By Jesus Mesa
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The fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by Immigration enforcement agents in Minnesota have triggered one of the most turbulent moments of President Donald Trump’s second term, sparking public backlash as well as internal Republican divisions over the limits of federal enforcement.
Trump has even tested support from traditionally pro-Republican groups with comments about gun rights at protests.
Darius Reeves, a retired Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office director, suggested the Minneapolis operation was a watershed for ICE. “This was poorly planned from day one,” he told Newsweek’s The 1600 podcast, warning the agency’s credibility may be beyond repair. “There’s no coming back from this.” Asked if it can survive the crisis intact, he said: “No. There will be a reckoning.”
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On January 7, mom-of-three Renee Good, 37, was fatally shot during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said an ICE agent “fired defensive shots” after Good attempted to run him over. On January 24, ICU nurse Alex Pretti, also 37, was shot dead by federal agents during a confrontation in the city. Noem said Pretti “approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun” and “violently resisted” efforts to disarm him, leading an agent to fire “defensive shots.” Noem characterized Good and Pretti as domestic terrorists, but bystander footage challenged the official narrative of both incidents.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called Pretti an “assassin” on social media, a claim Vice President JD Vance amplified by reposting it. But video footage later showed Pretti was already unarmed when he was shot. The backlash prompted a rare retreat from the White House days later. Trump publicly rejected the assassin description, telling reporters: “We’re doing a big investigation. I’m going to be watching over it. I want a very honorable and honest investigation.” Though in a January 30 Truth Social post, about footage of Pretti in a confrontation with federal immigration agents 11 days before his death, he called him “crazed and out of control.”
Earlier, Trump took a harder line on guns at protests, telling reporters: “With that being said, you can’t have guns. You can’t walk in with guns.” And he told The Wall Street Journal: “I don’t like that he had a gun. I don’t like that he had two fully loaded magazines. That’s a lot of bad stuff.” Noem reinforced this message, saying: “I don’t know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.”
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In a rare rebuke of a Republican administration, gun rights groups accused federal officials of undermining the Second Amendment. The National Association for Gun Rights said that “carrying a magazine implies nothing” and suggesting otherwise “sets dangerous precedent for Second Amendment rights.” Bill Essayli, a Trump-appointed federal prosecutor, said on X, “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you”—which the National Rifle Association called “dangerous and wrong.” The NRA added that “responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president “supports the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding American citizens, absolutely” and that “there has been no greater supporter or defender of the right to bear arms” than Trump.
Damage Already Done?
But damage may already be done. According to January 23-26 polls by The Economist/YouGov, immigration fell behind civil liberties as a voter priority for the first time in years. The number of Americans who had “very little confidence” in ICE jumped from 45 percent in December to 55 percent, while the share of Republicans with little trust doubled from 8 to 16 since a January 9-12 poll.
Political tension extended into the GOP. Senator Josh Hawley told Punchbowl News, “We’re at a situation [in Minnesota] where this just isn’t safe.... It’s not safe for bystanders. It’s not safe for law enforcement,” and called Pretti’s shooting “very troubling.” He later told the Columbia Missourian: “I am a firm believer in qualified immunity for law enforcement. But qualified immunity isn’t total immunity. The test there is: what would a reasonable person have done in those circumstances.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott told The Mark Davis Show the White House needed to “recalibrate” immigration enforcement.
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In the wake of Pretti’s shooting, Trump pulled Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino from Minneapolis operations and sent in White House border czar Tom Homan, calling him “tough but fair” and said he would “report directly to me.” This effectively sidelined Noem, who reportedly privately blamed Miller for the fallout even as she publicly welcomed Homan’s involvement. And despite months of criticism between Trump and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the pair had a phone call on January 26 which Trump said was “very good” and Walz said was “productive,” adding Trump had “agreed to look into reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota and to talk to DHS” about an independent investigation.
In a January 29 press conference, Homan called for an end to “hostile rhetoric and dangerous threats” toward immigration enforcement agents, warning that such language has fueled assaults and heightened risks in Minnesota. He said he supports First Amendment rights but urged demonstrators to remain peaceful. Homan said of Pretti’s shooting: “Let the investigation play out.” He also noted: “The President, one of the words he said to me when I came up here, he doesn’t want to see anybody die… I don’t want to see anybody die, even the people we’re looking for.”
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin previously told Newsweek: “Attacks and demonization of ICE are wrong. ICE officers are now facing a 1,300 percent increase in assaults.” She added ICE was “arresting criminals and saving countless American lives.”
Lessons To Be Learned
Reeves argued the Minneapolis breakdown stemmed from deploying Border Patrol agents far from the border. He said: “Anytime you involve the Border Patrol into the interior of the United States, the wheels are going to fall off,” adding that Border Patrol’s “training, their mindset, their mission—it’s different.”
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He said interior ICE enforcement is constrained by constitutional limits that do not apply in the same way at the border. “When you bring that type of mentality and training into the interior of the United States,” Reeves said, “you’re going to have the issues that we’re seeing play out before us.” He added of the Minneapolis operation: “You don’t flood neighborhoods. You don’t antagonize people. This is not how things are supposed to go.”
While Border Patrol agents will eventually return to the border, Reeves, who served under four presidents, said ICE’s operations are likely to absorb the lasting institutional damage from the Minneapolis shootings. “You’re going to have to rebuild it brick by brick, layer by layer,” he said. “But you can’t function under ICE after this.”
In his January 29 press conference, Homan outlined his plan for reshaping federal immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota. He acknowledged “no agency organization is perfect” but emphasized that changes are being made to make enforcement “safer, more efficient, by the book.” He said that operations will be “targeted” to individuals with criminal and immigration histories, identified through federal databases, calling this a return to “strategic enforcement operations” prioritizing public safety threats.
Homan insisted the administration was not backing away from its immigration agenda, underscoring enforcement continuing across communities. He said: “Prioritization of criminal elements doesn’t mean we forget about everybody else.”
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