WASHINGTON (TNND) — Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller admitted on Tuesday in an about-face that officials were investigating why Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents in Minneapolis “may not have been following” proper protocol when ICU nurse Alex Pretti was fatally shot.
After the deadly shooting on Saturday, Miller took to social media to call Pretti a “would-be assassin” and accused Democrats of taking sides with “the terrorists.”
A framed photograph of Alex Pretti, along with candles and an American flag, sits at a memorial outside the Minneapolis VA hospital on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)
Miller stated to CNN that the White House had “provided clear guidance to DHS that the extra personnel that had been sent to Minnesota for force protection should be used for conducting fugitive operations to create a physical barrier between the arrest teams and the disruptors.”
“We are evaluating why the CBP team may not have been following that protocol,” he added.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed Pretti approached the Border Patrol officer with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, and as officers attempted to disarm him, Pretti “violently resisted.”
“Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots,” she said.
Bystander video, however, showed Pretti being swarmed by law enforcement and disarmed before being fatally shot.
At the White House on Tuesday, President Donald Trump gave an unusual response when asked, “Do you believe that Alex Pretti’s death was justified?
“Well, you know, we’re doing a big investigation. I want to see the investigation. I’m going to be watching over it. I want a very honorable and honest investigation. I have to see it myself,” he responded.
Since then, Trump has appeared frustrated with Noem’s response to the shooting amid backlash from bipartisan lawmakers. He reportedly had a two-hour meeting with Noem on Monday, though Trump noted she is not stepping down and “doing a very good job.”
“The border is totally secure,” Trump told reporters. “You know, you forget we had a border that I inherited where millions of people were coming through. Now we have a border where no one is coming through. They come into our country only legally.”
The president made some noticeable changes this week when he sent in border czar Tom Homan to replace Border Patrol commander at large Gregory Bovino, told Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey that some federal agents will begin leaving the area, and pledged to Gov. Tim Walz to do things differently.
A man in handcuffs runs to avoid being detained by federal immigration agents on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Trump told Fox News in Iowa that it’s not a “pullback” but “a little bit of a change.”
“Everybody in this room that has a business, you know, you make little changes,” he said. “You know Bovino is very good, but he’s a pretty out-there kind of a guy, and in some cases, that’s good, maybe it wasn’t good here.”
A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official revealed to Congress on Tuesday that two federal officers fired Glock pistols in the shooting of Pretti. The determination was made after a preliminary review of body-worn camera video and agency documentation.
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