Trump is softening his stance on the crackdown in Minnesota as some federal agents prepare to leave

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump softened his tone Monday on the immigration crackdown in Minnesota, touting productive conversations with the governor and Minneapolis mayor as he sent his border czar to take over much of the enforcement effort. Some federal agents are expected to leave Tuesday.

He watches: Grief, anger and exhaustion grip the Twin Cities after recent killings by federal agents

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he spoke by phone with Trump, who praised the discussion and declared that “a lot of progress has been made.” Frey said that he asked Trump in a phone call to end increased immigration enforcement and that Trump agreed that the current situation could not continue.

The mayor said some customers will leave soon, and he will continue to pressure others involved in the Metro Surge to leave.

Among those expected to leave is Senior Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person was not authorized to discuss details of the operation publicly and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Bovino has been at the center of the department’s aggressive enforcement spree in cities across the country. His departure marks a major public shift in federal law enforcement’s stance amid growing outrage over the fatal shooting of 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse Alex Pretty by Border Patrol agents, the second fatal shooting by federal immigration agents this month.

Bovino’s leadership of highly visible federal crackdowns, including operations that sparked mass demonstrations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and Minneapolis, has drawn intense criticism from local officials, civil rights advocates and Democrats in Congress.

Criticism has increased around Bovino in the past few days following his public defense of Preeti’s shooting and disputed claims about the confrontation that led to his death.

Border Czar Tom Homan will take charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Minnesota. Frey said he plans to meet with Homan on Tuesday.

Trump made a phone call with the governor of Minnesota

Trump and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz spoke on a phone call and later made comments that were a marked change from the critical statements they have exchanged in the past. Their conversation occurred on the same day a federal judge heard arguments in a lawsuit aimed at halting increased enforcement of federal immigration laws in the state.

“It appears we are actually on the same wavelength,” the president wrote in a social media post.

Walz said in a statement that the call was “productive” and that there was a need for an impartial investigation into the shooting. Trump said his administration is searching for “any and all” criminals in state custody. Walz said the state Department of Corrections honors federal requests from people in its custody.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the administration, the state and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul appeared Monday before U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez, who is weighing whether to grant requests to temporarily halt the immigration process.

She said the case was a priority, but in an order issued later Monday, she asked federal government lawyers to submit an additional brief by 6 p.m. Wednesday. I asked them to address, among other things, the state and cities’ assertion that the purpose of Operation Metro Surge is to punish them for their laws and policies.

Lawyers for the state and Twin Cities said the situation on the street is so dire that it requires a court to halt the federal government’s enforcement actions.

“If this isn’t stopped here, right now, I don’t think anyone who seriously looks at this problem can have much confidence in how our republic will function in the future,” said Brian Carter, an assistant attorney general in Minnesota.

The judge questions the government’s motives

The judge questioned the government’s motives behind the crackdown and expressed doubts about a letter Attorney General Pam Bondi recently sent to Walz. The letter asked the state to give the federal government access to voter rolls, turn over the state’s Medicaid and food assistance records, and rescind sanctuary policies.

“I mean, isn’t there a limit to what the executive branch can do under the guise of enforcing immigration law?” Menendez asked. She noted that the federal requests are the subject of litigation.

He watches: Federal judge hears Minnesota’s arguments to end ICE surge

Brantley Myers, a Justice Department lawyer, said the government’s goal is to enforce federal law. One legal action should not be used to discredit another, Myers said.

Menendez questioned the line between violating the Constitution and the executive branch’s authority to enforce the law. She also asked whether she was being asked to choose between state and federal policies.

“It started to feel like I was deciding which political approach was best,” she said.

At one point, while discussing the possibility of federal officers entering residences without a warrant, the judge expressed reluctance to rule on issues that had not yet been raised in the case before her.

Menendez explained that she was struggling with how to rule because the case is so unusual, and there are few precedents.

“Because this is important, I am doing everything I can to make it right,” she said.

The state of Minnesota and the cities sued the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month, five days after the shooting of Renee Judd by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. The shooting of Preeti on Saturday added to the urgency of the case.

Late Monday, a federal appeals court declined to lift a temporary hold on the ruling Menendez issued in a separate case on January 16. It ruled then that federal officers in Minnesota could not detain or fire tear gas at peaceful protesters who were not obstructing authorities, including people following and monitoring agents. A three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals said the ruling was unlikely to survive appeal.

Caesar border to Minnesota

On Monday, Trump posted on social media that Homan would report directly to him.

White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt said Homan will be the “key point of contact on the ground in Minneapolis” during ongoing operations by federal immigration officers.

He watches: The White House is discussing sending Homan to Minneapolis, where Bovino expects to leave

In court Monday, an administration lawyer said about 2,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were on the ground, along with at least 1,000 Border Patrol officers.

The lawsuit asks a judge to order the number of federal law enforcement officers and agents in Minnesota to be reduced to the level it was before the surge and limit the scope of the enforcement operation.

The case has implications for other states that have been or could become targets of intensified federal immigration enforcement operations. Attorneys general from 19 states plus the District of Columbia, led by California, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Minnesota.

In another case, another federal judge, Eric Tostrud, took up a Justice Department request to vacate an order he issued late Saturday barring the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to Saturday’s shooting.

Lawyers for the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension told the judge they couldn’t trust the federal government to preserve evidence, citing the lack of cooperation the state was receiving from federal authorities after they said they were banned from the scene.

But federal government lawyers argued that the temporary restraining order should be dissolved because investigators already follow proper preservation procedures, and they object to the court’s “micromanagement” of evidence that the state can examine while the federal investigation continues.

Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jack Brock in Minneapolis, Giovanna Dell’Orto in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Mike Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey, contributed to this report.