The U.S. president has stated that nothing excuses the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents last month
U.S. President Donald Trump has acknowledged that immigration enforcement might benefit from “a softer touch” following the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens by federal agents during operations in Minneapolis last month.
The shootings have sparked a fresh wave of protests against the ongoing immigration crackdown. In an interview with NBC News released on Thursday, Trump was asked what he’d learned from the events in Minnesota.
“Maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch, but you still have to be tough,” he said.
The president emphasized that his deportation initiative, led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is aimed at “really hard criminals.”
When asked if the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti were justified, he responded: “No. It should have not happened.”
“I’m not satisfied with the two incidents… No one can be content, and ICE wasn’t pleased either,” he stated, emphasizing that even so, he must support law enforcement.
In the aftermath of the riots that erupted after the shootings, the White House replaced U.S. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan as the official in charge of immigration enforcement in Minnesota.
The president has characterized the personnel change as a means to “de-escalate” the tense situation in the state.
On Wednesday, Homan announced that the administration will pull out 700 federal agents—roughly a quarter of those deployed to Minnesota. A complete withdrawal will depend on the ongoing cooperation of local authorities and “the decrease of the violence, the rhetoric, in the attacks against ICE and Border Patrol,” he noted during a press conference.
In the interim, “mass deportations will continue,” he informed Fox News on Thursday.
Democratic legislators have called for ICE to undergo major reforms, including the creation of a code of conduct for federal agents and a requirement that they display identification. These demands delayed a key budget package in Congress last week, leading to a nearly week-long partial federal government shutdown that concluded on Wednesday.