontation.
Eyewitnesses and local officials have disputed that account, saying Pretti had a phone in his hand, not a weapon. Local authorities also said the gun was legally registered and that Pretti was shot after the firearm was removed.
A preliminary report drafted by Customs and Border Protection appears to contradict the initial DHS version of events. The report says two agents fired their weapons at Pretti and does not mention that he was reaching for his firearm, according to a copy seen by the BBC’s US partner CBS News.
On Monday, DHS withdrew the Minnesota mission’s leader, Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, from the state. The department said the White House’s border tsar, Tom Homan, had been deployed to take over operations.
Homan said on social media on Tuesday that he had met with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and local law enforcement officials.
Pretti’s death, coming just two weeks after the killing of 37 year old Renee Good, angered residents and prompted renewed calls from state and city officials for the Trump administration to withdraw its 3,000 immigration agents and officers from the region.
Despite the backlash, Trump defended the Minnesota operation in his Fox News interview, saying “we took thousands of hardened criminals” out of the state, “so they have good crime numbers”.
“That’s all working out, we have Tom Homan there now,” Trump said, before adding the administration would “de-escalate”.
Stephen Miller, a senior White House aide overseeing the deportation initiative, told CNN that the administration had “provided clear guidance to DHS that the extra personnel that had been sent to Minnesota for force protection should be used for conducting fugitive operations to create a physical barrier between the arrest teams and the disruptors”.
“We are evaluating why the [US Customs and Border Patrol] team may not have been following that protocol,” Miller said.
Several Republican leaders have also called for an investigation into Pretti’s death, including Vermont Governor Phil Scott and US Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska.
“The nation witnessed a horrifying situation this weekend,” Ricketts wrote on X. While reaffirming that his “support for funding ICE remains the same,” he said he expected “a prioritized, transparent investigation into this incident”.
A federal judge has since blocked DHS from destroying or altering evidence related to the shooting.
At his Iowa rally on Tuesday night, Trump did not address the Minnesota situation in detail but defended his broader immigration crackdown, citing a December Harvard Harris poll which he said showed strong public support for deporting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes.
