By Brad Brooks
MINNEAPOLIS, Jan 26 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Monday is due to consider a request to temporarily stop President Donald Trump’s administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, following the fatal shooting a second U.S. citizen over the weekend that sparked a fierce backlash.
The state and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are asking the court to pause the 3,000-agent operation, calling it a “completely disproportionate” violation of state sovereignty. The Trump administration, in a court filing, called the request an “absurdity” that would make federal law an afterthought.
The two sides will argue before U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez on Monday.
Meanwhile, Trump said he would send the White House border security czar Tom Homan to the state, following Saturday’s shooting of a 37-year-old nurse, Alex Pretti, by immigration agents during a confrontation with protesters in Minneapolis. “Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me,” he wrote in a social media post.
Homeland Security Department officials have characterized the incident as an attack and say agents fired in self-defense after Pretti approached with a handgun. But video from the scene verified by Reuters contradicted the administration’s version of events and showed Pretti holding a phone, not a gun, in his hand before agents wrestled him to the ground and shot him.
TRUMP ‘REVIEWING EVERYTHING’
It was not clear whether Trump’s announcement amounts to an escalation of the administration’s presence or a climbdown. Trump told the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that his administration is “reviewing everything” about the incident and said immigration officials would eventually withdraw.
The crackdown has spurred massive street protests in below-freezing temperatures, and fierce condemnations by the state’s Democratic leaders. Sixty of the state’s largest businesses, including Target, 3M, UnitedHealth and U.S. Bancorp, called for an immediate de-escalation of tensions between the state and the Trump administration on Sunday.
Recent Reuters polling indicates that a significant slice of Trump’s Republican backers – 39% – are wary of the heavy-handed approach, saying harm should be minimized even if this means fewer immigration-related arrests.
In Washington, Democrats in the Senate have said they will oppose a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, raising the likelihood of a partial government shutdown starting on Sunday. Republicans approved a massive budget increase for immigration enforcement last year, but some of them now are demanding answers from the Trump administration.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel, Susan Heavey, Katharine Jackson and Andy Sullivan; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone and Deepa Babington)
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