"It was a mess": Inside Trump's pivot on Minnesota

Photo illustration of a collage featuring an anti-ICE protest at the Minnesota State Capitol, Donald Trump, and masked federal agents. — Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Getty Images

President Trump surged immigration forces into Minnesota earlier this month promising "reckoning and retribution."

Now he's sounding a rhetorical retreat.

Why it matters: The Saturday killing of protester Alex Pretti — and the videos showing how Trump's administration misrepresented it — drove the president to uncharacteristically de-escalate on Monday.

"It's f**ked, and POTUS knew he needed to unf**k it," an administration adviser told Axios.

Zoom in: Trump's most significant move came Monday morning, when he dispatched White House border czar Tom Homan to the Twin Cities — and essentially cut Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem out of the shambolic Minneapolis operation.

Soon after Homan's appointment, DHS announced that the hard-charging head of the controversial immigration efforts, U.S. Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, would leave the state and return to his old job leading his sector in El Centro, Calif.
"He's a cowboy, and it was a mess. It was only escalation, and no one was going to back down," a source familiar with the operations said. "Homan going is a good thing. Someone needed to step in."

Driving the news: Trump spent Sunday lamenting his administration's botched response to Pretti's shooting, including news conferences by Bovino and Noem in which they seemed "callous" about the man's death, a confidant who spoke with Trump told Axios.

The White House wants to get the Minnesota immigration operation on solid footing as Senate Democrats threaten to shut down the federal government Friday because of the administration's controversial immigration enforcement efforts.
"So it's Tom Homan to the rescue," the confidant said.

Zoom out: A career immigration official who served under President Obama and Trump during his first term, Homan has a measure of credibility with the Democrats who run Minnesota that Noem — a committed Republican partisan — does not.

Homan plans to meet with law enforcement on the ground, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both of whom have accused immigration agents of terrorizing Minnesotans and called on the agents to leave.
Trump spoke with Walz and Frey on Monday and struck a new tone of cooperation.

A person familiar with Homan's plans said he'll help steer operational decisions and media presence.

Homan "understands the silos that every single person has to operate in," a second source familiar with DHS operations said, referring to Homan's experience as a local police officer, CBP and ICE agent.
An administration official said Homan is likely to emphasize more targeted enforcement efforts with fewer confrontational tactics than Bovino, whose roving squads of masked officers were caught on video accosting residents such as two Target employees, both U.S. citizens, who were roughed up earlier this month.

The big picture: Trump wants a peace-with-honor withdrawal from Minnesota that doesn't look like his immigration surge was a loss driven by botched law enforcement efforts under Bovino, and plummeting poll numbers.

The administration wants Minnesota law enforcement to help with traffic and crowd control so that DHS can make immigration arrests without interference from the well-organized protesters in the Twin Cities.
Walz and local officials want an end to the heavy-handed federal immigration tactics that became a hallmark of Bovino's time there.

Three demonstrators have been shot by federal agents this month, including two fatally — Pretti and Renee Good.

Reality check: Trump has made friendly calls and peace offerings to Minnesota officials, but he's not going to pack up and leave the state.

"We can't lose Minneapolis because if we do, we lose Chicago and Los Angeles," an administration adviser said.
"We're not going to let the people who lost the presidential election over immigration dictate to us on immigration," the official said, referring to Democrats.

The backstory: Bovino and CBP agents have deployed to different operations across the country for months. They've been responsible for many of the aggressive arrest tactics and crowd confrontations caught in viral videos.

During Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, Border Patrol agents drew litigation over their use of force and chemical agents such as tear gas, plus a non-fatal shooting after which the agent involved was caught bragging about the act in text messages that were revealed in court.
Border Patrol officers "train differently .... They're being deployed to the [U.S.] interior when they're used to dealing with single adult, military age males that could be cartel members or Chinese terrorists," the second source said.

What they're saying: There has been friction between Homan and Noem, but the White House downplayed any tension among the officials affected by Monday's moves.

"The president's entire immigration enforcement team — including Secretary Noem and border czar Homan — are on the same page," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said.
"They are working together seamlessly to implement the president's agenda, protect the American people and deport criminal illegal aliens."