Sawt Falasteen - US border enforcer set to leave Minneapolis as Trump tries to calm crisis

The imminent exit of Gregory Bovino, known for his military-style outfits and phalanxes of masked agents, was reported by US media as President Donald Trump's new envoy Tom Homan was due to meet Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

Homan, the top US border security official, brings a less confrontational communication style and his appointment as Trump's new point man for Minneapolis underlines the Republican president's scramble to contain the political crisis.

In another possible sign of deescalation, Frey announced, without giving details, that "some federal agents" will be leaving the Minnesota city.

Protesters, braving sub-zero weather, were due to gather outside the state legislature later Tuesday.

The shooting death at point blank range of 37-year-old protester Alex Pretti on Saturday sparked outrage nationwide, even among some of Trump's usually ultra-loyal Republican allies in Congress.

Former Democratic president Joe Biden on Tuesday said the situation "betrays our most basic values as Americans." Former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have also spoken out.

Pretti, shot multiple times after being knocked to the ground, was the second US citizen killed by immigration officers in Minneapolis this month, turning the city into ground zero of national tensions over Trump's mass deportation policies.

Protester Renee Good, a mother of three, was shot by an agent at point blank range in her car on January 7.

The killings capped months of escalating violence in which masked, unidentified, and heavily armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Border Patrol agents have grabbed people suspected of violating immigration laws off the streets.

The roving units are the spearhead for Trump's vow to deport hundreds of thousands of people who are in the country illegally. But while the policy was initially popular, the chaotic and violent implementation is causing uproar.

Despite multiple videos clearly showing that Pretti posed no threat, top officials initially claimed he had been intending to kill federal agents and described him as a "domestic terrorist." Trump himself amplified the conspiracy theory on social media before retreating on Monday with a more conciliatory message.

Concern over the violence and the attempt to blame Pretti for his death quickly spread to Washington.

Republican Senator Rand Paul said Tuesday that agents involved in the Pretti shooting should be put "immediately" on administrative leave. Centrist Democratic Senator John Fetterman -- who rarely criticizes Trump -- said "grossly incompetent" Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should be fired.

The turmoil could even result in suspension of wide swaths of US government funding with Democrats threatening to block approval of routine spending bills up for votes in the Senate later this week.

- Protestors feel vindicated -

At a demonstration in Minneapolis on Monday, locals expressed relief that ICE was expected to scale down.

"It's a vindication to some degree. We have a lot of fear around what kind of violence and reprisals might come as they leave," protester Kyle Wagner told AFP.

"Our neighborhoods and communities have been brutalized by them, so any decrease in the numbers and the severity is just a huge relief to the community that's been suffering for months now."

Jasmine Nelson, who was also at the demonstration, said she was inspired by locals coming together to protest the killings.

"It's really beautiful to see everyone get together like this and fight against these injustices," she said.

On another front, a federal judge in Minneapolis heard arguments on Monday about whether the deployment of federal officers violates the state of Minnesota's sovereignty.

In addition, the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, was ordered to appear in a Minnesota federal court on Friday over a case of a man challenging his detention by the agency.

N.AbuHussein--SF-PST