MINNEAPOLIS — President Donald Trump said Monday he is sending border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota to take charge of federal immigration operations after U.S. Border Patrol agents fatally shot ICU nurse Alex Pretti during a weekend confrontation with protesters, Jan. 26, 2026.
The move is the clearest signal yet that the White House wants to tamp down a spiraling political crisis that has put Minneapolis at the center of the administration’s immigration crackdown and ignited calls for an independent investigation.
Pretti, 37, was shot Saturday morning after agents approached him near Nicollet Avenue, according to video reviewed by multiple outlets. A minute-by-minute ABC News timeline said six verified videos show Pretti holding a phone as he recorded officers; a forensic audio analysis cited by ABC found 10 shots were fired in less than five seconds. Federal officials initially said Pretti approached agents with a handgun and attacked them, but the video accounts have intensified scrutiny of the government’s narrative.
ABC News reported that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the shooting is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI, with Customs and Border Protection conducting an internal review. In separate remarks cited by Reuters, a senior administration official said Tom Homan would replace Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino atop the Minnesota operation, which the administration has dubbed Operation Metro Surge.
Questions about evidence collection and accountability have sharpened as officials confirm the agents were recording. KSTP reported a Department of Homeland Security official said there is body-camera footage “from multiple angles” that investigators are reviewing.
Tom Homan takes over Operation Metro Surge
Trump said Tom Homan “will report directly” to him, describing the longtime immigration enforcement official as “tough but fair,” and noting Homan “had not been involved” in the Minnesota operation before the shooting, Reuters and ABC News reported. The senior administration official told Reuters that Bovino, a highly visible and polarizing face of the crackdown, would be leaving Minnesota along with some of the agents deployed with him.
State and local leaders said the leadership change needs to be matched by de-escalation on the ground. Reuters reported that after separate phone calls, Trump and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey struck a more conciliatory tone, with Frey saying some federal agents would begin leaving the Twin Cities Tuesday. Time magazine’s account of the shake-up described the move as a response to bipartisan backlash and mounting protests after Pretti’s death.
What Tom Homan’s history signals for what comes next
Tom Homan is not new to high-profile enforcement controversies. In 2018, Government Executive reported that Homan, then the head of ICE for most of Trump’s first term, announced he would retire after more than three decades in federal service. In 2024, CBS News reported Trump selected Homan as “border czar,” assigning him a wide role in an administration pledge to expand deportations.
Homan has also argued for sharper tools to detain and remove families — a debate that could return as he takes over Minnesota operations. In a December 2024 interview, The Washington Post reported Homan said the administration would restart family detention and rely on “soft-sided” facilities, while describing the approach as aimed at enforcing the law without losing public support.
For Minnesota, the immediate test is whether Tom Homan’s arrival brings transparency on the Pretti shooting — including release of body-camera footage — and whether federal agents pull back while investigations proceed. Protest organizers and officials have said they will continue demanding an independent accounting of what happened and clear rules for how immigration operations are conducted in public spaces.
