Trump softens his tone on Minneapolis after outrage over the second killing by federal agents

WashingtonDonald Trump seeks de-escalate tensions in Minneapolis After unleashing chaos by sending more than 3,000 anti-immigration agents with pronouncements from the White House assuring that their actions are virtually unpunished. After justifying the murder of a second US citizen Following the death of Alex Pretti at the hands of a federal agent, the president softened his rhetoric against the Democratic state and its governor, Tim Waltz, on Monday. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he called Walz to "work together" and added that they seem to be "on the same page." The positive assessment of the conversation contrasts with comments over the weekend, where the president blamed the governor and other Minnesota Democrats for the death of Alex Pretti at the hands of a Border Patrol agent. Trump also asserted that the governor was receptive to sending the border czarThomas Homan is in Minnesota to manage the situation, in what appears to be an attempt to ease tensions. When he announced the decision earlier in the day, he did so in a much more inflammatory tone, linking Homan's mobilization to the fraud accusations he has leveled against the state to justify the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The desire to calm nerves is such that Trump has even gone so far as to claim that "even in Minnesota crime has gone down a lot, but both Governor Walz and I want to do better."

These conciliatory words come after he described Alex Pretti as a "domestic terrorist." They also come just as it seemed that, in the wake of the murder, the new government budget, which also includes another injection of funds for ICE, is in jeopardy. In the wake of Trump's escalating authoritarianism, Senate Democrats have said they will trigger another government shutdown if the budget allocation for the anti-immigration agency under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is not excluded.

"Senate Democrats have made it clear that we are prepared to move quickly through the five appropriations bills, separately from the DHS funding bill, before the January 30 deadline. The responsibility for preventing a partial government shutdown rests with Leader Thune and Republican Democrat Chuck Schumer," said a statement, referring to Senate Majority Leader John Thune. The issue is not that Trump fears another government shutdown—the last one served him well enough to do as he pleased—but rather that the funding for further expanding the DHS will not be approved.

Threat of impeachment

Meanwhile, other Democrats have been calling this weekend for a impeachment against Kristi Noem, the DHS secretary. Noem has shamelessly justified and defended both the killing of Renee Nicole Good and that of Alex Pretti at the hands of immigration agents. On both occasions, she claimed they were acts of "self-defense," although witness recordings show very different events. The Trump administration is accusing the media of inflaming society by analyzing videos of the killings shared by neighbors, but unlike other federal agencies, neither ICE nor CBP agents wear body cameras to record all the events.

When a reporter asked press secretary Karoline Leavitt if it wouldn't be easier to defend the official version if the agents wore body cameras, she responded evasively. "This is a policy issue that I know the department's policy experts are discussing with their members on Capitol Hill, and I'll leave it to them and the president to make this decision," she said. Leavitt maintained a more aggressive tone than the president during the daily White House press briefing and blamed Democrats as primarily responsible for the deaths in Minneapolis.

Criticism from gun rights advocates

Leavitt also stated that the administration is reviewing and investigating the death of Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, and the actions of CBP. Over the weekend, Noem argued that, since the man was armed at the protest, the agent opened fire on him because he was "flashing the weapon." Local authorities deny this, adding that the weapon was legally registered and that Pretti He was shot dead after his firearm was taken from him, as can be seen in videos recorded by eyewitnesses.

The gun argument has also alienated the most conservative sectors and defenders of the Second Amendment—the one that guarantees the right to bear arms—who have accused the argument of being "tyrannical." The situation has clearly put the Trump administration in an uncomfortable position.

When Leavitt had to reconcile Noem's arguments with the idea that the president is a great defender of the Second Amendment, she seemed more hesitant than usual. "There has been no greater defender or protector of the right to bear arms than President Donald Trump," she said. But he added: "While Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, they do not have a constitutional right to impede lawful immigration enforcement operations. And any gun owner knows that when you carry a gun and you come face to face with law enforcement officers, you are assuming the risk that it will be used quite a bit against you, and nine." while hesitating over his choice of words.

As Trump had previously indicated in statements to Wall Street JournalThe White House spokeswoman also explained that if Walz accepts the conditions presented by the president, he will reduce the number of immigration agents in the city. She indicated that "state and local forces must agree to hand over all illegal immigrants arrested by local police" and that local police must cooperate with ICE. In Minnesota, local and state authorities refused to cooperate with immigration agents, as did many other Democratic-led cities. This is why these places are also known as "sanctuary cities." On the other hand, Leavitt denied the possibility that Greg Bovino, head of CBP agents in Minneapolis, would leave his post in the city. However, administration sources gave a different version to CNN: they claimed that Bovino and some of his agents would leave the state on Tuesday.