- Trump doesn’t want people on the streets to get hurt.
- The White House blamed the Democrats for causing the unrest in the US.
- Federal ICE agents fatally shot Alex Pretti and Renée Good.
The White House said Monday that President Donald Trump does not want anyone to get hurt on America’s streets. Immediately, Washington began to blame Democrats for the riots that broke out in the US after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents killed two people in Minneapolis. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP agency.
“No one in the White House, including President Trump, wants people to be injured or killed on America’s streets,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters. At the same time, she described the death of 37-year-old American citizen Alex Pretti as a tragedy.
Questionable interventions by federal agents
Pretti died Saturday after he was fatally shot by Border Patrol agents. Federal authorities say Pretti threatened the agents with a gun. However, in the published images, it can be seen that he was holding a mobile phone in his hand, which he used to film the agents. “We feel for the parents. As a mother, of course, I can’t even imagine such a loss,” Leavitt said.
Already on January 7, ICE agents in Minneapolis fatally wounded American Renée Good, who allegedly tried to hit one of them with a car. That claim is disputed by videos from the scene, which show Good’s vehicle evading the agent.
Criticism of Democrats and political implications
Trump ordered the intervention of ICE in Minneapolis against the will of local residents, which caused a wave of dissent, writes AFP. The spokeswoman of the White House blamed the riots on the Democrats. “The tragedy occurred as a result of the deliberate and hostile opposition of Democratic leaders in Minnesota,” Leavitt said, referring to diplomatic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. The spokeswoman claimed that elected Democrats are “spreading lies about federal law enforcement officers who risk their lives every day to rid the streets of the worst criminals” who have entered the country illegally.
In response to the Trump administration’s anti-immigration crackdown, Republican candidate Chris Madel has withdrawn his candidacy for governor of Minnesota.
Dialogue on easing tensions
On Monday, after a conversation with President Donald Trump, Frey said that some of the federal agents would probably leave Minneapolis on Tuesday, the AP agency writes. The head of the White House praised the dialogue with the mayor, during which, according to him, great progress was made.
