President Donald Trump has softened his tone on the issue of implementing measures against immigration after the new murder of an American citizen by federal officers and amid growing calls for an investigation. He expressed regret for the bloodshed and sent a special envoy to Minneapolis, the "Washington Post" wrote this morning, BTA reported.
At the same time, the White House tried to shift the blame for the violence to Democratic-led jurisdictions that have banned local authorities from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. The administration has warned that the violence will not stop until Democratic governors and mayors cooperate with federal law enforcement in arresting, detaining and deporting illegal immigrants.
The White House's more measured response to the killing of Alex Pretty on Saturday compared to that of Renee Goode in early January, however, appears to be a softening of the aggressive immigration policy created by Trump himself.
The clearest sign of this is the US president's decision to send his special representative for immigration enforcement, Tom Homan, to Minnesota, whose focus on prosecuting violent criminals contrasts with the dramatic confrontations that Trump has been pushing for.
The British newspaper "The Guardian" cites the latest investigation into two immigration officers who shot Pretti.
The report comes as Trump signals he may begin reducing the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents in the state, the paper notes.
Criticism of the Trump administration's immigration policies continues to grow, fueled in part by a spate of videos circulating online showing federal agents displaying aggressive behavior while patrolling the state, especially in front of children.
With his expeditious methods and long olive green coat with brass buttons - critics say reminiscent of Wehrmacht uniforms - Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino has become a symbol of the militarization of the fight against illegal immigration in the United States, writes the French newspaper "Le Monde".
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the officer in charge of Customs and Border Protection (CBP, border police – one of the federal agencies responsible for operations), distinguished himself with particularly aggressive repression against suspected illegal migrants, but also against demonstrators protesting against the measures of the Trump administration.
On Saturday, January 24, in Minneapolis, without waiting even a few hours, Gregory Bovino gave his conclusions about the death of Alex Preti. "It looks like a situation where the individual wanted to cause maximum damage and mass killing of law enforcement officers," he said, ignoring videos showing from every angle a shot man lying on the ground while five or six uniformed police officers beat him.
On Monday, January 26, Gregory Bovino and his teams fell victim to Donald Trump's reassessment of public support for his mass deportation policy. Minneapolis Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey announced after a phone call with the president that agents deployed by the White House to combat immigration would leave the city the next day.
However, Trump's spokeswoman declared that Bovino was "a great professional" and will "continue to actively lead Customs and Border Protection across the country".
Politico headlined "Minnesota Chief Justice, Veteran of Conservative Legal Circle, Takes on ICE".
When Patrick Schiltz took over the Minnesota federal district court, his plans were to remain invisible, the paper said. Four years later, the judge, appointed by President George W. Bush, is embroiled in an increasingly bitter legal battle with President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement.
Shiltz, 65, has publicly expressed his anger over the Trump administration's mishandling of illegal immigrants arrested during mass deportation operations. He criticized the Justice Department, calling it "senseless" the administration's attempts to force him to issue an arrest warrant for former CNN anchor Don Lemon and other protesters last week.
The clash is expected to reach its climax on Friday, when Schiltz plans to bring Todd Lyons, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to a Minnesota courtroom to question him about the widespread violation of court orders that Schiltz and his colleagues say has poisoned trust between the administration and the courts.
The co-founder of the group "Latinas for Trump" warned that anti-immigration measures will cost Republicans the midterm elections, the "New York Times" reported.
The Republican Party has a problem, state Sen. Ileana Garcia said in an interview, predicting that it will lose this year's midterm elections if the White House does not quickly rethink its tactics for enforcing anti-immigration measures. She blamed Stephen Miller, the president's deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser, for the measures, which include forcibly pulling people out of cars and trying to remove children who crossed the border alone from foster homes and deport them.
Newsweek quoted Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, as warning that newly hired Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were being sent into the field too quickly and "their training has not been as thorough and extensive as it should be."
She said she was compiling a list of specific cases to forward to the Department of Homeland Security after constituents contacted her to express concerns about ICE operations in which people who were legally present were being detained.