Just over a year into President Donald Trump’s second term, it appears the White House has finally discovered a level of public anger that can’t be waved away or powered through by flooding the zone with red meat for his political base.
Days after Border Patrol agents fired as many as ten bullets into 37-year-old Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti in what was the second killing of an American in Minnesota by federal law enforcement since the start of this year, Trump announced on Truth Social that he was sending his “Border Czar,” Tom Homan, to the city so he could take charge of the sprawling immigration enforcement effort that has terrorized the city’s communities of color. The push has also sparked fierce resistance from residents and left Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey decrying it as a hostile “invasion” or “occupation” of the North Star State’s largest city.
Trump described Homan as “tough but fair” and said the former Immigration and Customs Enforcement director would report “directly” to him.
Three hours later, the president posted another message describing a “very good call” he’d had with Walz where he promised the governor that he’d have Homan get in touch with him and said the federal government’s request for cooperation from Minnesota law enforcement was to provide “any and all criminals that they have in their possession” — something Walz says the state has been doing for years by notifying ICE when someone here illegally is finishing a jail or prison sentence.
It was a stunning reversal for Trump and his administration, which for the last month has been happy to have roving patrols of ICE and Border Patrol officers and agents running rampant through the Twin cities, snatching people out of cars and using children as bait to arrest parents, all the while happily throwing flash-bangs and using tear gas against any protesters who they viewed as getting in their way.
The brutal approach to enforcement that had been on display in Minnesota was the work of Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, along with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who had for months worked to sideline Homan, whose no-nonsense, workmanlike approach to immigration enforcement has always centered on arresting and deporting criminals, preferably by taking them into custody when they are under arrest by state or local governments or upon their release from state prisons.
Miller, Noem and her close aide and political adviser, Corey Lewandowski, had managed to push Homan’s approach side by elevating Greg Bovino, a mid-level Border Patrol commander known for his harsh tactics and disdain for the press and protesters (and for his allegedly Nazi-esque fashion sense) while reportedly attempting to force the Senate-confirmed head of Customs and Border Protection, Rodney Scott, to resign or retire by making his job so miserable that he’d walk and leave his position open to be filled by Bovino on an acting basis.
Their success at navigating the internal tensions at the White House and DHS, which were first reported on by the Washington Examiner, led Noem and her allies to conclude that Trump would be willing to tolerate an almost unlimited level of brutality so long as it was directed at the right people — illegal immigrants and liberal protesters — in service of Trump’s promise to implement a mass deportation campaign.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to justify the more brutal approach during her Monday briefing by claiming that Trump was “fulfilling the will of the people” who voted for him in 2024 by “arresting and removing … threats from our country” and cited a number of oft-repeated cases in which Americans had been killed by people who hadn’t been in the country legally.
She pressed the idea that Trump is arresting criminals and that is what the American public wants. But that is not what is happening in American streets. Recent reports suggest over half of the people in ICE custody have not been convicted of a crime.
Leavitt also claimed that the move to dispatch Homan was in part driven by Noem’s broader responsibilities, including oversight of the Federal Emergency Management Agency — which she has tried to gut — during last weekend’s winter storm.
By and large, Leavitt is correct that Americans want to see stronger border enforcement — and that’s something Trump has delivered on by harsh measures at the U.S.-Mexico border which have cut down illegal crossings by significant amounts.
Yet at the same time, Americans have soured on the thuggish tactics exhibited by federal forces in Minnesota, even as Leavitt attempted to blame the violence of recent weeks on “Democrat leaders” whose “sanctuary city policies have actively defied federal immigration law and the will of the people.”
After Americans across the country watched the videotaped shooting of Pretti and subsequent attempts by Miller, Noem and Bovino to smear him by falsely accusing him of attacking Border Patrol officers and blaming his legally-carried firearm for his death, it appears Trump, who remains far more sensitive to polling than he would prefer to admit, has found a limit.
With a growing number of Republicans in Congress calling for an investigation into the killing, the president has to find a way to save face while not appearing to back down to a Democratic protest movement or give an inch to the governor, who was Kamala Harris’ running-mate during the 2024 election.
By putting Homan, a career Border Patrol agent who knows and understands how Immigrations and Customs Enforcement conducts targeted operations without antagonizing the public or shooting protesters, back in charge, Trump is able to de-escalate without really de-escalating in the eyes of his base.
After all, Homan is no liberal or shrinking violet on immigration matters. He was an architect of the Project 2025 immigration section which called for a mass deportation operation and the end to birthright citizenship.
By moving the goalposts from allowing wholesale roundups by Border Patrol to targeted enforcement at jails and prisons, Trump is giving himself an off-ramp that will let him avoid continued public anger while not getting crosswise with his base.
