Trump admits immigration crackdown needs ‘softer touch’ after deaths

Nothing justified the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents last month, the US president has said

US President Donald Trump has admitted that immigration enforcement could use “a softer touch” after federal agents shot and killed two US citizens during operations in Minneapolis last month.

The shootings have ignited a renewed wave of protests against the ongoing immigration crackdown. In an interview with NBC News published on Thursday, Trump was asked what he had learned from the events in Minnesota.

“Maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch, but you still have to be tough,” he said.

The president stressed that his deportation push led by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was targeting “really hard criminals.”

When asked whether the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti were justified, he replied: “No. It should have not happened.”

“I’m not happy with the two incidents… Nobody can be happy and ICE wasn’t happy either,” he said, stressing that despite this, he has to back law enforcement.

In the wake of the riots which followed the shootings, the White House replaced US Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan as the official overseeing immigration enforcement in Minnesota.

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The president has framed the reshuffle as a way to “de-escalate” the explosive situation in the state.

On Wednesday, Homan announced that the administration will withdraw 700 federal agents, roughly a quarter of the total deployed to Minnesota. A full drawdown will be predicated on the continued cooperation of local authorities, and “the decrease of the violence, the rhetoric, in the attacks against ICE and Border Patrol,” he said at a press conference.

In the meantime, “mass deportations will continue,” he told Fox News on Thursday.

READ MORE: US Democrats call for Trump to fire Homeland Security chief

Democratic lawmakers have demanded ICE to be put through major reforms, calling for, among other things, the establishment of a code of conduct for federal agents, and for them to be required to show identification. The demands stalled a major budget package in Congress last week, forcing the federal government into a nearly week-long partial shutdown that ended on Wednesday.