Bovino set to leave Minneapolis, and Border Patrol plans to reduce its presence, officials say

The fatal shooting of Pretti has Trump “concerned” about the sustainability of his administration’s ongoing Minneapolis operations, according to Trump administration officials and allies. 

These people acknowledged to NBC News that they needed a strategic shift amid a public uproar over Pretti’s killing, though the White House is still very much focused on its original agenda of cracking down on immigration and fraud.

Still, the changes made today are noticeable. Saturday’s shooting has prompted a leadership shakeup, a reduction of agents in the city, a reset with key Democratic officials in the state and an attempt to distance Trump from some of the more extreme comments from some of his top advisers. 

“The visuals were not playing well. He understands TV. ... He saw it for himself,” said a Republican lawmaker who, like others in this article, were granted anonymity to speak candidly. 

Read the full story here.

Many TikTok users are concerned about potential political censorship under the app’s new U.S. ownership after some users alleged difficulties uploading videos related to ICE, including content about the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis man.

TikTok is pushing back against those claims, saying the widespread disruptions or malfunctions were due to a power outage. 

TikTok denies censoring anti-ICE content, blames outage

01:48

Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino will return to El Centro, California, a senior White House official and an administration official told NBC News. The officials said Bovino will return to his previous job as sector chief and will not continue as commander overseeing Border Patrol agents making immigration arrests in interior U.S. cities.

Before Bovino was made commander of the Border Patrol, a new term used to describe his role in Los Angeles, he was the Border Patrol sector chief in El Centro.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said tonight that Bovino “has NOT been relieved of his duties” in response to a post on X.

NBC News reported earlier tonight that Bovino is expected to leave Minneapolis tomorrow.

FBI Director Kash Patel said today that he had opened an investigation into the Signal group text chats that Minnesota residents are using to share information about federal immigration agents’ movements, opening a new front in the Trump administration’s conflict there with potential free speech implications.

Patel said in an interview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson that he wanted to know whether any Minnesota residents had put federal agents “in harm’s way” with activities such as sharing agents’ license plate numbers and locations.

“You cannot create a scenario that illegally entraps and puts law enforcement in harm’s way,” he said in the interview, which was posted to YouTube.

The investigation quickly drew skepticism from free speech advocates who said the First Amendment protects members of the public who share legally obtained information, such as the names of federal agents or where they are conducting enforcement operations.

Read the full story here.

Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., now has 146 co-sponsors who have signed on to her resolution to impeach Kristi Noem. 

Kelly shared a tally of the co-sponsors tonight with NBC News. 

The tally is more than two-thirds of the Democrats in the House. Still, Democrats would need a handful of Republicans to support impeaching Noem for the resolution to succeed on the floor. 

A simple majority is required to impeach a federal official in the House. With four current House vacancies, the measure would require 216 votes in favor.

A Democratic think tank that had warned its party against using "Abolish ICE" language is acknowledging the politics have dramatically shifted since Pretti's death.

And it got considerable backlash online for the suggestion.

The group is now calling on Democrats to demand a complete overhaul of both ICE and the Border Patrol, including saying that "Secretary Noem is incompetent and must go. Where misconduct rises to the level of abuse of power, impeachment is not radical—it is a constitutional responsibility."

Unlike a warning it gave less than two weeks ago, a new memo from Third Way, first shared with NBC News today, does not address using the term "abolish ICE" one way or another.

But it does outline a series of talking points it recommends the party take on as it ramps up the fight in Congress and on the campaign trail.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 3, the top Democrat on the committee announced today. 

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., blasted Noem for refusing to appear before the committee last year, adding that she “now tells us that she will be available in five weeks — should she still be DHS Secretary at that time.”

“With all of the violence and deaths involving DHS, the Secretary is apparently in no hurry to account for her mismanagement of this national crisis. And she expects us to rubber stamp her record-breaking budget in the meantime,” Durbin wrote. 

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the committee, said this month that he was placing a hold on all DHS nominations over Noem’s refusal to go before the committee. His holds are not related to Renee Good’s death, and the announcement came before Pretti was killed. 

Noem’s planned testimony comes amid growing scrutiny from Republican senators following Pretti’s death. 

A woman who lives across the street from where Alex Pretti resided described him as "always ready to assist if a neighbor reached out needing something."

"While I didn’t know him well, I did know he was a good neighbor," Beth Johnson, the communications coordinator for her Minneapolis neighborhood association, wrote in an email to NBC News. "He believed in helping people and he had a kind heart."

Pretti's death, Johnson added, has stunned residents.

"A lot of people are hurting," she wrote.

Anti-ICE protesters clash with federal officers at hotel

01:59

Local and state authorities were trying to de-escalate a disorderly protest at a Minneapolis hotel yesterday when federal law enforcement officers arrived without notice and deployed chemical munitions, Minneapolis police said.

The effort — which, in addition to Minneapolis police, included officers from the Minnesota State Patrol, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and multiple metro agencies — had been moving to surround the crowd at Home2 Suites, give dispersal orders and prepare for mass arrests when the federal officers arrived, the police department said.

“No chemical munitions were deployed by MPD,” it said.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that officers from the Bureau of Prisons were first to arrive at the scene and secured the hotel perimeter. Gas was used to disperse the crowd when a federal corrections officer was assaulted and injured, DHS said.

The statement did not provide additional details about the officer’s condition.

DHS said the hotel was housing Border Patrol agents. The group smashed the building’s front door glass and forced their way in, the department said.

Border Patrol agents cleared the area, according to DHS. Two people were detained and released pending additional investigation, Minneapolis police said.

Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, wrote in a post that he disagrees with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's "premature" response to the killing of Pretti.

Curtis, who joins a growing number of Republicans pushing for more transparency in the investigation of Pretti's killing, said Noem's response "came before all the facts were known and weakened confidence."

"We must have a transparent, independent investigation into the Minnesota shooting, and those responsible—no matter their title—must be held accountable," he wrote on X.

"Officials who rush to judgment before all the facts are known undermine public trust and the law-enforcement mission," he continued.

Curtis added that he will be working with a bipartisan group of senators "to demand real oversight and transparency."

The news began to hit the Sundance Film Festival as people stepped out of dark theaters onto snowy sidewalks or woke up after a night of partying in the bars and lounges on Main Street.

“If you all have not heard what’s going on in Minnesota this morning, someone else was murdered by ICE,” director Ava DuVernay said, referring to the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti as she began to ask a question while she was seated in the audience at a panel on freedom of expression Saturday afternoon.

About two hours later, Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., identified himself on X as the person who was “punched in the face” at a party hosted by the talent agency CAA on Friday by a man who is alleged to have told him Trump was going to deport him.

Olivia Wilde, Zoey Deutch and Natalie Portman wear ICE OUT pins at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.  Getty Images

The political temperature during the early days of the 2026 festival was wide-ranging. While some filmmakers and stars wore “Be Good” and “ICE OUT” pins, many of the film premieres and brand-sponsored lounges remained largely apolitical zones.

But by Saturday afternoon, as attendees hopped around Park City, many were also watching videos of the killing of Pretti, a Minnesota nurse, on their cellphones, and a sense of cognitive dissonance began to permeate the festival.

Read the full story here.

Dr. Aasma Shaukat remembers Pretti, her former colleague, as an empathetic nurse and friend who was always seeking to lend a hand to others.

"The Alex I knew — or we knew — was kindhearted, very, very helpful and a very, very upstanding citizen," Shaukat said. "He was the kind of person that would, you know, hold the door open for you, or if somebody was trying to get in the elevator, he would hold the elevator."

Former colleague of Alex Pretti reflects on his enthusiasm and empathy

02:55

In a 3-0 decision, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has extended its administrative stay pausing a lower court’s order that had blocked federal agents in Minnesota from using pepper spray and other nonlethal munitions against peaceful protesters. That means: Federal agents in Minnesota can continue to use pepper spray and other nonlethal munitions.

The majority of the court said that they had watched videos of protests in Minneapolis and that it is difficult to decipher peaceful from violent behavior. “What they show is observers and protestors engaging in a wide range of conduct, some of it peaceful but much of it not,” they write. “They also show federal agents responding in various ways. Even the named plaintiffs’ claims involve different conduct, by different officers, at different times, in different places, in response to different behavior.”

Those differences, they said, mean there are no “questions of law or fact common to the class” that would allow the court to decide all their claims in “one stroke” — one of the requirements necessary for them to agree with the lower court judge’s decision. 

In addition to being too broad, they wrote, “the injunction is too vague.”

After having heard arguments today in a case that aims to stop the Trump administration's immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota, a federal judge wants more information from the federal government.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez of Minnesota ordered the federal government to rebut in writing the state's assertion that the purpose of Operation Metro Surge is to punish the state for adopting sanctuary laws and policies, coerce the state to change state and local law, compel it to direct state and local resources to facilitate information-sharing with aid federal immigration enforcement, and cause it to direct more state and local resources to holding immigration targets in detention longer than otherwise allowed.

Menendez wants the response by 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Trump spoke to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey today, saying on Truth Social that "lots of progress is being made."

"Tom Homan will be meeting with him tomorrow in order to continue the discussion," Trump wrote.

Frey wrote in a statement that he appreciated the conversation, in which, he said, Trump agreed that the situation in Minneapolis could not continue. Frey confirmed that he planned to meet with Homan and that some federal agents will begin to leave the city tomorrow.

"Minneapolis will continue to cooperate with state and federal law enforcement on real criminal investigations — but we will not participate in unconstitutional arrests of our neighbors or enforce federal immigration law," Frey said.

Border Patrol commander to leave Minneapolis

06:12

Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino is expected to leave Minneapolis tomorrow, a White House and an administration official told NBC News.

The Border Patrol plans to reduce the number of its agents in the city sometime this week, according to the administration official, as well as a law enforcement official.

CNN was the first to report Bovino's expected departure.

A federal judge is weighing whether to extend an order blocking the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” connected to Pretti’s killing and said at the close of today's hearing, "We will be getting a decision forthwith.”

A Justice Department lawyer argued that the order should be dissolved because the federal government is “already preserving the evidence that was ordered to be preserved.”

Body camera recordings of the fatal shooting are being kept by the Department of Homeland Security, which is leading the investigation into Pretti’s killing, while “all the other evidence is being preserved and maintained by the FBI,” the Justice Department lawyer said at the hearing.

A lawyer for the Minnesota attorney general pointed to several “serious irregularities” in how federal authorities preserved evidence in the hours after the shooting, including denying local police access to the scene and releasing statements that blamed Pretti and called him a domestic terrorist. Witness video of the shooting contradicts Trump administration’s narrative.

Peter Farrell, the lawyer for the Minnesota attorney general, questioned why Trump officials posted on social media a photo of a gun that federal agents said belonged to Pretti.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension “would never treat a gun like that,” Farrell said.

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., has called the heads of ICE, the Border Patrol and Citizenship and Immigration Services to testify before his committee at an open hearing Feb. 12.

The requests, which Paul released on X, do not cite Pretti's death. He said he is calling them before the committee as a part of its oversight of congressionally approved funds for immigration enforcement.

Read the full story here.

Oral arguments are underway at another court hearing today in Minnesota, where a federal judge is expected to decide whether to extend an order blocking the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to Pretti’s death. 

Seven of eight members of the Senate Democratic Caucus who voted with Republicans to reopen the government last year have committed to vote against a government funding package if it includes money for the Department of Homeland Security.

In the wake of the recent fatal shootings in Minneapolis, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Angus King, I-Vt., and Tim Kaine of Virginia have said in recent days that they will vote against the funding package this week if DHS funding is included without reforms. 

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., however, said he won't join fellow Democrats in that strategy.

In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, Walz wrote that the Trump administration’s "federal occupation" of Minnesota has caused nothing but "chaos and violence."

"The Trump administration’s assault on Minnesota long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement. It is a campaign of organized brutality against the people of our state," he wrote. "It isn’t just. It isn’t legal. And, critically, it isn’t making anyone any safer."

Walz called out Trump for his repeated claims that Minnesota jails release violent, unauthorized people back onto the streets, which he slammed as “lies.”

“In reality, the Minnesota Department of Corrections honors all federal and local detainers by notifying Immigration and Customs Enforcement when a person committed to its custody isn’t a U.S. citizen. There is not a single documented case of the department’s releasing someone from state prison without offering to ensure a smooth transfer of custody,” he wrote.

Minneapolis demonstrators said the videos of the moment Pretti was fatally shot Saturday show a man who was trying to help, not someone who was brandishing a firearm, as DHS has said.

"He was just trying to help some woman that had been shoved, and literally they just tackled him and started pepper-spraying him and didn’t even give him a chance or anything," Ellen Moodie told NBC News last night.

Moodie, who lives three blocks away and said she heard the gunshots, said the videos show "an execution."

“This is insane, the fact that this is what our life is now in 2026,” she said. “It’s mind-blogging, scary, confusing and all of the above. ... How can anybody ever look at that and say that isn’t just outright murder?”

Asked whether Trump agreed with FBI Director Kash Patel's comments over the weekend that demonstrators "cannot bring a firearm loaded with multiple magazines to any sort of protest," Leavitt said, "There has been no greater supporter or defender of the right to bear arms than President Donald J. Trump."

But she added that while "Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, Americans do not have a constitutional right to impede lawful immigration enforcement operations."

"Any gun owner knows that when you are carrying a weapon, when you are bearing arms and you are confronted by law enforcement, you are raising the assumption of risk and the risk of force being used against you, and again that’s unfortunately what took place on Saturday," she said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters this afternoon that Trump wants to “let the facts lead” the investigation into Pretti's killing. The statement comes after multiple officials within the Trump administration accused Pretti of being an agitator, or worse, after the shooting Saturday.

White House adviser Stephen Miller referred to Pretti as a “would-be assassin” who “tried to murder federal law enforcement” on X on Saturday. DHS also said the situation looked as though a person “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement” in a different X post earlier that day.

Multiple videos of the killing reviewed by NBC News contradict the administration’s description of events.

Leavitt did not answer a question about whether Miller would apologize to Pretti’s family, saying only that the case remains under investigation.

When asked at the briefing about Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino's role going forward, Leavitt said he will continue to lead the agency's operations.

"Mr. Bovino is a wonderful man, and he's a great professional. He is going to very much continue to lead Customs and Border Patrol throughout and across the country," she said. "Mr. Homan will be the main point of contact on the ground" in Minnesota, she added.

Bovino has been leading operations in Minnesota during the administration's surge of immigration enforcement agents to the state.

During her briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed what border czar Tom Homan will be doing in Minnesota.

Leavitt told reporters he will be "the point person for cooperating with state and local authorities and corresponding with them again to achieve this level of cooperation, to subdue the chaos on the streets of Minneapolis."

"I would just point out that Mr. Homan is someone who has been lauded for many, many decades for his experience working in law enforcement," she said.

Trump announced on Truth Social this morning that he was sending Homan to the state tonight.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt referred to Trump's call with Gov. Walz during today's briefing, saying the president had "outlined a clear and simple path to restoring law and order in Minnesota."

"Number one, Gov. Walz, Mayor Frey and all Democrat leaders should turn over all criminal illegal aliens currently incarcerated in their prisons and jails to federal authorities, along with any illegal aliens with active warrants or known criminal histories for immediate deportation.

"Number two, state and local law enforcement must agree to turn over all illegal aliens who are arrested by local police. And then, thirdly, local police must assist federal law enforcement in apprehending and detaining illegal aliens who are wanted for crimes, especially violent crimes," Leavitt said.

She added that Trump is "calling on the United States Congress to immediately pass legislation ending sanctuary cities once and for all. American cities should be safe sanctuaries for law abiding citizens only, not for dangerous illegal alien criminals who broke our nation’s laws and do not belong here," she said.

Leavitt did not expressly say the surge would end if Walz and Frey complied with Trump's demands, but said, "It is President Trump’s hope and wish and demand for the resistance and chaos to end today."

White House questioned on characterization of Minneapolis shooting at press briefing

06:34

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt spent the first part of the briefing blaming Minnesota Democrats at the state and local level for the shooting death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday.

"Nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed in America’s streets. This includes Renee Good, Alex Pretti, the brave men and women of federal law enforcement and the many Americans who have been victimized at the hands of illegal alien criminals," she said.

Leavitt said that the shooting remains under active investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose officers shot at Pretti, is conducting its own review.

"This tragedy occurred as a result of a deliberate and hostile resistance by Democrat leaders in Minnesota for weeks. Gov. Walz, Mayor Jacob Frey and other elected Democrats were spreading lies about federal law enforcement officers who are risking their lives daily to remove the worst criminal illegal aliens from our streets," she said.

The FBI requested that a federal judge in Minnesota keep a declaration related to the Alex Pretti evidence retention case from an FBI special agent under seal, because of a threat of violence against the agent or the agent’s family.

"The Special Agent reasonably fears that public dissemination of the agent’s PII through this well-publicized case could subject the agent and the agent’s family to potential harm and further harassment," the motion said.

This is a filing that could potentially provide crucial answers about the whereabouts and condition of some of the key evidence in this case, such as Pretti's phone and the gun on his person. The judge in this case will review the document and decide whether it should be kept from public view. 

Hours after an immigration agent shot and killed an ICU nurse in Minneapolis, the Trump administration shared its version of events: An armed man confronted officers bent on violence, and the agent fired in self-defense.

Officials took a similar approach two weeks earlier, when an immigration officer shot and killed Renee Good. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem quickly defended the officer’s response and said Good had tried to ram the officer in an act of domestic terrorism.

Both responses followed what political communications researchers say is a signature Trump approach to crisis management: First go on the attack. The administration stuck by these narratives even as witness videos and details emerged in both cases that cast doubt on their accounts, and depicted far more complicated encounters.

Read the full story here.

Judge Kate Menendez finished hearing arguments this afternoon in the lawsuit the state of Minnesota filed on Jan. 12 against the federal government. During the motion hearing, attorneys representing Minnesota sought to declare the Trump administration’s unprecedented deployment of federal immigration officials as unlawful.

A hearing in the State of Minnesota v. Noem case on Monday in Minneapolis.  Cedric Hohnstadt

Menendez did not rule from the bench on whether to grant or deny a temporary restraining order request from the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office to stop the deployment of more than 3,000 immigration agents into the Twin Cities as part of Operation Metro Surge.

The judge said she wanted to take her time to issue her decision.

Attorneys for the Department of Justice argued that it is up to the state of Minnesota to prove when exactly Operation Metro Surge violated the 10th Amendment, which limits the powers of the federal government.

The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti on Saturday has prompted an outpour of support from some of the biggest Hollywood stars who have been using their social media pages to post in solidarity with anti-ICE protesters in Minnesota.

“ICEs actions are unconscionable but we are not powerless," pop star Olivia Rodrigo, who previously slammed the Department of Homeland Security for using her song “All-American Bitch," wrote on her Instagram story. "Our actions matter. I stand with Minnesota.”

Actor Mark Ruffalo, who is among the most notable activists in Hollywood, described Pretti's death as "cold-blooded murder in the streets of the USA by an occupying military gang, creating havoc.”

"We have fought wars in other countries for less than this," he wrote on BlueSky.

Investigators are reviewing body-worn camera video of the fatal shooting of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson exclusively confirmed to NBC News.

The video was taken from multiple angles, according to the spokesperson.

Pretti was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis on Saturday, the city’s second fatal shooting by a federal officer this month.

The encounter was recorded by eyewitnesses, and videos have circulated widely on social media.

Read the full story here.

Border Patrol agents wore bodycams during Alex Pretti shooting

02:35

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz described his call with President Trump earlier today as "productive." He said he made a case for impartial investigations of the Minneapolis shootings involving federal agents and a reduction in federal agents in Minnesota.

Trump agreed to speak with the Department of Homeland Security about ensuring the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension can conduct an independent investigation, Walz's office said. There was also an agreement from the president to look into reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota.

The pair also spoke about coordination on immigration enforcement regarding violent criminals, the governor's office said.

Walz reminded Trump that the Minnesota Department of Corrections already notifies Immigration and Customs Enforcement when a person committed to its custody isn’t a U.S. citizen. The governor's office said there is no documented case of the department releasing someone from state prison without offering a transfer of custody to the federal agency.

Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi expressed regret for voting to fund the Department of Homeland Security following the death of Alex Pretti on Saturday.

"I failed to view the DHS funding vote as a referendum on the illegal and immoral conduct of ICE in Minneapolis," said Suozzi, who represents a portion of Long Island, in a Facebook post.

He was one of seven Democrats who crossed party lines to back the bill last week.

"I hear the anger from my constituents, and I take responsibility for that," he said. "I have long been critical of ICE’s unlawful behavior and I must do a better job demonstrating that."

He called Pretti's death a "senseless and tragic murder" that "underscores what happens when untrained federal agents operate without accountability."

"President Trump must immediately end 'Operation Metro Surge' and ICE’s occupation of Minneapolis that has sown chaos, led to tragedy, and undermined experienced local law enforcement," he said.

Former Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, who oversaw the city’s response to the police killing of George Floyd, highlighted city residents’ frustration with federal law enforcement, saying "there's a crisis right now of trust and credibility."

Arradondo added that he felt like the activation of the Minnesota National Guard to support local police was a "helpful" decision by Gov. Tim Walz.

Former Minneapolis police chief compares public anger over Pretti to George Floyd protests

05:53

Judge Kate Menendez questioned Brantley Mayers, the Justice Department attorney defending the Trump administration in Minnesota, about the letter from Attorney General Pam Bondi to Gov. Tim Walz over the weekend.

In the letter, Bondi requested Walz to repeal state sanctuary city laws, turn over state voter rolls to the DOJ, and share state records on Medicaid, food stamps and other nutrition programs for the federal government to investigate fraud.

Menendez told Mayers she was concerned about Bondi’s letter.

"Is the executive trying to achieve a goal through force that it cannot achieve through the courts?" she asked.

Mayers replied: “No, your honor. We are here to enforce federal immigration law. There is nothing to back up this claim that we are here for another reason.”

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., has responded to Trump's Truth Social post saying that the DOJ and Congress were "looking at" her.

“Sorry, Trump, your support is collapsing and you’re panicking,” Omar said in a post on X. “Right on cue, you’re deflecting from your failures with lies and conspiracy theories about me. Years of 'investigations' have found nothing. Get your goons out of Minnesota.”

NBC News has also reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he had a good call with Gov. Tim Walz today to discuss issues in Minnesota, with both apparently "on a similar wavelength."

According to the president's description, Walz called him to request they work together and that both men "want to make it better."

"I told Governor Walz that I would have Tom Homan call him, and that what we are looking for are any and all Criminals that they have in their possession," Trump wrote. "The Governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future."

NBC News has reached out to Walz's office for comment.

It’s clear from arguments so far this morning that attorneys for the state of Minnesota are asking a judge in Minneapolis to do quite a bit more than U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez may be comfortable with.

Minnesota wants an end to Operation Metro Surge in its entirety, including the removal of thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Lawyers for the state have also mentioned the ICE memo that told ts officers they could rely on an administrative warrant to enter homes if there was an order to remove someone from the country.

Judge Katherine Menendez seemed to find that particular topic a bridge too far.

"Where is the lawsuit on that?" Menendez asked. "I can’t be the global keeper."

Menendez asked, hypothetically, what the state’s reaction would be if she denied the motion for an immediate temporary restraining order and set an additional hearing on a longer-term preliminary injunction after receiving further briefing on the issue.

"That would be the worst option," attorney Brian Carter said.

Republican Chris Madel announced today that he was ending his run for Minnesota governor, pointing to his party’s handling of immigration enforcement in his state as his rationale.

“I cannot support the national Republicans’ stated retribution on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so,” Madel said in a video posted on X.

In the nearly 11-minute video, Madel emphasized that he supports Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “originally stated goals” in itsOperation Metro Surge in his state. He argued, though, that the operation “has expanded far beyond its stated focus on true public safety threats.”

Read the full story here.

A group of current and former Health and Human Services workers has written a letter calling for a pause in federal immigration activity following "the execution" of Alex Pretti.

The letter, sent by the grassroots group Save HHS, has three specific calls to action for Congress regarding ICE and Customs and Border Protection enforcement. It asks that both agencies "halt the invasion of American cities," submit to independent investigations, and adopt policies that are in line with the Constitution.

"As a Veterans Affairs nurse, Alex took the same oath we did: to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic," the letter said. "Like Alex, we are compelled to speak out against threats to our nation."

The group described ICE as a threat to the health of the nation and noted that if an appropriations bill fails to pass over disputes regarding Homeland Security funding, many will fail to receive essential services.

"We urge you to act in the best interest of the American people," the letter said.

Mike Pence, who served as vice president in the first Trump administration, offered prayers to Alex Pretti's family in a post on X and called for law enforcement "at every level" to address community concerns.

"The images of this incident are deeply troubling and a full and transparent investigation of this officer involved shooting must take place immediately," Pence wrote.

The former vice president stopped short of criticizing federal immigration efforts but said the American people deserve to have the country's laws enforced while preserving their constitutional rights.

"That’s how Law and Order and Freedom work together in America," Pence said.

Pence specifically named the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, in his post. Federal officials have accused Pretti of approaching agents in Minneapolis while brandishing a firearm, though video shows Pretti was holding a phone and did not appear to reach for his holstered weapon during the incident.

Police described Pretti as a lawful gun owner and Minnesota is a state where concealed carry is allowed with a permit. Gun advocates, including the National Rifle Association, have been critical of the condemnation of Pretti without an investigation.

Judge Kate Menendez was going back and forth with Brian Scott Carter of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office in this court hearing, expressing difficulty in determining her legal authority to stop the Trump administration’s actions in connection with Operation Metro Surge.

“How do I decide when a law enforcement response crosses the line from a legitimate law enforcement response to a violation of the 10th Amendment?” Menendez told Carter. 

Menendez added: “I don’t know what the line is. I don’t know how you are asking me to identify when the federal government crosses the line? Is it motivation? Scope? The illegality? What helps me decide when this very rarely used doctrine gives me the power to kick ICE out of the state?”

Menendez later said that the state of Minnesota has "one set of values" regarding immigration enforcement, while the Trump administration "has another set of values."

"We are at risk of asking me to decide who is right there," she said.

Brian Scott Carter of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office argued in court that the deployment of federal immigration officers to the state is "unprecedented in the 250-year history of our country."

"We have never had the federal government amass what is essentially an army of masked, heavily armed agents, and sent them into a state to basically stir the pot with conduct that is pervasive and includes widespread, illegal violent conduct," Carter said during a motion hearing seeking to declare the Trump administration’s actions connected to Operation Metro Surge as unlawful.

In the hearing, which is part of a lawsuit the state filed Jan. 12, plaintiffs are asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order.

Alex Pretti has been added to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's reportable death list.

The county document is a running list that informs the public which deaths are under active investigation by the medical examiner's office and provides a case number for each death.

Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, is listed on the last page.

A motion hearing is underway at the U.S. District Court in Minnesota this morning, in which state officials are seeking to declare the Trump administration’s unprecedented deployment of federal immigration officials as unlawful.

The hearing is part of a lawsuit the state filed Jan. 12, seeking to stop the deployment of more than 3,000 immigration agents into the Twin Cities as part of Operation Metro Surge.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the Justice Department and Congress were "looking at" Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., a strong critic of Trump.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Capitol Hill in 2025. Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images file

"Time will tell all," he said.

Trump has repeatedly bashed Omar, and he has previously called on the Justice Department to investigate his political opponents. The Justice Department has brought several cases against Trump's critics.

NBC News has reached out to the Justice Department and Omar's office for comment.

Trump said he was sending White House "border czar" Tom Homan to Minnesota.

White House border czar Tom Homan at the White House in 2025. Win McNamee / Getty Images file

"He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there. Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me," Trump said in a post this morning on Truth Social.

In a separate post on X, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Homan will be managing ICE operations on the ground "to continue arresting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens."

"This is good news for peace, safety, and accountability in Minneapolis," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on X, saying that Homan's experience "will help us to remove even more public safety threats and violent criminal illegal aliens off the of streets of Minneapolis."

"We continue to call on the leadership in Minnesota to allow for state and local partnership in our public safety mission," she continued.

Multiple videos from different angles showing the moment Alex Pretti was approached and fatally shot by federal agents appear to contradict the Department of Homeland Security's account.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had said in a statement that Pretti approached gents with a firearm, and he "reacted violently" when they tried to disarm him.

But NBC’s national law enforcement and intelligence correspondent Tom Winter said the video shows an agent grabbing Pretti's gun from the back while he is facedown on his knees. Pretti was holding a cellphone when the encounter began.

"The question is, how did this incident escalate to this point where it ended up in shots being fired?" Winter said.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz activated the state’s National Guard after the shooting and demanded that federal agents leave.

"Donald Trump needs to pull these 3,000 untrained agents out of Minnesota before they kill another person," he said at a news conference.

05:18

A judge this afternoon will hear oral arguments to decide whether to extend his order blocking the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence" related to Pretti's fatal shooting Saturday.

On Saturday night, U.S. District Court Judge Eric Tostrud granted the temporary restraining order request filed by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office to bar DHS from destroying or altering evidence, including what officials removed from the scene.

A federal judge will hear arguments today on whether to at least temporarily halt the immigration crackdown in Minnesota that has led to the fatal shootings of two people by government officers.

The state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month, five days after Renee Good was shot by an Immigration and Customs officer. Saturday’s shooting by a Border Patrol officer of Alex Pretti has only added urgency to the case.

Since the original filing, the state and cities have substantially expanded their requests. They’re trying to restore the status quo that existed before the Trump administration launched Operation Metro Surge on Dec. 1.

The hearing is set for this morning federal court in Minneapolis. Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he plans to attend in person.

Minneapolis will have no respite from the extreme cold hitting much of the country today.

Anti-ICE protesters faced frigid temperatures yesterday, and these are set to continue today with the city still under a cold weather advisory.

Anti-ICE protesters march through downtown Minneapolis yesterday. Arthur Maiorella / Anadolu via Getty Images

The temperature is currently around minus 12 degrees Fahrenheit, and the wind chill factor is forecast to drop as low as minus 40, the National Weather Service said in an update at 3 a.m. local time.

This “could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes,” the agency said. “Frostbite and hypothermia will occur if unprotected skin is exposed to these temperatures.”

There is a chance of snow flurries in the city after 5 p.m., it added.

A war of words over deeply held beliefs erupted on the political right in the hours after a federal agent shot and killed Pretti on a Minneapolis street Saturday, pitting top officials in Trump’s administration against Second Amendment defenders in his electoral base.

At the core of the debate is that Pretti — who was permitted to carry a gun in public in Minnesota — had a concealed firearm on his person that eyewitness videos show federal agents apparently discovering and removing during the altercation that led to his death. Videos do not appear to show Pretti holding the weapon during that confrontation.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sought to justify the killing by asserting at a news conference that Pretti “attacked those officers, had a weapon on him, and multiple dozens of rounds of ammunition, wishing to inflict harm on these officers coming, brandishing like that and impeding their work that they were doing.” No evidence has been provided to back up this account.

Read the full story here.

Pretti’s professional mentor during his undergraduate years at the University of Minnesota remembered him for his “positivity and goodwill.”

A framed photo of Alex Pretti at a memorial in Minneapolis yesterday. Roberto Schmidt / AFP via Getty Images

Anja Katrin Bielinsky, who led the cancer research lab where Pretti worked as a technician, said he was always upbeat, even when experiments failed.

“The room would light up when he was around because he was always in a good mood and always ready to help,” she said.

Pretti graduated from the university’s College of Liberal Arts in 2011, according to the school. He left the lab in 2012 and told Bielinsky he was considering a career in nursing.

“I immediately thought that would be a great fit for him” in part because he was skilled at “human-to-human interaction,” she said.

Pretti became a licensed nurse in Minnesota and was a nurse at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, records and officials have said.

“He was so genuine in his desire to help people, and it is painful that this desire cost him his life,” Bielinsky said. “What a tremendous loss for society.”

A Minneapolis hotel was damaged last night during a demonstration, which was cleared by federal agents who deployed chemical irritants, state law enforcement said. 

The Minnesota State Patrol and another agency were called to help Minneapolis police at a Home2 Suites in the city where hotel property had been damaged, the state Department of Public Safety said. 

“​While they collaboratively worked to encircle the group for arrests because the demonstration was not peaceful, federal agents arrived without communication and deployed chemical irritants, clearing the group,” the department said. 

DHS and the hotel did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the incident.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal today, Trump said his administration is “reviewing everything” about the Minneapolis shooting.

Trump, in his first published interview since Pretti was killed, declined to say whether the federal agent who shot Pretti acted appropriately, saying his administration was “looking” and “reviewing everything and we will come out with a determination.”

Trump asserted that Pretti was carrying “a very dangerous gun” and crticized the victim for having a gun at a protest. 

At least four videos appear to contradict the administration’s account that Pretti was holding a weapon during the skirmish leading up to his death.

Trump added that immigration enforcement officials will eventually leave the area but did not provide a timeline for their departure.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

After Alex Pretti’s killing on Saturday, more Americans said they support abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement than oppose it, according to a poll by YouGov published today.

The polling company surveyed a weighted sample of 3,359 adults hours after a federal immigration agent shot Pretti. Of these, 46% said they supported abolishing ICE while 41% opposed it. That broke down into Democrats overwhelmingly supporting abolition (76%) and most Republicans (73%) opposing it.

YouGov also found that 48% of the respondents “strongly disapprove” of how ICE is carrying out its operations, while 23% “strongly approve” of the agency's conduct. Meanwhile 58% said ICE was “too forceful” but 10% said it was “not forceful enough.”

02:42

Minneapolis was on edge yesterday after the shooting death of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, which involved multiple federal officers during the struggle that occurred beforehand. 

Two former Democratic presidents yesterday condemned the scenes in Minnesota following the killing of Alex Pretti this weekend.

Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama released a statement calling Pretti’s death a “heartbreaking tragedy.”

“It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault,” the Obamas wrote.

Former President Bill Clinton called the scenes in Minneapolis “horrible” in a statement on social media.

“Over the course of a lifetime, we face only a few moments where the decisions we make and the actions we take will shape our history for years to come. This is one of them,” he wrote.

Read the full story here.

Video analysis contradicts government's account

03:00

In Pretti’s final moments, he was down on all fours on a frigid Minneapolis street, with multiple federal agents on top of him.

One agent emerged from the scrum with a gun taken from Pretti’s holster, a bystander’s video shows. An instant later, another agent opened fire at point-blank range. Then more shots were fired, leaving Pretti motionless on the sidewalk. Pretti was soon pronounced dead.

Some policing experts said the shooting appeared unjustified and one said it amounted to murder. Others said they could not form a judgment until they knew more, particularly what threat the agent who fired thought he faced at that moment. The killing of Pretti, the second fatal shooting by a federal officer in Minneapolis this month, has also revived concerns about whether immigration enforcement officers are properly trained to deal with protesters.

“This video raises a lot of questions,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based organization of current and former law enforcement officials focused on improving policing.

“What happened that made these agents feel threatened? That should be the question that everyone is trying to get to the bottom of.”

Read the full story here.