Minnesota: Trump sends border czar amid political blame game

US President Donald Trump is deploying border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota, as federal and state officials clash over the description of events that led to the killing of Alex Pretti. DW has the latest.

Keep reading for the latest developments regarding Alex Pretti's killing on January 26:

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing that "Nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed in America's streets."

"This includes Renee Good,Alex Pretti, the brave men and women of federal law enforcement and the many Americans who have been victimized at the hands of illegal alien criminals," she said.

"This tragedy occurred as a result of a deliberate and hostile resistance by Democrat leaders in Minnesota for weeks. Gov. Walz, Mayor Jacob Frey and other elected Democrats were spreading lies about federal law enforcement officers who are risking their lives daily to remove the worst criminal illegal aliens from our streets," she added. 

The comments come after President Donald Trump wrote on social media that he had a "very good call" with Governor Tim Walz.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, from Minnesota, asked the US president to "get your goons out" in a social media post.

Trump said in an earlier post that the Department of Justice and Congress were "looking" at Omar.

Omar shot back, saying: "Sorry, Trump, your support is collapsing and you’re panicking."

"Right on cue, you’re deflecting from your failures with lies and conspiracy theories about me. Years of 'investigations' have found nothing. Get your goons out of Minnesota."

President Donald Trump said he spoke with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

"It was a very good call, and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength," Trump wrote on social media on Monday, saying that Walz was "happy" that White House official Tom Homan would travel to Minnesota.

Tim Walz, a Democrat who ran for vice president in Kamala Harris' 2024 campaign against Trump, appealed to the US president to remove immigration agents from the state during a news conference on Sunday.

"We believe in law and order in this state; we believe in peace," Walz said. "And we believe that Donald Trump needs to pull these 3,000 untrained agents out of Minnesota before they kill another person." 

A federal court hearing is underway now after a US district judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting federal officials from destroying or altering evidence related to Alex Pretti's killing.

The ruling, which was in response to a lawsuit filed by Minnesota's attorney general, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, marked an early victory for state officials hoping to assert their lead over the investigation into the fatal shooting involving federal officers.

Amid rising tensions in Minnesota over federal agents shooting and killing protesters, US President Donald Trump said senior White House official Tom Homan will visit the northeastern state.

"I am sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight. He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there. Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me," the president wrote in an online post.

In a separate post on X, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Homan will be managing ICE operations on the ground "to continue arresting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens."

Homan's official title is "White House executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations." 

Inside Trump's administration, he is seen as a rival to Kristi Noem, the head of the Department of Homeland Security.

At a news conference this weekend,Noem said that Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis man fatally shot by a Border Patrol officer on Saturday, approached officers with a gun.

Bystander videos from the scene show Pretti with a phone in his hand, but none appear to show him with a visible weapon.

A federal judge is hearing arguments on whether to at least temporarily halt the immigration crackdown in Minnesota after the fatal shootings of two people by federal officers.

The state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month, five days after Renee Good was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer.

Saturday's shooting of ICU Nurse Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol officer added urgency to the case.

Since the original filing, the state and cities have substantially expanded their requests. They're trying to restore the status quo that existed before the Trump administration sent some 3,000 immigration agents to the state.

Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he plans to attend the hearing at a federal court in Minneapolis in person.

Minnesota has been at the center of a debate over President Trump's immigration enforcement campaign, with tens of thousands of people having shown up for mass rallies to protest ICE action on Friday. That was before Alex Pretti was killed.

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Good afternoon readers, and thank you for joining us as we track developments related to Alex Pretti's killing in Minneapolis. 

A federal judge is due to hear arguments on halting the immigration crackdown in Minnesota.

Despite the deep partisan divide, some Republican lawmakers have called for a full investigation into the shootings involving federal officers. US Democrats have also threatened a government shutdown over the killing of Alex Pretti.