DHS Leaders to Face Senate Scrutiny on Border Patrol Backlash

Nick Wadhams, Bloomberg News National Security Reporter, discusses the growing bipartisan backlash over immigration enforcement in Minnesota.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is expected to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee March 3, a sign of growing bipartisan concern over handling of the border patrol shooting in Minnesota.

The secretary is expected to appear for one round of questioning with 10 mins allotted for each senator.

Noem has been under intense scrutiny over her handling of the recent killing of Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti by a border patrol agent.

Several senators, including some Republicans, criticized her response to Pretti’s death, after she claimed Pretti had committed an act of “domestic terrorism.”

Other hearings are expected. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, called on the heads of immigration and border patrol agencies to testify before his panel on Feb. 12. Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), chairman of House Homeland Security, has asked the head of Customs and Border Protection Agency to come before his committee on one of several dates in February or March.

Greg Bovino, the US Border Patrol commander who became the face of President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, is leaving the city following a mounting public outcry over the killing of two US citizens by federal agents in recent weeks.

Bovino and some Border Patrol agents are expected to begin departing as soon as Tuesday, according to local officials. The move follows protests, political turmoil and nationwide scrutiny of Operation Metro Surge, a federal enforcement effort that has posted thousands of immigration agents to Minnesota since last month.

The White House said it’s dispatching border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis, where he will report directly to Trump and has been charged with easing tensions. Homan, a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will meet with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to discuss coordination between federal and local law enforcement.

Bovino had become a polarizing figure over his hardline tactics, including deploying chemical agents against protesters and his presence on the front lines of clashes between demonstrators and federal officers.

Before the Minnesota operation, he led immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, North Carolina and New Orleans. In Chicago, a federal judge ordered him to wear a body camera and report daily to court as part of oversight of actions there.

The Atlantic reported on Monday that Bovino had been removed from his role as “commander at large” and was expected to return to his previous CBP position in Southern California. The Department of Homeland Security disputed that report, with Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson, saying in an email that “Bovino has NOT been relieved of his duties.”

The backlash in Minnesota intensified after the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent during an enforcement operation.

Officials initially said Pretti posed a threat — Senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller intimated on social media that Pretti was an “assassin” and “domestic terrorist,” while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the demonstrator showed up to “impede a law enforcement operation” and brandished a gun.

Available video of the incident didn’t show Pretti brandishing the firearm he was legally carrying, and suggested that the officers had disarmed him before shooting him repeatedly. Critics of the administration’s response included the National Rifle Association.

Pretti’s death came just weeks after the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good, a US citizen and Minneapolis mother of three, by an ICE agent during a similar operation in a residential neighborhood of the city.

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