US President Donald Trump and his administration have come to realize, perhaps belatedly, this week that their Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Minneapolis, Minnesota, are not going well.
Trump lamented the weaknesses of his team's campaign strategy at a briefing on Tuesday. He and his Vice President J.D. Vance have begun to acknowledge that ICE has made "mistakes" or may make them in the future.
CNN reported on Friday that the Trump administration's concerns are rooted in a fear that the situation is spiraling out of control. Recent opinion polls have also indicated this.
However, the strategic position that Trump and his administration have placed them in has not shown any sign of changing. As a result, the situation is now at risk of spiraling out of control, both on the ground and politically.
The shooting of 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretty by a federal agent in Minneapolis on Saturday morning is in many ways a repeat of an incident two and a half weeks ago, when a federal agent shot and killed a woman named Renee Nicole Good. The deaths of the two have complicated the situation for the administration, as the government's various political actions continue to generate controversy.
It remains to be seen how the American public will react to the killing of Alex Pretty. But one thing is clear: most Americans already believe that ICE always goes too far in the name of operations.
As details of Alex Pretty's case emerged, many drew comparisons to the murder of Renee Goode, calling into question the administration's role in that incident and deepening negative perceptions of ICE.
As in the case of Renee Goode, the administration is once again desperate to side with the federal agents involved and attack the victim. Like Renee Goode, Alex Pratike is being portrayed as having deliberately attempted to assassinate federal agents.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noem has said with great force that Pretty was trying to "do maximum damage." Her department's assessment is that Pretty was attempting to commit mass murder against members of law enforcement.
White House adviser Stephen Miller described the incident as, "An assassin attempted to kill federal agents."
The Minneapolis police chief said that Pretty had a gun in his possession at the time of the incident. He had permission to carry it. He got into a fight after the agents sprayed him with a chemical. But there was no evidence that the agents attempted to kill him. No video obtained by police shows Pretty holding a weapon.
In fact, the video shows the incident as federal security guards pushing a woman to the ground. When Pretty went to help the woman, the security guards pushed her too. Before the shooting, one of the officers pulled a gun from her waistband. This means she was unarmed at the time of the shooting.
However, the Department of Homeland Security claims that he attempted to approach security personnel (pointing a gun).
The administration tried to pin the blame on Renee Goode in a similar way. But the American public didn't believe the administration's statement at all. Homeland Security Department Chief Christie Noem claimed that Renee Goode was engaged in "domestic terrorism."
Public opinion polls showed that three-quarters of people disagreed with the Department of Homeland Security's claim.
Another similarity between the Trump administration's actions in the two incidents is that the administration made a clear effort to avoid a full investigation into the ICE agent who shot Renee Goode. Instead, it sought to bring Renee Goode under investigation.
After the murder of Alex Pretty, federal agents were seen blocking police from approaching the scene, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said they were not being assisted by Homeland Security.
The death of Alex Pretty is not just an isolated incident, but an extreme manifestation of long-standing resentment. The administration is now realizing that these killings are negatively impacting their electoral politics. They are now afraid of losing public opinion.
On the other hand, ordinary Americans had been enduring this for a long time. But a series of killings and repressive policies have broken people's patience.
In the United States, a warrant is usually required to enter someone's home. But this week, the administration claimed that it can now search people's private spaces or homes without a judge's permission. Many experts believe this violates the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (which protects privacy).
Not only illegal immigrants, but also US citizens themselves are being mistakenly detained in ICE operations. This highlights the administration's mismanagement and inefficiency.
Local police say ICE is targeting people of certain races and ethnicities. The most sensitive issue is the targeting of children. Children between the ages of two and five are being detained with their parents and deported by plane.
Many Americans have been dissatisfied with ICE since last year. But in January of this year, anger against them increased even more. The agency's popularity is declining sharply.
A recent CBS News/New York Times poll found that 61 percent of Americans now believe ICE is being "too harsh." Most worryingly, 7 in 10 independent voters now oppose the administration's policies. Even 20 percent of Trump's own party supporters believe the situation is going too far.
People usually give law enforcement a certain amount of the benefit of the doubt when it comes to shootings. But because of past lies and current negative public opinion, Americans are no longer willing to give federal agents that benefit. People are assuming that the agents made a mistake.
The situation is now so unfavorable for the Trump administration that it is even being criticized from within its own party. Even the National Rifle Association (NRA), usually known as a blind supporter of Trump, has now come out against the administration. According to them, a citizen with a valid gun license cannot be killed by being labeled a 'terrorist' in this way.
Not only that, but many influential lawmakers from the Republican Party are also refusing to stand up for the agents this time.
According to political analysts, Trump thinks people are angry because of a campaign mistake. But the reality is that Americans are now coming to hate his policy of mass deportations. This insistence has further exacerbated the ongoing tensions in Minneapolis.
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