For days now, Donald Trump and the GOP have been desperately trying to mitigate the fallout from their ICE cronies murdering 37-year-old ICU nurse and U.S. citizen Alex Pretti in cold blood in Minneapolis last weekend. Now some are claiming Trump and the GOP have had a change of heart – but the situation on the ground hasn’t changed.
Over 3,000 federal immigration agents remain in Minnesota, led by high-level immigration enforcement officials. ICE agents are still arresting en-masse, investigating protestors, and threatening to arrest journalists as Trump administration officials work to coerce state officials into doing their bidding. The truth is, Trump’s supposed shift is nothing but a mirage.
THE FACTS: Trump and his allies have not shifted their position on ICE in Minnesota, as some media outlets have claimed.
- TODAY: Border Czar Tom Homan continues to refuse to draw down the federal ICE presence in Minnesota, telling reporters “I’m staying” until state officials “cooperate,” even as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has not seen progress from federal officials and shared fears of further killings: “It’s a physical assault. It’s an armed force that’s assaulting, that’s killing my constituents, my citizens.”
- TODAY: Homan claims he feared “bloodshed” as early as last March and “begged” for the “rhetoric” to stop for the last two months – yet he still sent in about 9 percent of ICE’s total personnel to Minnesota and has not yet reduced the ICE presence, even after his agents killed two Americans. There are more than 3,000 agents still currently deployed in the state.
- TODAY: Far from making structural changes to federal immigration enforcement or drawing down the federal presence in Minnesota, the Trump administration has merely sent around informal guidance encouraging agents to avoid “communicat[ing] or engag[ing] with agitators.”
- TODAY: Trump Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller, who tweeted some atrocious untrue claims that Pretti had been a “domestic terrorist” attempting to “assassinate federal law enforcement, remains on Trump’s team and even travelled with Trump to Iowa on Tuesday for his address.
- YESTERDAY: Reporters in Minnesota said they saw federal agents using pepper spray, breaking car windows, and threatening to arrest a journalist documenting the encounter.
- YESTERDAY: Attorney General Bondi announced from Minnesota that federal agents have arrested 16 more protesters for allegedly assaulting federal law enforcement, telling Americans, “we expect more arrests to come.” Bondi also publicly intimidated suspects, posting photos online of Minnesotans who have been arrested but not convicted.
- YESTERDAY: Trump attacked Mayor Jacob Frey on social media for refusing to cooperate with his deportation scheme, accusing Frey of “PLAYING WITH FIRE” and calling it “a very serious violation of the law,” even though courts have repeatedly ruled that the federal government cannot coerce states to enforce federal law.
- YESTERDAY: Trump ignored standard protocols for officer-involved shootings, with his administration waiting until yesterday to put the federal agents involved in Pretti’s shooting on administrative leave for a delayed investigation.
- TUESDAY: FBI director Kash Patel launched a criminal investigation into Minneapolis protestors for following ICE agents, following up on claims from the far-right.
- TUESDAY: Trump himself said on Fox News that he’s not pulling back from Minnesota, just “a little bit of a change” in personnel and claimed that he doesn’t want nor need guardrails around his administration’s nationwide immigration crackdown saying “guardrails would hurt us.”
- TUESDAY: Trump defended Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem – who falsely claimed Alex Pretti was brandishing a gun at the time of his murder and claimed ICE officers acted according to protocol. Trump told reporters Sec. Noem would not be stepping down and called two GOP Senators calling for her removal, “losers.”
- MONDAY: Far from changing his stance on ICE deployments, Trump sent higher-ranking officials to Minnesota, including Homan and Attorney General Pam Bondi, to replace Greg Bovino. Homan is one of the chief architects behind Trump’s draconian deportation scheme.