Donald Trump has sidelined Kristi Noem and ordered her longtime rival to lead a rapidly deteriorating Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in Minneapolis.
‘I am sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight. He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday. ‘Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me.’
Trump’s immigration crackdown plunged into yet another scandal on Saturday when ICE agents shot dead American citizen Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse.
It came amid weeks of riots in Minneapolis following the killing of anti-ICE protester Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three.
Republican lawmakers in Washington have raised concerns that Noem’s operation has spiraled out of control, and Democratic leaders at the national and state levels are demanding that federal agents leave Minnesota.
Trump himself has privately expressed that Noem’s department mishandled the public messaging in the immediate aftermath of Pretti’s shooting, according to multiple reports.
The President now wants Homan, a loyal ICE veteran, to lead the operation in Minnesota that was launched at the start of December.
Riots erupted on Sunday night outside a Hilton hotel in Minneapolis, where ICE agents are believed to be staying. Protesters bashed windows and spray-painted the hotel’s facade, videos showed. Others chanted and paced in front of the building.