The 48 hours that convinced Trump to change course in Minnesota
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—The videos were splashed across cable news—and President Trump was paying attention. Working from the Oval Office as a winter storm barreled toward the nation’s capital, Trump watched as footage of a federal immigration agent shooting Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive-care nurse and U.S.
citizen, played on repeat. Within hours of the shooting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem alleged Pretti had attacked officers and was brandishing a gun, labeling the actions domestic terrorism. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino said Pretti wanted to massacre law enforcement.
And Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s aggressive immigration strategy, called Pretti a “would-be assassin." It wasn’t long before that narrative started to fall apart—and Trump started to get frustrated, according to administration officials. Roughly 48 hours after the shooting, Trump decided to change course, moving to pull back one of his administration’s most high-profile and divisive immigration-enforcement campaigns. By the end of the day Monday, Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar who advocated for a more targeted approach to deportations, was en route to Minneapolis to take charge.
Gregory Bovino, the face of the hard-edge approach employed in Minnesota, was leaving the state. Trump’s pivot came after Republican lawmakers and other allies raised concerns that he was squandering public support for his signature campaign issue and senior administration officials increasingly saw the chaotic scenes in Minneapolis as a political liability. Gun rights advocates, normally steadfast allies of Trump, publicly criticized administration officials for criticizing Pretti for carrying a gun during protest
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