Donald Trump sent his border czar to Minneapolis days after JD Vance failed in his mission to quell growing backlash to the violent immigration operations in the city.
Tom Homan’s arrival on Tuesday came three days after the fatal shooting of 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti on Jan. 24. The trip was scheduled after the vice president traveled to the region last week in an attempt to address the widespread protests and mounting political tensions surrounding ongoing and aggressive immigration operations in Minneapolis.
Vance’s Jan. 22 visit followed the Jan. 7 shooting of 37-year-old mother Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross and the detention of a five-year-old child.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Homan’s meeting on Tuesday with Democrats Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey went down well in comparison to Vance’s time in the Midwest.
The “biggest notable change thus far is that both sides appear to be talking to each other, and the city’s street protests have been relatively muted—at least for now,” the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Homan’s arrival in Minnesota signaled an attempt to reset the federal government’s strained relationship with the state, the paper said, adding that he was widely expected to pursue a more targeted approach to arrests than Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, who had overseen earlier large-scale operations and was reassigned.
“Tom Homan’s arrival in Minnesota is an opportunity for a reset through the collaboration that President Trump has been pushing for between the federal government and state/local law enforcement,” Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth said on X.
By contrast, during his Minneapolis appearance, Vance blamed local officials for unrest and argued that chaos in the city stemmed from their refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
“We’re seeing this level of chaos only in Minneapolis,” the vice president said. He also defended federal agents, arguing that videos circulating online did not always capture the full context of enforcement operations and urged protesters to protest peacefully.
His rhetoric failed to ease tensions, as protests continued in the days following his visit. On Saturday, two Border Patrol agents fired their guns at Pretti, according to an initial Department of Homeland Security report obtained by CBS News.
Trump offered a positive assessment of Homan’s efforts this week. “I hear that’s all going very well,” he said of the border czar’s talks with the two officials.
The president also publicly backed Homan’s role in Minnesota. Trump described him in a Truth Social post as “tough but fair” and added that he will “report directly to me.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Vance’s office for comment.
Vance faced criticism after claiming that the ICE agent involved in the fatal shooting of Good was protected by “absolute immunity.”
Vance declared that the ICE agent was engaging in “federal law enforcement action” at the time of the shooting and claimed, therefore, that he was shielded from any legal blowback. The vice president echoed the Department of Homeland Security’s narrative that the fatal shooting was an act of “self-defense.”
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