Immigration official linked to Trump crackdown to exit Minneapolis role

Updated by Eric Kikomeko at 1625 EAT on Tuesday 27 January 2026

A senior U.S. immigration official who became the public face of the Trump administration’s enforcement surge in Minneapolis is expected to leave the city, marking a possible shift in federal policy after the fatal shooting of a second U.S. citizen by federal agents this month.

Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, along with some agents, is set to depart Minneapolis as early as Tuesday, according to U.S. officials, following the death of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti on Saturday during a clash with federal immigration forces. Pretti’s killing — the second fatal shooting involving federal officers in Minnesota this month — has triggered widespread protests and drawn criticism from elected officials across the political spectrum.

President Donald Trump has named former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director Tom Homan, his designated “border czar,” to oversee on-the-ground operations in the city, replacing Bovino as the administration’s principal point of contact on the response.

The move comes amid growing calls from Minnesota’s governor, Minneapolis leaders and civil liberties advocates to scale back the federal presence.

The decision to reposition leadership in Minneapolis may signal a recalibration of the White House’s tone on immigration enforcement after soaring tensions and political fallout following Pretti’s death. Federal immigration raids and enforcement actions have continued, even as some Border Patrol agents prepare to exit and Homan assumes responsibility for ongoing operations.

Federal and local investigations into both Pretti’s death and the earlier fatal shooting remain underway, and legal challenges have been filed demanding greater oversight and accountability for the conduct of immigration agents.

Alongside the change in leadership and the reduction in federal agents in Minneapolis, there have been other indications of a strategic shift by the Trump administration in recent days. President Donald Trump has held phone calls with Democratic state and city officials — including Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey — describing the conversations as productive, a notable departure from the weekend’s sharp public criticism of local leaders amid escalating tensions. Trump has also avoided repeating some of the more confrontational language used by senior aides in the immediate aftermath of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal officers.

The administration is under mounting pressure from both sides of the political aisle. Some prominent Republicans have joined with Democrats in calling for a broad, independent investigation into the Minneapolis enforcement operation following the deaths of Pretti and another U.S. citizen, Renée Good, earlier this month.

On Monday, Republican gubernatorial hopeful Chris Madel abruptly withdrew from Minnesota’s governor’s race, sharply criticizing the federal immigration enforcement effort as an “unmitigated disaster.” Madel, a defence lawyer who had previously provided legal counsel to the ICE agent involved in the Good shooting, said the controversy surrounding the operation made his campaign untenable.

Bovino became the public face of the federal operation after Alex Pretti, an observer who was seen filming agents, was drawn into a confrontation that ended with him being shot multiple times.
The Border Patrol commander later claimed Pretti intended to “massacre” federal agents — remarks that further inflamed public anger and fuelled protests in the city.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said agents fired in self-defence after Pretti, who they say was carrying a handgun, resisted attempts to disarm him during the encounter on Saturday.

That account has been disputed by eyewitnesses, local officials and Pretti’s family, who say he was holding a mobile phone, not a weapon. His parents have accused the administration of spreading “sickening lies” about their son’s death.
An analysis of available footage by BBC Verify found no evidence of a gun in Pretti’s hand at the time of the shooting.

Bovino has been a central figure in the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration enforcement strategy in multiple cities, cultivating a high public profile through social media posts and videos that showed agents conducting raids and other operations.

His successor on the ground, Tom Homan, will report directly to the president and has long advocated for aggressive immigration enforcement. However, Homan also brings experience from earlier roles overseeing deportations during the Democratic administration of former president Barack Obama.

Some media reports suggested Bovino had been dismissed from his role, but DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin denied that claim, describing him as “a key part of the president’s team and a great American.”

Tension and frustration over the presence of federal immigration agents remained high in Minneapolis on Monday as protests and community unease continued to mount following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, the second U.S. citizen killed by federal agents this month.

“A lot of people aren’t able to work right now, they aren’t able to leave their house, they’re afraid,” said George Cordero, a resident of St. Paul, the Twin Cities’ sister city, reflecting the mood in the region.

Carol Engelheart, a retired nurse from Minneapolis, said the events have left her shaken. “We need to care about this country, we need to care that we have a Constitution left, and if the people organise and the people stand up, we can do this,” she said.

Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was shot and killed on January 24 during a confrontation with federal officers in Minneapolis. His death came less than three weeks after Renee Good, another Minneapolis resident, was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on January 7 — both incidents occurring amid Operation Metro Surge, a large-scale federal immigration enforcement deployment in the region.

Much of the public anger — and criticism from politicians across the political spectrum — has been directed at the federal operation and the Border Patrol command structure that brought agents to the city. Demonstrators and local officials have protested the deployment of roughly 3,000 immigration agents and called for a reassessment of enforcement tactics.

On Monday, Micayla Pretti, Alex Pretti’s younger sister, released a statement describing her brother as “my hero,” and urging an end to the violence. “When does this end? How many more innocent lives must be lost before we say enough?” her statement said.

Memorials and demonstrations continued Monday night, including a gathering of about 100 people outside a hotel where federal agents were believed to be staying, demanding their departure. More vigils and planned protests are expected in the coming days as community activists and advocates press for accountability and change.

The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis — known as Operation Metro Surge — was launched in December amid federal investigations into widespread fraud in Minnesota’s social-services programs, including a high-profile scheme tied to the Feeding Our Future nonprofit that prosecutors described as one of the largest COVID-era fraud cases in the country. DHS officials said the operation initially focused on undocumented immigrants in the Twin Cities, including Somali nationals, as part of efforts to disrupt fraud and enforce immigration laws. Minnesota is home to the largest Somali community in the United States.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that President Donald Trump’s “hope and wish and demand” was for the resistance and chaos in Minneapolis to end.

On Monday, Trump spoke separately with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats who have been outspoken in their opposition to the federal enforcement operation and have repeatedly called for agents to leave the state. Trump has sharply criticised the pair in recent weeks but characterised the recent conversations as positive, suggesting both sides were seeking a way to de-escalate the stand-off over his deportation and enforcement drive.

After his call with Walz, Trump said the two were “on a similar wavelength” and reiterated that his focus remained on targeting “any and all criminals” in federal custody. Walz said the president agreed to consider reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota and to discuss with the Department of Homeland Security ways to ensure that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension can conduct an independent investigation into the latest fatal shooting.

Securing an independent inquiry into the death of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse killed by federal agents on January 24, has been a central demand of Walz and local officials. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, local authorities obtained a judicial warrant to access and preserve the crime scene, reflecting ongoing tensions over jurisdiction and transparency between federal and state investigators.

The Washington Post
Earlier this month, in the wake of the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer on January 7, local and state authorities said they were being excluded from key aspects of the investigation by federal immigration officials — a dispute that highlighted deepening friction over the enforcement strategy and the handling of evidence.

Credit. BBC

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