MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Top Trump administration officials certainly put on a show last week about changing tactics in Minnesota after federal immigration enforcement agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old VA nurse in Minneapolis.
Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino lost his job. Border czar Tom Homan said he’s pulling 700 federal agents out of the state. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she’s sending body cameras to every DHS field officer in Minneapolis. Even President Donald Trump sort of registered problems with his surge of Immigration Customs and Enforcement officers in the state that continues to spark widespread protests, traumatize immigrant communities and has left two Americans dead, Pretti and Renee Good.
“Maybe we could use a little bit of a softer touch,” Trump told NBC News on Wednesday, when asked if he’s learned anything from how his massive ICE operation has played out.
But for at least some residents, nothing has changed on the ground. At all.
“We had 2 abductions in my area on Monday and 2 more today,” Nate, a Minneapolis real estate agent involved in community efforts to protect immigrants from ICE, told HuffPost in a Thursday message. “They drew guns on observers in South [Minneapolis] yesterday and were jumping out of cars today about a mile and a half from us.”
