White House border czar Tom Homan, shown during an interview on Jan. 13, 2026, is expected to start overseeing ground operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota. (Richard Drew/AP)
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump pledged Monday to send Tom Homan, the nation’s border czar, to Minnesota to take over immigration enforcement operations following the second fatal shooting of a Minneapolis resident by federal agents.
Alex Pretti, a nurse at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, was killed Saturday morning after immigration enforcement agents confronted him outside a neighborhood doughnut shop.
Agents said they were there searching for an illegal alien.
The Department of Homeland Security said Pretti carried a handgun and was shot in self-defense by agents trying to disarm him — a statement disputed by witnesses.
Pretti, 37, was a U.S. citizen and critical care nurse who had worked at the veterans hospital since 2011.
Pretti was legally licensed to carry a handgun, the Guardian reported.
Multiple videos by bystanders showed Pretti using his cellphone to record the enforcement actions before he was confronted and tackled by several agents.
Homan is expected to start overseeing ground operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota in response to public condemnation of the shooting.
Homan is the White House executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations.
“Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me,” Trump posted to social media, after state and local officials, as well as members of Congress, condemned the shooting.
The agents involved in the shooting of Pretti “are not working in Minneapolis, but in other locations. That’s for their safety,” Gregory Bovino, U.S. Border Patrol commander-at-large, told reporters Sunday.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, said that Democrats in Congress will oppose a bill to send $64.4 billion to the Department of Homeland Security to fund operations, including for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Pretti’s death followed the fatal shooting on Jan. 7 of Minneapolis resident Renee Goode. Goode, 37, was killed by a federal agent, who had approached her vehicle during an immigration enforcement operation.
Videos of Saturday’s shooting showed Pretti trying to assist a woman pushed to the ground by an agent.
Pretti also was pushed down by an agent. He then was pinned to the pavement by several agents, who struck, pepper-sprayed and shot him multiple times.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other federal officials referred to Goode and Pretti as domestic terrorists.
The Department of Homeland Security said agents fired “defensive shots.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., on Sunday demanded an independent investigation into the two shootings and an end to the federal anti-immigration crackdown across the state.
“ICE is not making us more safe,” Klobuchar said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “With 3,000 agents outnumbering the sworn police officers 3 to 1, this is completely out of whack and out of balance.”
ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection — both components of DHS — are jointly conducting the immigration enforcement operations, dubbed Operation Metro Surge.
In addition to Klobuchar, several key Democrats said an independent review was needed into the actions of the agents.
They included Sen. Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts; Sen. Michael Bennet, of Colorado; Rep. Betty McCollum, of Minnesota; Sen. Tina Smith, of Minnesota; and Sen. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York.
Some GOP lawmakers also pressed for the review.
They included Rep. Michael McCaul, of Texas; Sen. Thom Tillis, of North Carolina; Sen. Bill Cassidy, of Louisiana; Sen. Susan Collins, of Maine; and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska.
Tillis said on social media that an independent investigation is “the basic standard that law enforcement and the American people expect following any officer-involved shooting.”
