President Donald Trump announced Jan. 26 that he is sending his border czar, Tom Homan, to Minnesota to oversee federal immigration operations in the wake of the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
“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,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me.”
In a separate post, Trump said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, called him to “request to work together” regarding the federal response in the state. Trump described the conversation as “very good,” adding that the two appeared to be on “a similar wavelength.”
The President said that he would direct Homan to contact Walz directly, saying the governor was “happy” that Homan was going to Minnesota.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a separate statement, said Homan would manage Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations on the ground “to continue arresting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.” She added that Homan would also coordinate with federal officials investigating alleged welfare fraud tied to Minnesota’s social services programs.
By placing Homan in charge of ICE operations in the Twin Cities, Trump is bypassing the typical chain of command, which has included Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol leadership overseeing enforcement efforts. As CatholicVote reported, Trump has appeared to distance himself from broader DHS messaging surrounding the shooting in recent days.
Noem called Homan’s deployment “good news for peace, safety, and accountability” in a statement on X and said he will “help us to remove even more public safety threats and violent criminal illegal aliens off the of [sic] streets of Minneapolis.”
According to ABC News, Walz’s office confirmed Jan. 26 that the governor had a “productive” phone call with Trump earlier in the day and said Trump has agreed to “look into reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota.”
“The President agreed that he would talk to his Department of Homeland Security about ensuring the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is able to conduct an independent investigation, as would ordinarily be the case,” the governor’s office also said, ABC reported.
The exchange came amid a broader dispute between state and federal officials over immigration enforcement in Minnesota. Trump administration officials have argued that state officials have failed to cooperate with federal immigration operations. In a Jan. 26 opinion column in The Wall Street Journal, Walz disputed that claim as false, saying his state honors all federal detainers and accused federal officials of misrepresenting Minnesota’s record.
At a White House briefing in the afternoon of Jan. 26, Leavitt said federal immigration operations in Minnesota would continue unless state and local officials agree to turn over illegal immigrants in custody to federal authorities and assist federal agents in apprehending illegal immigrants wanted for crimes.
Trump, in his Jan. 26 Truth Social post, said a separate investigation “is going on with respect to the massive 20 Billion Dollar, Plus, Welfare Fraud” in the state and claimed the fraud has contributed to violent protests. He also said the Department of Justice and Congress were examining the finances of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.
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The development follows days of protests in Minneapolis and competing accounts online over the circumstances of Pretti’s death — the second fatal shooting by federal agents in the city this month. As CatholicVote previously reported, DHS said Pretti, a U.S. citizen and intensive care unit nurse, approached law enforcement officers with a firearm and resisted efforts to disarm him. The agency described it as another justified defensive shooting.
At a news conference hours after Pretti’s death, Noem said, “This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.”
However, FOX News reported that agents had disarmed Pretti, who held a concealed-carry permit, shortly before he was killed. According to the outlet, Pretti became involved with federal agents after attempting to assist another protester who had been pushed by officers. In a statement cited by the outlet, Pretti’s family also disputed the DHS account, calling it “sickening lies.”
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