WATCH: White House discusses sending Homan to Minneapolis as Bovino expects to leave

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A senior Border Patrol commander and some agents are expected to leave Minneapolis early Tuesday, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

Watch White House Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt’s remarks in the video player above.

The expected departure of Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino, who has been at the center of the Trump administration’s aggressive push to enforce immigration laws in cities across the country, comes as President Donald Trump has sent border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota to take charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.

The person familiar with the matter was not authorized to discuss details of the operation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Bovino’s departure represents 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.

He watches: Border Patrol Chief Bovino praises immigration operations in Minneapolis

His 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.

In other developments, Trump announced that he is now on a “similar wave” as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz after the second fatal shooting by federal immigration officers this month.

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.

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.

Trump made a phone call with the governor of Minnesota

Trump and Walls spoke in a phone call and later offered comments that were a marked change from the critical statements they had 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.

It was not clear whether the new tone would lead to changes. 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, although she did not issue an immediate ruling.

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.