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Bovino to Leave Minn. Amid Protests 01/27 06:11
Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino is expected to leave Minneapolis on
Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the Trump
administration reshuffles leadership of its immigration enforcement operation
and scales back the federal presence after a second fatal shooting by federal
officers.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino is expected to
leave Minneapolis on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter,
as the Trump administration reshuffles leadership of its immigration
enforcement operation and scales back the federal presence after a second fatal
shooting by federal officers.
President Donald Trump said he was placing his border czar, Tom Homan, in
charge of the mission, with Homan reporting directly to the White House, after
Bovino drew condemnation for claiming the man who was killed, Alex Pretti, had
been planning to "massacre" law enforcement officers, a characterization that
authorities had not substantiated.
Saturday's fatal shooting of Pretti, an ICU nurse, by Border Patrol agents
ignited political backlash and raised fresh questions about how the operation
was being run.
Bovino's 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.
A person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that Bovino is
among the federal agents leaving Minneapolis. The person was not authorized to
publicly discuss details of the operation and spoke to AP on condition of
anonymity.
The departure accompanies a softer tone from Trump on the Minnesota
crackdown, including the president's touting of productive conversations with
the governor and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
The mayor said he asked Trump in a phone call to end the immigration
enforcement surge, and Trump agreed the present situation cannot continue. Frey
said he would keep pushing for others involved in Operation Metro Surge to go.
Homan will take charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in
Minnesota. Frey said he planned to meet Homan on Tuesday.
Trump has call with Minnesota governor
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.
"We, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength," the president wrote in
a social media post.
Walz, in a statement, said the call was "productive" and that impartial
investigations into the shootings were needed. Trump said his administration
was looking for "any and all" 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's 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's enforcement
actions.
"If this is not stopped right here, right now, I don't think anybody who is
seriously looking at this problem can have much faith in how our republic is
going to go in the future," Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Brian Carter
said.
Judge questions government's motives
The judge questioned the government's 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.
"I mean, is there no limit to what the executive can do under the guise of
enforcing immigration law?" Menendez asked. She noted that the federal requests
are the subject of litigation.
Brantley Mayers, a Justice Department attorney, said the government's goal
is to enforce federal law. Mayers said one lawful action should not be used to
discredit another lawful action.
Menendez questioned where the line was between violating the Constitution
and the executive's power to enforce the law. She also asked whether she was
being asked to decide between state and federal policies.
"That begins to feel very much like I am deciding which policy approach is
best," she said.
At one point, while discussing the prospect of federal officers entering
residences without a warrant, the judge expressed reluctance to decide issues
not yet raised in a lawsuit before her.
The state of Minnesota and the cities sued the Department of Homeland
Security earlier this month, five days after Renee Good was shot by an
Immigration and Customs officer. Pretti's shooting added urgency to the case.
Late Monday, a federal appeals court declined to lift a temporary hold on a
ruling Menendez issued in a separate case on Jan. 16. She ruled then that
federal officers in Minnesota cannot detain or tear gas peaceful protesters who
are not obstructing authorities, including people who follow and observe
agents. A three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals said that
ruling was unlikely to hold up on appeal.
Homan to report to Trump
News of Bovino's departure didn't stop dozens of protestors from gathering
outside a hotel where they believed Bovino was staying. They blew whistles,
banged pots and one person blasted a trombone. Police watched and kept them
away from the hotel entrance.
Trump posted Monday on social media that Homan would report directly to him.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Homan would be "the main
point of contact on the ground in Minneapolis" 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.
The lawsuit asks the judge to order a reduction in the number of federal law
enforcement officers and agents in Minnesota back to the level before the surge
and to limit the scope of the enforcement operation.
The case has implications for other states that have been or could become
targets of ramped-up federal immigration enforcement operations. Attorneys
general from 19 states plus the District of Columbia, led by California, filed
a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Minnesota.
In yet 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 "destroying or altering
evidence" related to Saturday's shooting.
Attorneys for the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension told the judge they
can't 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.
But the federal government's attorneys argued that the temporary restraining
order should be dissolved because its investigators are already following
proper preservation procedures, and they'd object to "micromanaging" from the
court what evidence the state can examine while the federal investigation is
ongoing.
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