This time around, the administration’s initial response quickly had become difficult for the administration to maintain.
“People have had enough,” Minneapolis Police Brian O’Hara said, noting that his officers made hundreds of arrests of violent offenders last year without resorting to shooting. “This is not sustainable.”
Republicans in Washington DC and elsewhere have expressed growing unease with how the administration was handling the situation. Vermont Governor Phil Scott called the federal efforts in Minnesota “a complete failure of coordination of acceptable public safety and law enforcement practices, training and leadership” – at best.
At worst, he said, it was “deliberate federal intimidation and incitement of American citizens”.
Utah Senator John Curtis criticised Noem’s “premature” response to the shooting, which he said “came before all the facts were known and weakened confidence” in the law enforcement mission.
Homeland security chairmen in both the House and Senate say they plan to hold public hearings
Since Sunday night, there has been a marked change in tone from the White House. Veteran’s Affairs Secretary Doug Collins offered condolences to the Pretti family. The president posted a message on his Truth Social website calling the death “tragic” and blaming it on “Democrat ensued chaos” – a message echoed by Vice-President JD Vance.
On Monday morning, Trump posted that he was dispatching “border czar” Tom Homan to Minnesota to direct law-enforcement efforts there. Homan, who handled deportations during Democrat Barack Obama’s administration, is considered a more measured, politically attuned operator less prone to the kind of bombastic declarations recently made by Noem and Bovino.
“Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me,” Trump wrote.
While Homan’s assignment to Minneapolis may not necessarily reflect a change in policy – this administration has yet to show signs of backing away from its aggressive immigration enforcement – it could be a change in presentation, as the president tries to come to grips with a public mood that opinion surveys suggest is souring on how his immigration crackdown is being carried out.
In a CBS survey taken before the weekend’s shooting, 61% of respondents said that ICE is being “too tough when stopping and detaining people”, while 58% disapproved of his handling of immigration as a whole.
