President Trump on Tuesday downplayed the leadership changes he’s made to his immigration team amid turmoil in Minneapolis, saying he typically changes personnel.
“I do that all the time. I shake up teams,” Mr. Trump said in remarks at a diner in Urbandale, Iowa. “Everybody here — these are lots of owners for farms and places — and you shake up your team if they can’t do the crops fast enough. Look, we have an incredible team.”
Mr. Trump on Monday made changes to his immigration team following the fatal shooting of a protester in Minneapolis over the weekend. He put border czar Tom Homan in charge of the operation in Minneapolis, replacing Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, who is reportedly leaving the state after having led most of the Trump border crackdowns in Democratic-led cities.
The president surprised some observers by picking Mr. Homan over Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The moves are part of a broader reset by the Trump administration amid criticism of its aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.
When asked if he would withdraw federal immigration officers from Minnesota, Mr. Trump said he would do whatever was appropriate.
The president also said that he hadn’t heard anyone call Alex Pretti, the protester fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, a “domestic terrorist.”
“I haven’t heard that, but certainly he shouldn’t have been carrying a gun,” Mr. Trump said. “I don’t like that he had a gun. I don’t like that he had two fully loaded magazines. That’s a lot of bad stuff, and despite that, I say that’s a very unfortunate incident.”
Several top administration officials, including Ms. Noem and top aide Stephen Miller, have accused Mr. Pretti of being a “domestic terrorist.”
The president said that everyone in the room, which included members of the GOP Iowa congressional delegation, viewed Mr. Pretti’s death as “a very unfortunate incident.”
“Everyone, unless you’re a stupid person, very, very unfortunate incident,” Mr. Trump said.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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