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Trump touts 'softer touch' on immigration as federal force is reduced in Minnesota
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g5nx130neo
US President Donald Trump has said immigration agents could use a "softer touch" as his administration began pulling about a quarter of its force out of Minnesota, where two American citizens died last month in confrontations with federal officers.
"I learned that maybe we could use a little bit of a softer touch," Trump told NBC News, adopting a rare conciliatory tone on his political touchstone. "But you still have to be tough."
US border tsar Tom Homan said earlier 700 federal immigration agents would be withdrawn from the Minneapolis area.
He said 2,000 agents would remain, and that he aimed to cut their presence in the city to its level before Operation Metro Surge began in December.
In his interview with NBC News, Trump insisted that his operations were highly targeted at criminals.
"We are totally focused on criminals, really bad criminals," the president said.
The president also said he was "not happy" with the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis.
"He was not an angel, and she was not an angel," Trump said. "You look at some tapes from back, but still, I'm not happy with what happened there."
When pressed whether that justified what happened to two American citizens, Trump said, "No, it should have not happened. It was very sad to me. It was a very sad incident. Two incidents."
During a news conference on Wednesday, border tsar Homan said that the US government had made providing body-worn cameras to all officers in Minneapolis a priority, and was planning to deploy the equipment to agents across the country.
Homan said federal immigration agents in Minnesota had been arresting "bad people" in the Minneapolis area, including 14 charged with homicide and 139 with assault, as well as 87 sex offenders and 28 gang members.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g5nx130neo
US President Donald Trump has said immigration agents could use a "softer touch" as his administration began pulling about a quarter of its force out of Minnesota, where two American citizens died last month in confrontations with federal officers.
"I learned that maybe we could use a little bit of a softer touch," Trump told NBC News, adopting a rare conciliatory tone on his political touchstone. "But you still have to be tough."
US border tsar Tom Homan said earlier 700 federal immigration agents would be withdrawn from the Minneapolis area.
He said 2,000 agents would remain, and that he aimed to cut their presence in the city to its level before Operation Metro Surge began in December.
In his interview with NBC News, Trump insisted that his operations were highly targeted at criminals.
"We are totally focused on criminals, really bad criminals," the president said.
The president also said he was "not happy" with the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis.
"He was not an angel, and she was not an angel," Trump said. "You look at some tapes from back, but still, I'm not happy with what happened there."
When pressed whether that justified what happened to two American citizens, Trump said, "No, it should have not happened. It was very sad to me. It was a very sad incident. Two incidents."
During a news conference on Wednesday, border tsar Homan said that the US government had made providing body-worn cameras to all officers in Minneapolis a priority, and was planning to deploy the equipment to agents across the country.
Homan said federal immigration agents in Minnesota had been arresting "bad people" in the Minneapolis area, including 14 charged with homicide and 139 with assault, as well as 87 sex offenders and 28 gang members.
