MINNEAPOLIS\u00a0 \u2014 President Donald Trump softened his tone Monday on the immigration crackdown in Minnesota, touting productive conversations with the governor and Minneapolis mayor as he sent the border czar to take charge of much of the enforcement effort. Some federal agents were expected to leave as soon as Tuesday. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said [\u2026]<\/b>
\nPresident Donald Trump softened his tone Monday on the immigration crackdown in Minnesota, touting productive conversations with the governor and Minneapolis mayor as he sent the border czar to take charge of much of the enforcement effort. Some federal agents were expected to leave as soon as Tuesday.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he spoke by phone with Trump, who praised the discussion and declared that \u201clots of progress is being made.\u201d Frey said he asked Trump in a phone call to end the immigration enforcement surge and that Trump agreed the present situation cannot continue.
The mayor said some agents would soon leave and that he would keep pushing for others involved in Operation Metro Surge to go.
Among those who are expected to depart was senior Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the operation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
Bovino has been at the center of the administration\u2019s aggressive enforcement surge in cities nationwide. His departure marks a significant public shift in federal law enforcement posture amid mounting outrage over the fatal shooting of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents, the second fatal shooting by federal immigration officers this month.
Bovino\u2019s leadership of highly visible federal crackdowns, including operations that sparked mass demonstrations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and Minneapolis, has drawn fierce criticism from local officials, civil rights advocates and congressional Democrats.
Criticism increased around Bovino in the last few days after his public defense of the Pretti shooting and disputed claims about the confrontation that led to his death.
The border czar, Tom Homan, will take charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Minnesota. Frey said he planned to meet Homan on Tuesday.
Trump and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz spoke in a phone call and later offered comments that were a marked change from the critical statements they have exchanged in the past. Their conversation happened on the same day a federal judge heard arguments in a lawsuit aimed at halting the federal immigration enforcement surge in the state.
\u201cWe, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength,\u201d the president wrote in a social media post.
Walz, in a statement, said the call was \u201cproductive\u201d and that impartial investigations into the shootings were needed. Trump said his administration was looking for \u201cany and all\u201d criminals the state has in their custody. Walz said the state Department of Corrections honors federal requests for people in its custody.
Meanwhile, attorneys for the administration, the state and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul appeared Monday before U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez, who is considering whether to grant requests to temporarily halt the immigration operation.
She said the case was a priority, but in an order later Monday, she told the federal government\u2019s attorneys to file an additional brief by 6 p.m. Wednesday. She told them to address, among other things, the assertion by the state and cities that the purpose of Operation Metro Surge is to punish them for their sanctuary laws and policies.
Lawyers for the state and the Twin Cities argued the situation on the street is so dire it requires the court to halt the federal government\u2019s enforcement actions.
\u201cIf this is not stopped right here, right now, I don\u2019t think anybody who is seriously looking at this problem can have much faith in how our republic is going to go in the future,\u201d Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Brian Carter said.
The judge questioned the government\u2019s motivation behind the crackdown and expressed skepticism about a letter Attorney General Pam Bondi recently sent to Walz. The letter asked the state to give the federal government access to voter rolls, to turn over state Medicaid and food assistance records, and to repeal sanctuary policies.
\u201cI mean, is there no limit to what the executive can do under the guise of enforcing immigration law?\u201d Menendez asked. She noted that the federal requests are the subject of litigation.
Trump posted Monday on social media that Homan would report directly to him.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Homan would be \u201cthe main point of contact on the ground in Minneapolis\u201d during continued operations by federal immigration officers.
In court Monday, an attorney for the administration said about 2,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were on ground, along with at least 1,000 Border Patrol officers.
In another case, a different federal judge, Eric Tostrud, took under advisement a request from the Justice Department to lift an order he issued late Saturday blocking the Trump administration from \u201cdestroying or altering evidence\u201d related to Saturday\u2019s shooting.
Attorneys for the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension told the judge they can\u2019t trust the federal government to preserve the evidence, citing the lack of cooperation the state is getting from federal authorities after they said they were blocked from the scene.<\/p>\n