Fallout from shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents dogs White House as outrage mounts and protests are planned
Donald Trump claimed without offering further details that he would “de-escalate a little bit” his immigration enforcement crackdown in Minnesota as he appeared to give lip service to quelling the backlash to two fatal shootings by federal agents, even as the raids continued without pause.
The president did not say whether he would direct Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or US border patrol agents to change tactics. Federal immigration raids continued in the state on Wednesday just as they have since the shootings, including an incident on Tuesday during which agents appeared to attempt to enter the consulate of Ecuador in Minneapolis without a warrant.
The fallout from the killing of Alex Pretti on Saturday has continued to dog the White House even as Trump travelled to a rally in Iowa to deliver remarks about the economy in the hopes of bolstering Republicans ahead of the midterm elections in November.
The president has hedged his views on the killing of Pretti, telling reporters at the Iowa event that he did not think Pretti was an “assassin”, the term used by his senior White House adviser Stephen Miller almost immediately after the killing despite multiple videos contradicting it. Nevertheless, Trump blamed Pretti for carrying a gun that he was licensed to possess.
