Violence in Minneapolis shakes Trump's anti-immigration offensive

WashingtonA tactical retreat to readjust the strategy. After weeks of pushing the limits and testing how much more American society could tolerate. the escalation of parapolice brutality in MinneapolisDonald Trump has begun to back down with symbolic gestures: the change of tone After speaking with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, also a Democrat; the announcement of a federal investigation into the killing of Alex Pretti, who was executed Saturday by a Border Patrol (CBP) agent; the withdrawal of Greg Bovino, a high-ranking CBP official, from the field along with his men; and the dispatch of Thomas Homan to manage the situation. Trump is moving pieces on the board to create an impression of change, but it is no guarantee of real change.

The president is applying that well-known saying ofThe Leopard"Everything must change so that nothing changes." Raids will continue in Minnesota, just as a new operation with the same objectives began this week in Maine—another Democratic state. The escalation of violence in Minneapolis has diverted attention from the operation, dubbed... "Catch of the Day" ("The Catch of the Day"), and which targets the refugee community from African countries. In Minnesota, the entire narrative used to justify the Metro Surge operation was to combat the alleged fraud that Trump attributes to the Somali population. Beyond the fact that all the brutality has been based on unproven accusations, the actions on the ground by agents against legal migrants and U.S. citizens have made it clear that this was not an immigration issue.

On Monday night, Trump also met behind closed doors with the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Kristi Noem, and with Corey Lewandowski, his top advisor, in the Oval Office. According to sources familiar with the matter, New York TimesThe meeting lasted two hours and, in principle, did not suggest that Noem or Lewandowski were at risk of losing their positions. This Tuesday, before leaving for his scheduled rally in Iowa, Trump answered "no" to a reporter's question about whether Noem should resign over her handling of the situation. The DHS secretary has justified and defended the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent on January 7, and has shown no signs of retracting her position. According to Noem, it was all in "self-defense," even though the footage of the incident shows a very different version from the official one.

A gesture of genuine willingness to change on the part of DHS would be to equip anti-immigration agents with body cameras, as is already done with the police. Yesterday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked if this option was being considered—which, moreover, could help clear the air in future incidents—but she responded evasively.

Even though Trump is defending Noem, the changes and yesterday's meeting are also a clear sign of concern within the White House. Trump has been heavily targeting Democratic states, making it almost impossible to gain even a single seat in the November elections. Although Minnesota was already a lost cause before Operation Metro Surge—it is overwhelmingly Democratic—on Monday, Chris Madel, a lawyer running in the Republican primaries for governor of Minnesota, announced his withdrawal. "I cannot support the retaliation that Republicans at the national level intend to carry out against the citizens of our state," he said in a 10-minute video. Madel is not the only conservative voice that has expressed alarm.

Criticism of Trump's carte blanche for police brutality in Minnesota is growing louder, though many of these voices are coming from the same members of Congress who consistently stand up to the president: Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and Kentucky Congressman Thomas Masie. Internally, there are others who share this view but remain silent, and some new voices are emerging, such as that of Florida State Senator Ileana Garcia. Before entering politics, she was one of the co-founders of Latinos for Trump. "Justifying what happened to Alex Pretti contradicts the American values ​​on which the administration campaigned. He was neither a domestic terrorist nor a murderer," Garcia wrote on Monday in X Garcia, contradicting Trump's weekend statements. In another gaffe, the president today acted as if he had never used that term against Pretti, saying that he now "loves the family" of the deceased. Trump also insists that he wants an "honest investigation."

On Tuesday at noon, Walz met with border czar Thomas Homan. In a statement released by his office, the Minnesota governor announced that they reached an agreement with Homan on the need for continued dialogue. Both agreed that the main objectives are reducing the presence of federal forces in the state and ensuring impartial investigations into the murders of Pretti and Good.

After tightening his grip, Trump loosens a bit with the benefit that the situation has already escalated so much that some of the ICE's actions have become normalized: The lack of identification by agents, who wear hoods; the detention of people based on racial profiling; going door-to-door and even entering homes without a warrant; the force used in arrests; the feeling of hyper-surveillance to which the migrant community has been subjected for months and which in Minneapolis now also affects white citizens. All of this has already been reduced to a lesser evil compared to the executions in broad daylight of Good and Pretti.

Meanwhile, a Minnesota judge has ordered the head of ICE, Todd Lyons, to appear in court for possible contempt. Judge Patrick J. Schiltz stated that the unusual order is necessary because "the extent of ICE's violation of court orders is equally extraordinary."