Trump battles Minneapolis shooting fallout as agents put on leave
Friday, 30 January 2026
MINNEAPOLIS, Jan 29 (AFP): The Trump administration said Wednesday that two immigration agents involved in the fatal shooting of a civilian in Minneapolis had been placed on leave, as the president slammed the city's mayor despite a promise to de-escalate the situation.
The officers have been on leave-a move US officials said was "standard protocol"-since Saturday, when Alex Pretti was shot multiple times after being forced to the ground by camouflaged officers in a scuffle captured on video.
President Donald Trump also backpedaled from comments Tuesday that he wanted to "de-escalate a little bit" in Minneapolis, ramping up rhetoric again Wednesday to say the city's mayor, Jacob Frey, is "PLAYING WITH FIRE" for refusing to use local police to enforce his administration's hardline immigration crackdown.
Frey fired back Wednesday, saying in a post on X: "The job of our police is to keep people safe, not enforce fed immigration laws."
"I want them preventing homicides, not hunting down a working dad," he added, referring to the Ecuadoran father of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, both of whom are being held in a Texas facility after being detained by federal agents in Minneapolis.
Saturday's fatal shooting of Pretti, an intensive care nurse, was widely condemned across the political aisle despite initial efforts by White House officials to justify the killing.
In a bid to stem the backlash, Trump shuffled the leadership of immigration agents deployed in Minneapolis.
He replaced the confrontational Greg Bovino, famed for reveling in aggressive, televised immigration crackdowns, with the policy-focused "border czar" Tom Homan.
Another high-ranking official, Attorney General Pam Bondi, was in Minneapolis on Wednesday as she announced the arrests of 16 Minnesota "rioters" for allegedly assaulting federal law enforcement.
While the White House insists that it is targeting hardened criminals, the use of masked, heavily armed men to snatch people from streets, homes and workplaces has caused widespread shock.