MINNEAPOLIS: US President Donald Trump withdrew his conciliatory tone on Friday following outrage over the killing of two US citizens in Minneapolis at the hands of federal agents, calling one of them, Alex Pretti, a
“agitator.”
Footage shared online this week purportedly showed critical care nurse Pretti in a scuffle with federal agents 11 days before he was shot and killed Saturday by agents carrying out an immigration crackdown.
The White House has struggled to contain widespread outrage over Pretti's killing, which came weeks after Renee Good, another U.S. citizen and mother of three, was shot and killed by officers in the same city.
Trump said he wanted to “de-escalate a little bit” and named a new point man in Minneapolis, border chief Tom Homan, who said Thursday that some federal agents could be pulled from the city after weeks of protests against immigration raids.
However, Trump said Friday on his Truth Social platform that Pretti, 37, was an “agitator and, perhaps, an insurrectionist.”
“Alex Pretti's stock has dropped a lot with the newly released video of him yelling and spitting in the face of a very calm and under control ICE officer,” Trump wrote, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
The video reportedly shows Pretti kicking the taillight of the federal agents' car, before they get out and tackle him to the ground.
AFP The footage could not immediately be verified.
government shutdown
The backlash over the deaths of Pretti and Good, and the massive deployment of ICE agents in Minneapolis, has reached Congress, and the Senate is inching closer to voting Friday on a funding deal to avert a government shutdown due to the crisis.
Democrats have drawn a red line around funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), demanding it be eliminated and renegotiated to impose new restrictions on immigration enforcement agencies.
Trump held a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, but the unrest in Minnesota did not emerge while reporters were in the room, and he did not call Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem when he asked some officials for comment.
Trump sent Homan to Minnesota to take control of immigration operations there with orders to report directly to him, effectively sidelining Noem.
'Improvements' are needed
Homan said in his first news conference there Thursday that “certain improvements could and should be made,” a marked difference from his predecessor Greg Bovino, who was ousted.
Homan urged Minnesotans to avoid “hateful rhetoric” against federal immigration officials.
He said his staff was “working on a drawdown plan” for some of the more than 3,000 federal agents who have been participating in “Operation Metro Surge.”
One such measure, for example, would be to notify ICE agents of the release dates of imprisoned immigrants deemed “criminal risks to public safety” so they can be detained by the agency, he said.
“This is common sense cooperation that allows us to take advantage of the number of people we have here,” Homan said.
Steven Gagner, a 41-year-old jewelry designer and “citizen observer” from Minneapolis, was skeptical about the reduction.
“This administration has proven time and time again that they just lie to us and don't really hold themselves or anyone else accountable,” he said. AFP.
The two officers involved in Pretti's shooting have been placed on leave, and Homan said any federal officer who violates rules of conduct “will be dealt with.”
However, Trump has not stopped his inflammatory rhetoric.
The Republican president suggested that Somali-born Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar may have staged an attack on Tuesday, when a man doused her with a liquid while she was giving a speech.
The man, Anthony Kazmierczak, faces state and federal assault charges for using a syringe to spray what appeared to be apple cider vinegar on the Democratic representative.
