While working in the Oval Office amid a winter storm that swept the United States, Trump watched repeated footage of a federal immigration agent shooting Alex Pretty, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse and U.S. citizen, the “Wall Street Journal“ wrote, BTA reported.
A few hours after the shooting, Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam said that Pretty had attacked police officers and brandished a gun, describing his actions as domestic terrorism. Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino said that Pretty had intended to kill law enforcement officers. And Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump's aggressive immigration strategy, called Pretty a "potential murderer."
About 48 hours after the incident, however, Trump decided to reverse course and withdraw one of his administration's most high-profile and controversial immigration enforcement campaigns. Trump's shift in stance came as Republican lawmakers and other allies expressed concerns that he was squandering public support for his primary campaign theme, and as senior administration officials increasingly viewed the chaotic scenes in Minneapolis as a political issue.
Gun rights advocates, usually staunch Trump allies, publicly criticized administration officials for criticizing Pretty for carrying a gun during protests. Government officials also said that Pretty had a permit to carry a gun.
In an interview with the “Wall Street Journal“ on Sunday afternoon, Trump declined to say whether the federal agent who shot Pretty acted properly, and said his government was still investigating the facts surrounding the incident. Even before Saturday's shooting, a series of polls in recent days had shown Trump losing support on the issue of immigration. Less than three weeks before Pretty's killing, an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Goode, a 37-year-old mother, during a raid in Minneapolis.
Earlier this month, Trump expressed his intention to seize Greenland, which caused panic among European leaders, and then also changed course, saying he would not use military force to seize the Danish territory and expressing hope that a compromise could be reached. After British Prime Minister Keir Starmer criticized Trump for suggesting that NATO allies avoided frontline combat during the war in Afghanistan, the president praised British soldiers who died fighting alongside Americans, the Wall Street Journal headline noted.
At the same time, the White House has sought to pin the blame for the violence on Democratic-controlled local governments that prohibit local cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The Trump administration has warned that the violence will not stop until Democratic governors and mayors help federal law enforcement arrest, detain and deport undocumented immigrants, the Washington Post reported.
Video footage from the moments before Pretty's death contradicts federal accounts that he threatened officers with a gun, showing that federal agents took the gun before opening fire, and local police said he was legally carrying it. After Rene Goode, Pretty was the second person shot on the streets of Minneapolis this month by federal immigration authorities.
Trump initially reacted aggressively to Pretty's death, calling him a "shooter" and posting a photo of his licensed gun. On Sunday, however, what he told the Wall Street Journal sounded more vague: "I don't like any shootings. I don't like them," the Washington Post reported.
At a White House press conference yesterday, White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt also struck a more conciliatory tone, calling Pretty's death a "tragedy" and appearing to backtrack on previous comments by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who called Pretty a "potential murderer," the Guardian reported.
The widespread outrage is echoing in Washington, as more Republicans are pushing for a deeper investigation into the tactics of federal immigration authorities in Minnesota after Pretty's fatal incident, a sign that the Trump administration's account of events could be subject to bipartisan scrutiny.
And Democrats have promised to cut off further funding to the US Department of Homeland Security unless a bill soon to be introduced in the Senate is amended to include reforms that would limit the actions of federal agents in deporting migrants, writes “The Guardian“.