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Donald Trump is doubling down in Minnesota following the murder of nurse Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents on Saturday by sending his immigration czar to the state. In a Truth Social post Monday morning, Trump announced that he is sending Tom Homan to the state “tonight,” calling him “tough but fair” and saying he “will report directly to me.” The president made no mention of Pretti’s death, and instead repeated exaggerated claims of fraud in the state and attacked Representative Ilhan Omar.  Trump’s other Truth Social posts from the weekend refused to take responsibility for the shooting, or accept any wrongdoing from federal agents in Minnesota. He fueled right-wing talking points about Pretti’s gun (he was a licensed gun owner and was disarmed before he was shot), and posted a lengthy screed calling on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, “and EVERY Democrat Governor and Mayor in the United States of America to formally cooperate with the Trump Administration to enforce our Nation’s Laws, rather than resist and stoke the flames of Division, Chaos, and Violence.”He refused to take any responsibility for the escalating violence from federal agents, or the reports of racism and targeting of children in Minneapolis. Meanwhile, officials in Trump’s own Department of Homeland Security are growing frustrated with the lies coming from the Trump administration, and members of the president’s own party are beginning to speak out. Cooler heads aren’t prevailing. Hopefully, no more lives will be lost before things cool down, but there’s no telling when that will be.  This story has been updated. 

Even the Department of Homeland Security’s own officials are growing frustrated with the slanderous, blatant lies that their leaders have told regarding the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis over the weekend. Fox News’s Bill Melugin spoke with more than a dozen sources working on immigration enforcement and reported that there is “extreme frustration” with people like Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino doing countless media hits “claiming that Alex Pretti was intending to conduct a ‘massacre’ of federal agents or wanted to carry out ‘maximum damage,’ even after numerous videos appeared to show those claims were inaccurate.”“Sources say this messaging from DHS officials has been catastrophic from a P.R. and morale perspective, as it is eroding trust and credibility,” Melugin continued. “Some of these sources have described DHS’s response to the shooting as ‘a case study on how not to do crisis P.R.’; one said they are so ‘fed up’ that they wish they could retire; another said ‘DHS is making the situation worse,’ and another added that ‘DHS is wrong’ and ‘we are losing this war, we are losing the base and the narrative.’” Well no shit, Bill. All of America watched Border Patrol agents violently take down Pretti, remove his legal gun from his holster, and shoot him again and again while holding him down. That shooting came just weeks after agents shot Renee Good and called her a “fucking bitch” while she lay dying in her car. And then the likes of Bovino and Noem claimed that it was Pretti who was the terrorist, not the masked agents who killed him without a second thought.Melugin then went on to provide some classic Fox News pro-regime insight, claiming that his sources think that agents harassing and killing Pretti was just some “‘shitty’ situation that happened in seconds where agents likely heard ‘gun!’ then the disarmed firearm may have had an accidental discharge that spooked the agents, and they shot.” “The agents do not have the luxury of multiple slow-motion angles,” he continued, making more excuses for the masked, militant men who have been terrorizing Minnesota all month.   

Tens of thousands of Minnesotans braved the bitter cold in Minneapolis on Friday to demand ”ICE out.” The march was organized by faith and labor leaders and was accompanied by calls for an economic blackout. Seven hundred businesses reportedly closed in solidarity. Democracy Now!’s John Hamilton filed a report from the streets. John Reuss, an English teacher, said his students are afraid. “The fear is so tangible,” said Reuss. “If we do not shut it down right now, your city is next.”

High school students in the US often learn about Latin America through the lens of the US, as a main character that exerts power.

After a Border Patrol agent shot and killed nurse Alex Pretti, 37, in Minneapolis over the weekend, some Republicans are beginning to speak out against the Trump administration’s actions.“ICE agents do not have carte blanche in carrying out their duties,” Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski said Sunday. “Lawfully carrying a firearm does not justify federal agents killing an American—especially, as video footage appears to show, after the victim had been disarmed.“Senators Murkowski, Thom Tillis, and Bill Cassidy are all calling for independent investigations into the shooting. In a post on X Saturday night, Cassidy said, “The events in Minneapolis are incredibly disturbing.”“The credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake. There must be a full joint federal and state investigation. We can trust the American people with the truth,” Cassidy posted.Representative James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, went so far as to suggest that President Trump remove ICE agents from Minneapolis..“If I were President Trump, I would almost think about, OK, if the mayor and governor are going put our ICE officials in harm’s way and there’s a chance of losing more innocent lives, or whatever, then maybe go to another city and let the people of Minneapolis decide: Do we want to continue to have all of these illegals?” Comer said Sunday on Fox News, adding that he expected Minnesotans to “rebel against their leadership.”On Sunday, Representative Andrew Garabino, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, called on DHS, ICE, and Border Patrol leaders to testify before his committee, drawing praise from his GOP colleague Representative Michael Baumgartner, who said it was important “the American people and Congress be given a better understanding of how immigration enforcement is being handled.”Many Republicans are concerned that ICE’s violence, coupled with the rest of the Trump administration’s heavy-handed policies, will hurt them in midterm elections this year. Representative Dusty Johnson, who is running for governor in South Dakota, called for deescalation, in an X post Sunday. *“Politicians, protesters, and law enforcement all have an obligation to deescalate the situation in Minnesota. As with any officer-involved shooting, this demands a thorough investigation,” Johnson posted.One House Republican told Politico anonymously, “Many of us wonder if the administration has any clue as to how much this will hurt us legislatively and electorally this year.”It may be a small fraction of Republicans right now, but cracks are beginning to form as Trump’s actions are going too far even for members of his own party. The resistance from Minnesota is working. Will the Trump administration back down, or make things worse?* An earlier version of this post misstated in which state Johnson is running for governor.

Civil rights attorney, minister and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, who was arrested by federal officials for participating in an anti-ICE demonstration at Cities Church in St. Paul, was released from federal custody on Friday. “They have altered the facts, just as they altered my image as a way of trying to criminalize nonviolent, peaceful protests and lawful dissent against their unlawful and unjust actions,” says Armstrong, noting images posted by the Trump administration that digitally altered her to make it appear as if she was sobbing during her arrest.

The White House has alleged that white people in southern Africa are being discriminated against by Black-majority governments.

The claim that national security can justify territorial acquisition marks a sharp break from the principles the US championed after World War II.