Footage shared online this week reportedly showed intensive care nurse Pretti in a scuffle with federal agents 11 days before he was shot dead on Saturday by officers enforcing an immigration crackdown
US President Donald Trump has backtracked from his conciliatory tone over the death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by ICE agents, calling him an “agitator.”
Footage shared online this week reportedly showed intensive care nurse Pretti in a scuffle with federal agents 11 days before he was shot dead on Saturday by officers enforcing an immigration crackdown.
“Alex Pretti’s stock has gone way down with the just released video of him screaming and spitting in the face of a very calm and under control ICE Officer,” Trump wrote.
‘Will pull back troops’
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, has said that the administration would withdraw ICE agents from Minneapolis if local officials cooperate with them, days after two US citizens were fatally shot in the city.
Speaking at a press conference, Homan said that the anti-immigration operation in Minnesota would continue, adding that he wants “common sense cooperation that allows us to draw down on the number of people we have here”.
“We are not surrendering our mission at all. We’re just doing it smarter,” Homan said.
From the killings of two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, to the detention of a five-year-old boy, ICE has been in full swing in the state, triggering massive outrage, with many protestors braving the icy cold weather conditions to demonstrate against the deployment of agents.
Meanwhile, Homan was neither clear about how many officials would be pulled out from Minneapolis, nor when. “President Trump wants this fixed, and I’m going to fix it,” he said.
‘De-escalate’
Trump, earlier this week, said that he will
“de-escalate” the situation in Minnesota.
Speaking to Fox News, Trump hailed the efforts by ICE in the state, saying that “we took thousands of hardened criminals out of Minnesota.” He later went on to praise his border czar, Tom Homan, whom he sent to oversee on-the-ground operations.
“We have Tom Homan there now. We put him in there, he’s great. And they met with the governor, the mayor, everybody else. … We’re going to de-escalate a little bit,” he said.
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