Minneapolis\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Key Republicans in the Trump administration are retreating from their blanket defense of Border Patrol agents who fatally shot a U.S. citizen Saturday on a Minneapolis street, part of a larger effort by the White House to turn down the temperature after the killing provoked widespread outrage.<\/p>\n
But it remains unclear whether the tamping down of Republican rhetoric is just damage control after the shooting, or whether it will usher in a more fundamental scaling back of President Trump\u2019s hard-line immigration crackdown in American cities from Los Angeles to Chicago.<\/p>\n
In Minneapolis, there were few signs of a reduction in force on the streets, where tensions have been high since the shooting.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday morning, protesters gathered outside the federal Whipple Building, the epicenter of immigration activity in the city, as a steady stream of federal agents entered and exited.<\/p>\n
\u201cTraitor!\u201d one woman yelled out to a car driven by masked agents.<\/p>\n
\u201cMurderers!\u201d a man said.<\/p>\n
As Richi Mead, dressed in a neon vest that labeled him as a peaceful observer (\u201cDON\u2019T SHOOT\u201d), tracked federal vehicles coming in and out, he said he did not believe there had been a reduction in the number of federal immigration agents in his city. The rate of cars he saw Wednesday, he said, was \u201cbusiness as usual.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve entrenched themselves here,\u201d he said of federal agents. \u201cThere\u2019s no end to this \u2014 and there\u2019s no end to Minnesotans showing up.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a growing number of Republicans have joined Democrats to protest Alex Pretti\u2019s killing and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem faces increasing criticism, Trump has expressed a desire to \u201cde-escalate a little bit.\u201d <\/p>\n
Senior officials \u2014 such as Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy and Homeland Security advisor \u2014 have backtracked on their initial defense of the federal agents who fired the fatal shots. <\/p>\n
Just a few hours after Border Patrol agents shot the 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse Saturday in Minneapolis, Miller said<\/a> on X: \u201cAn assassin tried to murder federal agents.\u201d <\/p>\n But that statement, along with others made by Noem, were contradicted by cellphone videos showing Pretti was holding a phone, not a gun, when federal agents shoved him to the ground and shot him.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Miller issued a statement to CNN acknowledging that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents may have deviated from protocol before the fatal shooting. The White House had provided \u201cclear guidance\u201d to the Department of Homeland Security on how to handle protesters, or \u201cdisruptors,\u201d Miller said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are evaluating why the CBP team may not have been following that protocol,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n A White House spokesperson said that Miller was referring to general guidance given to Immigration and Customs Enforcement that extra personnel sent to Minnesota for force protection \u201cshould be used \u2026 to create a physical barrier between the arrest teams and the disruptors.\u201d<\/p>\n Officials will examine why additional force-protection assets may not have been present to support the operation, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson disclosed that two Border Patrol agents involved in the shooting had been placed on administrative leave Saturday. <\/p>\n But top Republicans in the White House have yet to announce any major rollback of their aggressive immigration enforcement tactics. <\/p>\n Kevin R. Johnson, a professor who specializes in immigration law at UC Davis, said it was too early to determine whether senior Trump officials are rethinking federal tactics or whether the shooting of Pretti will lead the president to scale back his immigration agenda.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have seen a de-escalation in the last 24 hours, at least,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBut whether it\u2019s going to stay with us, or be gone in 24 hours, it\u2019s hard to say. I think it\u2019ll stay around at least till the midterms.\u201d<\/p>\n After hearing Trump and Miller use harsh language for so long to refer to undocumented immigrants, Johnson said, it was impossible to predict how long a de-escalation of rhetoric would last. <\/p>\n \u201cThey shift gears like they\u2019re first-time drivers,\u201d Johnson said of Trump\u2019s senior officials. \u201cThey\u2019re all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday morning, Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, who was visiting Minnesota, announced that 16 people whom she dubbed \u201crioters\u201d were arrested and charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers. <\/p>\n