President Donald Trump discussed removing immigration enforcement authorities from the Twin Cities in a Sunday interview with The Wall Street Journal after a Border Patrol officer fatally shot a 37-year-old nurse who was protesting Saturday.
“At some point we will leave,” the president told the newspaper. “We’ve done, they’ve done a phenomenal job.”
Trump did not indicate when the departure might happen and noted, “We’ll leave a different group of people there for the financial fraud,” according to the Journal.
When asked twice by the newspaper if the officer who shot protester Alex Pretti — who had a 9mm semiautomatic handgun on his person, which he was licensed to carry, during the encounter leading up to his death — did the right thing, the president didn’t answer directly, but said his administration was “reviewing everything and will come out with a determination.”
The killing has raised uncomfortable questions about the GOP's core positions on issues ranging from gun ownership to states' rights and trust in the federal government.
Trump administration officials were quick to cast Pretti as the instigator. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was among those who said Pretti “approached” immigration officers with a gun and acted violently. Videos from the scene show Pretti being pushed by an officer and then a half-dozen agents descend on him. During the scuffle, he is holding a phone but is never seen brandishing the handgun.
As of Sunday, a growing number of Republicans were pressing for a deeper investigation into federal immigration tactics, among them House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas and Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, at a news conference Sunday, characterized Trump’s administration as “an all-powerful federal government that could kill, injure, menace and kidnap its citizens off the streets.” Local leaders and Democrats across the country demanded over the weekend that federal immigration officers leave Minnesota after Pretti's shooting, the second such death involving a federal officer in recent weeks.
Democratic senators are vowing to oppose a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security following Pretti’s death.
The White House reached out to Senate Democrats late Sunday, as have Republicans, according to a Senate Democratic leadership aide who insisted on anonymity to discuss the private talks, according to the Associated Press. They have not yet raised any realistic solutions, the aide said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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