WASHINGTON (AP) — The fatal shooting of a Minneapolis protester by a federal immigration officer touched off a fierce national debate and prompted some fellow Republicans to question President Donald Trump's hard-line immigration crackdown, but the president on Sunday night continued to blame Democratic officials.
After remaining relatively quiet on Sunday, the Republican president in two lengthy social media posts said that Democrats had encouraged people to obstruct law enforcement operations. He also called on officials in Minnesota to work with immigration officers and "turn over" people who were in the U.S. illegally.
“Tragically, two American Citizens have lost their lives as a result of this Democrat ensued chaos,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media network.
Trump's refusal to back away from his pledge to carry out the largest deportation program in history and the surge of immigration officers to heavily Democratic cities came as more Republicans began calling for a deeper investigation and expressing unease with some of the administration's tactics.
Trump also told The Wall Street Journal in an interview Sunday that his administration was “reviewing everything,” but he refused to say whether the officer who shot 37-year-old Alex Pretti acted appropriately.
“We’re looking, we’re reviewing everything and will come out with a determination,” Trump said.
The White House did not answer questions about whether Trump watched the videos of the shooting in Minnesota, which seemed to contradict the account of what happened by members of his administration, or whether he planned to speak to Minnesota's Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who had appealed to the president to help bring calm to the city.
Instead, Trump on Sunday night said he would call on Congress to pass legislation banning so-called sanctuary cities. His administration has sought to apply the label to communities based on their cooperation with federal immigration enforcement efforts, among other factors.
His push for action by lawmakers comes even as outrage over the shooting has raised the possibility of a partial government shutdown in a week because of a standoff over additional funding for immigration enforcement.
Trump's initial reaction to the shooting of Pretti came hours after it took place on Saturday. In a post on his Truth Social network, he questioned why Pretti had a firearm and accused Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey of inciting "Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric.”
But throughout the weekend, Trump, who rarely lets a major moment go without comment, did not make any public appearances or express any dismay over Pretti's death.
Instead, he posted online complaining about Canada and efforts to stop him from building an expansive ballroom at the White House, calling a lawsuit to block its construction “devastating to the White House, our Country, and all concerned.”
He also posted messages praising U.K. troops after his comments about them earlier in the week were widely interpreted as a grave insult and praising guests appearing on Fox News Channel.
When he finally weighed in again Sunday night as criticism grew, Trump was unbowed.
He called on Walz and Frey, also a Democrat, to turn over for deportation anyone in the country illegally who was held in state prisons or local jails, along with anyone who has a warrant out for their arrest or a criminal history.
In his comments to The Wall Street Journal, Trump criticized Pretti for carrying a gun.
“I don’t like any shooting. I don’t like it,” Trump said. “But I don’t like it when somebody goes into a protest and he’s got a very powerful, fully loaded gun with two magazines loaded up with bullets also. That doesn’t play good either.”
He said that immigration enforcement officers will leave Minneapolis “at some point” but did not offer a time frame.
Members of his administration, meanwhile, were quick to say the shooting, the second killing of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis by immigration officers in recent weeks, was a case of an armed man provoking violence.
Deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller said in a post on social media, without offering any evidence, that Pretti was “an assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.”
Vice President JD Vance shared Miller's post. He issued other ones blaming local officials and describing what was happening in Minneapolis as “engineered chaos” that was “the direct consequence of far left agitators, working with local authorities.”
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