Trump sends border czar to Minnesota as Republican calls grow for deeper probe into ICE killings
Trump sends Tom Homan to volatile midwestern state as growing number of Republicans express outrage at killings by federal agents, with Chris Madel, running for governor, ending his bid in protest
US President Donald Trump has announced he is sending a top official to Minnesota state as outrage grew over his administration's militarised immigration raids and the shooting dead of a second protester in Minneapolis city.
Trump said on Monday that Tom Homan, his point man for border security, would arrive in the state later and "will report directly to me."
The high-profile assignment suggested that the 79-year-old Republican president is seeking to regain control over a rapidly deteriorating political and security situation.
Minneapolis has become ground zero in the clash between Trump and growing numbers of Americans over his nationwide immigration crackdown.
A federal judge in Minneapolis was to consider on Monday whether the deployment of federal officers — many of them masked, heavily armed and unidentified — violates the state of Minnesota's sovereignty.
And in Congress, Democrats are threatening to hold up funding for the US government unless immigration enforcement agencies are reformed.
Point-blank range shootings
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has been transformed under Trump into the United States' most heavily funded law enforcement body.
But polls show growing anger over its frequently brutal tactics.
A huge rally took place in bitter cold in Minneapolis on Friday to protest the raids and the point blank shooting by an ICE agent of protester Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three on January 7.
Then on Saturday, immigration agents gunned down Alex Jeffrey Pretti, also 37, after having already tackled him to the ground.
Like Good, the intensive care unit nurse was a US citizen.
New rallies erupted after his death in Minneapolis, New York and other major cities.
Trump has so far dismissed concerns.
His first reaction to Pretti's killing was to suggest that the nurse had come intending to shoot at the police.
Pretti was carrying a pistol with him at the time but never removed it and had apparently already been disarmed when he was shot. He was licensed to carry a weapon.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Sunday accused Trump of pushing a "flat-out insane" narrative.
Trump repeated the insinuation that Pretti was to blame when he told The Wall Street Journal on Sunday: "I don't like any shooting... but I don't like it when somebody goes into a protest and he's got a very powerful, fully loaded gun."
Republican criticism
Meanwhile, a growing number of Republicans are pressing for a deeper investigation into federal immigration tactics in Minnesota after an ICE agent shot Pretti dead, a sign that the Trump administration’s accounting of events may face bipartisan scrutiny.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino sought testimony from leaders at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and US Citizenship and Immigration Services, saying “my top priority remains keeping Americans safe.”
A host of other congressional Republicans, including Representative Michael McCaul of Texas and Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, pressed for more information.
Senator Pete Ricketts, a staunch ally of Trump, called for a "prioritised, transparent investigation."
"My support for funding ICE remains the same," the Nebraska Republican, who is up for reelection, said online. "But we must also maintain our core values as a nation, including the right to protest and assemble."
Republican candidate for governor in Minnesota Chris Madel suspended his campaign, saying he cannot support the Trump administration’s "stated retribution on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so."
"Operation Metro Surge has expanded far beyond its stated focus on true public safety threat," Madel said in his message. "United States citizens, particularly those of colour, live in fear. United States citizens are carrying papers to prove their citizenship. That’s wrong."