President Donald Trump is sending border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota two days after a Border Patrol agent shot and killed an anti-immigration enforcement protester.
Homan “has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday, referring to Minnesota.
“Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me,” the president added.
Trump’s announcement follows reports of divisions in immigration enforcement and homeland security over the characterization of the shooting of 37-year-old nurse Alex J. Pretti that took place in Minneapolis Saturday.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti “approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun. The officers attempted to disarm the suspect, but the armed suspect violently resisted. Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots.”
Noem referred to Pretti as a “domestic terrorist,” and DHS claimed in a post on X that he “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
Video of the incident appears to conflict with the initial accounts of Noem and DHS.
A viral video of the incident shows Pretti filming immigration officers during an operation. When he appeared to intervene after officers shoved a female protester to the ground, several officers attempted to take Pretti into custody. While Pretti appears to be on the ground resisting arrest, a Border Patrol agent draws and fires his weapon.
Pretti had no previous criminal record, and had obtained a conceal carry permit for his handgun.
Following the shooting, some Republicans and federal immigration officials reportedly expressed concern over the actions of immigration enforcement and the agency’s response.
“This is a real tragedy, and I think the death of Americans, what we’re seeing on TV, it’s causing deep concerns over federal tactics and accountability,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, said on CNN following the shooting.
Fox News congressional correspondent and longtime border reporter Bill Melugin said he spoke to about a dozen federal immigration sources, who he reported “have grown increasingly uneasy [and] frustrated [with] some of the claims [and] narratives DHS pushed in the aftermath of the shooting.”
“Specifically, I’m told there is extreme frustration with DHS officials going on TV and putting out statements claiming that Alex Pretti was intending to conduct a ‘massacre’ of federal agents or wanted to carry out ‘maximum damage’, even after numerous videos appeared to show those claims were inaccurate,” Melugin reports.
The shooting of Pretti comes just over two weeks after an ICE-involved shooting on Jan. 7 that killed 37-year-old Renee Good.
Good, according to Noem, attempted to use her vehicle as a weapon against the ICE agent. Some eyewitnesses and Democrat officials disputed that account, saying Good attempted to drive away from agents.
Anti-immigration enforcement protests have continued in Minnesota since the Trump administration announced it was surging ICE agents into the Twin Cities, but protests have increased since Good’s death.
Trump and Homan have a history of working together on border and immigration issues that predates Homan’s time as border czar.
Homan’s border security career began in the 1980s, when he joined the agency before going on to serve in Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In 2017, Trump appointed Homan acting director of ICE. At Trump’s request, Homan returned to Washington in 2025 to serve as Trump’s border czar.
