The Donald Trump Administration toned down and readjusted the massive immigration raid operation in Minnesota in an attempt to de-escalate tensions following the death of a second protester at the hands of immigration agents, an event that has sparked outrage across the country.
The president announced the dispatch to Minneapolis of border czar Tom Homan, responsible for the mass deportation policy, who will be his only interlocutor on the ground, a decision interpreted as a sign that the operation has gotten out of hand.
Trump orders urgent changes in Minnesota
🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 WHAT THE FUCK????
All the MURDER and all the protests and all the chaos will stop immediately if Trump gets ICE the FUCK out of Minnesota.
So what does he do?
He is sending corrupt Tom Fucking Homan and more goons into the occupied blue city.
The chaos is the point. pic.twitter.com/4YHF0cUxmi
– Morgan J. Freeman (@mjfree) January 26, 2026
Trump also had a telephone conversation with the state’s governor, Tim Walz, with whom he said he was “on the same page,” despite the usual disqualifications he pours out against Walz, who was the Democratic Party’s vice presidential candidate in 2024.
These gestures follow the shooting death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, a city that in recent weeks has become the epicenter of immigration raids and protests against these operations.
He is the second U.S. citizen to be killed by federal agents after the death of Renée Good, a 37-year-old woman, on January 7.
In recent hours, Republican senators have called for the opening of an investigation to clarify the actions of the agents and to avoid discrediting the Department of Homeland Security.
Even the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, a reference of the conservative wing for his hard-line immigration policy, suggested that the White House should “readjust” the raids.
Open to reducing the number of agents
On his social network Truth Social, Trump reported that Homan will arrive in Minnesota “tonight” Monday.
“He is tough but fair and will report directly to me,” he wrote about the official, who has not been involved so far in the deployment.
The announcement is a snub to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and especially to Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino, the face of the aggressive operation deployed in Minnesota, where some 3,000 federal agents have been sent in recent weeks, triple the number of state and local forces.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Bovino is “a great professional” and will remain at the helm of Customs and Border Protection, although he and part of his team will leave Minneapolis on Tuesday.
According to Walz, Trump pledged during his call to study a reduction in the number of federal agents in the state and to improve coordination in operations targeting undocumented migrants wanted for violent crimes.
The governor also reiterated the need for “impartial” investigations into the shootings.
White House calls it a “tragedy”.
President Trump does not want any Americans to lose their lives in the streets of America.@PressSec SLAMS the media: “He believes what happened on Saturday is a tragedy, but every life is equal to POTUS & that’s why the lives of Laken Riley & Jocelyn Nungaray continue to matter… pic.twitter.com/b02UqxuYHI
– The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 27, 2026
In another sign of the change in tone, the White House for the first time called Pretti’s death a “tragedy,” although it blamed the state’s Democratic authorities for agitating the streets for their speech against federal agents.
The Executive avoided, however, repeating the accusations made over the weekend by members of the Administration, who described the victim as a “terrorist” and claimed that he tried to use a weapon against federal agents.
The videos released show Alex Pretti protecting two women during the operation, before he was taken down by the agents, disarmed and shot in the back while he was on the ground, subdued.
In an attempt to appease the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA), which criticized the administration for demonizing Pretti for owning a gun, the presidential spokeswoman said “there has been no greater defender” of the Constitution’s Second Amendment, which shields the right to bear arms, than Trump.
The sweeping immigration raid operation in Minnesota was ordered by Trump in early January amid White House accusations against the state’s Democratic government over alleged misappropriation of federal funds intended for day care centers run by members of the Somali community.
The deployment has been contested by local authorities and thousands of protesters, who are demanding Trump withdraw federal agents from the state.
Filed under: Trump orders urgent changes in Minnesota
With information from EFE
