Trump officials reverse on Minneapolis shooting. Policy change or damage control?

Minneapolis— Leading Republicans in the Trump administration are retreating from a blanket defense of Border Patrol agents who fatally shot a U.S. citizen on a Minneapolis street on Saturday; It’s part of a larger effort by the White House to turn down the temperature after the killing sparked widespread outrage.

But it remains unclear whether the suppression of Republican rhetoric is merely post-attack damage control or will lead to a more fundamental reduction of Trump’s harsh immigration crackdown in American cities from Los Angeles to Chicago.

In Minneapolis, there was little sign of forces easing on streets where tensions have been high since the shooting.

On Wednesday morning, protesters gathered outside the federal Whipple Building, the epicenter of immigration activity in the city, as a steady stream of federal agents entered and exited.

“Traitor!” a woman shouted at the car driven by masked agents.

“Murderers!” said a man.

Wearing a neon vest (“Don’t Shoot”), Richi Mead, who described himself as a peaceful observer, said he did not believe there had been a decrease in the number of federal immigration agents in his city as they tracked the entry and exit of federal vehicles. He said the proportion of cars he saw Wednesday was “the same as usual.”

“They’re entrenched here,” he said of federal agents. “There’s no end to this, and there’s no end to Minnesotans showing up.”

As a growing number of Republicans join Democrats to protest the killing of Alex Pretti and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem faces mounting criticism, President Trump has expressed a desire to “de-escalate some tension.”

Senior officials such as Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser, have backtracked on their initial defense of the federal agents who opened the deadly shootings.

Miller, just hours after Border Patrol agents shot a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse in Minneapolis on Saturday. in question In X: “An assassin tried to kill federal agents.”

But that statement, along with other statements made by Noem, was contradicted by cellphone videos that showed Pretti holding a phone, not a gun, when federal agents pushed Pretti to the ground and shot him.

Miller acknowledged in a statement to CNN on Tuesday that US Customs and Border Protection agents may have deviated from protocol before the deadly shooting. Miller said the White House has provided the Department of Homeland Security with “clear guidance” on how to deal with protesters or “disruptors.”

“We are evaluating why the CBP team did not follow this protocol,” Miller said.

A White House spokesman said Miller was referring to a general instruction to Immigration and Customs Enforcement that “extra personnel sent to Minnesota for force protection should be used to create a physical barrier between arrest teams and separatists.”

Authorities will examine why additional force protection assets may not be available to support the operation, the spokesman said.

On Wednesday, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman announced that the two Border Patrol agents involved in the incident were placed on administrative leave on Saturday.

But top Republicans in the White House have yet to announce a major rollback of aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.

Kevin R. Johnson, a professor at UC Davis who specializes in immigration law, said it is too early to determine whether top Trump officials are rethinking federal tactics or whether Pretti’s shooting will lead Trump to scale back his immigration agenda.

“We’ve seen at least a de-escalation in the last 24 hours,” Johnson said. “But it’s hard to say if he’ll stay with us or if he’ll be gone in 24 hours. I think he’ll stick around at least until the midterms.”

After hearing Trump and Miller use harsh language for so long to refer to undocumented immigrants, Johnson said it was not possible to predict how long it would take to de-escalate the rhetoric.

“They’re shifting gears like they’re driving a car for the first time,” Johnson said of Trump’s top officials. “They’re everywhere.”

On Wednesday morning Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, who visited Minnesota, announced that 16 people she called “rioters” had been arrested and charged with assaulting, resisting or obstructing law enforcement.

Bondi: “We expect more arrests to come” in question About X. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: NOTHING will stop President Trump and the Department of Justice from enforcing the law.”

Outside the Whipple Building in Minneapolis, it was hard to tell what had changed. Hennepin County sheriff’s deputies continued to provide security in the area. Demonstrators were still across the street. Encrypted neighborhood group chats continued to spread information about possible sightings by immigration officials.

In a conversation before noon, monitors were said to be needed at an address where DHS agents were “holding the person who was trapped in the house and returned to the house to obtain documents.”

Lucas Guttentag, a law professor at Stanford University who specializes in immigration, said senior Trump administration officials have acknowledged that things have gone too far and that “killing people on the street is unacceptable.”

“But that’s a very low bar; the basic policy hasn’t changed,” he said, noting that the administration does not appear to be changing its policy on unlawful detention, termination of people’s status or racial profiling. “This is a tactical withdrawal but not a change of policy,” he said.

Still, as arrests continue, Johnson said it’s a positive sign that Miller and Noem have walked back their rhetoric about Pretti’s killing, and border policy adviser Tom Homan has met with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

“That’s what we need here: some communication and some discussion to bring the temperature down,” Johnson said. “Because when people at the highest levels, including the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, speak in harsh terms, it is not surprising to me that ICE officers would resort to very aggressive, perhaps illegal, tactics on the ground.”

Johnson said he would like to see the Trump administration withdraw some ICE officers from Minneapolis. Beyond that, he said the administration should increase training for federal immigration officers and rethink roving patrols that target people based on their skin color, regardless of their legal status.

“This tactic terrorized communities,” he said.

Johnson was skeptical that the move to publicly fire Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino and bring in Homan to lead the Minnesota operation would make much difference.

“He’s also a relatively aggressive immigration enforcement type,” Johnson said of Homan. “If he’s your negotiator, it’s unclear to me whether he’ll actually make peace.”

Christine Hebl, 45, said she doubted bringing Homan to Minnesota would lead to a reduction in immigration enforcement, as she left a handwritten note at the memorial erected where Pretti was killed in South Minneapolis.

The only change he’s noticed so far is the expansion into the suburbs north of Minneapolis.

“This is a public relations stunt in my mind,” he said. “I think this will continue, and potentially even get worse. You can’t believe a word that comes out of this regime’s mouth. It will continue, and I’m scared, I’m really scared.”