Trump softens tone on Minnesota immigration crackdown as some federal agents prepare to leave

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump softened his tone Monday on the immigration crackdown in Minnesota, touting productive conversations with the governor and Minneapolis mayor as he sent the border czar to take charge of much of the enforcement effort. Some federal agents were expected to leave as soon as Tuesday.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he spoke by phone with Trump, who praised the discussion and declared that “lots of progress is being made." Frey said he asked Trump in a phone call to end the immigration enforcement surge and that Trump agreed the present situation cannot continue.

The mayor said some agents would soon leave and that he would keep pushing for others involved in Operation Metro Surge to go.

Among those who are expected to depart was senior Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the operation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

Bovino has been at the center of the administration’s aggressive enforcement surge in cities nationwide. His departure marks a significant public shift in federal law enforcement posture amid mounting outrage over the fatal shooting of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents, the second fatal shooting by federal immigration officers this month.

Bovino's leadership of highly visible federal crackdowns, including operations that sparked mass demonstrations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and Minneapolis, has drawn fierce criticism from local officials, civil rights advocates and congressional Democrats.

Criticism increased around Bovino in the last few days after his public defense of the Pretti shooting and disputed claims about the confrontation that led to his death.

The border czar, Tom Homan, will take charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Minnesota. Frey said he planned to meet Homan on Tuesday.

Trump and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz spoke in a phone call and later offered comments that were a marked change from the critical statements they have exchanged in the past. Their conversation happened on the same day a federal judge heard arguments in a lawsuit aimed at halting the federal immigration enforcement surge in the state.

“We, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength,” the president wrote in a social media post.

Walz, in a statement, said the call was “productive" and that impartial investigations into the shootings were needed. Trump said his administration was looking for “any and all” criminals the state has in their custody. Walz said the state Department of Corrections honors federal requests for people in its custody.

Meanwhile, attorneys for the administration, the state and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul appeared Monday before U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez, who is considering whether to grant requests to temporarily halt the immigration operation.

She said the case was a priority, but in an order later Monday, she told the federal government’s attorneys to file an additional brief by 6 p.m. Wednesday. She told them to address, among other things, the assertion by the state and cities that the purpose of Operation Metro Surge is to punish them for their sanctuary laws and policies.

Lawyers for the state and the Twin Cities argued the situation on the street is so dire it requires the court to halt the federal government’s enforcement actions.

“If this is not stopped right here, right now, I don’t think anybody who is seriously looking at this problem can have much faith in how our republic is going to go in the future,” Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Brian Carter said.

The judge questioned the government’s motivation behind the crackdown and expressed skepticism about a letter Attorney General Pam Bondi recently sent to Walz. The letter asked the state to give the federal government access to voter rolls, to turn over state Medicaid and food assistance records, and to repeal sanctuary policies.

“I mean, is there no limit to what the executive can do under the guise of enforcing immigration law?” Menendez asked. She noted that the federal requests are the subject of litigation.

Brantley Mayers, a Justice Department attorney, said the government's goal is to enforce federal law. Mayers said one lawful action should not be used to discredit another lawful action.

“I don’t see how the fact that we’re also doing additional things that we are allowed to do, that the Constitution has vested us with doing, would in any way negate another piece of the same operation, the same surge,” Mayers said.

Menendez questioned where the line was between violating the Constitution and the executive's power to enforce the law. She also asked whether she was being asked to decide between state and federal policies.

“That begins to feel very much like I am deciding which policy approach is best,” she said.

At one point, while discussing the prospect of federal officers entering residences without a warrant, the judge expressed reluctance to decide issues not yet raised in a lawsuit before her.

Menendez made it clear that she was struggling with how to rule because the case is so unusual, and there are few precedents.

"It’s because this is important that I’m doing everything I can to get it right,” she said.

The state of Minnesota and the cities sued the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month, five days after Renee Good was shot by an Immigration and Customs officer. The shooting of Pretti by a Border Patrol officer on Saturday added urgency to the case.

Trump posted Monday on social media that Homan would report directly to him.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Homan would be “the main point of contact on the ground in Minneapolis” during continued operations by federal immigration officers.

In court Monday, an attorney for the administration said about 2,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were on ground, along with at least 1,000 Border Patrol officers.

The lawsuit asks the judge to order a reduction in the number of federal law enforcement officers and agents in Minnesota back to the level before the surge and to limit the scope of the enforcement operation.

The case has implications for other states that have been or could become targets of ramped-up federal immigration enforcement operations. Attorneys general from 19 states plus the District of Columbia, led by California, filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Minnesota.

In yet another case, a different federal judge, Eric Tostrud, took under advisement a request from the Justice Department to lift an order he issued late Saturday blocking the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to Saturday’s shooting.

Attorneys for the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension told the judge they can’t trust the federal government to preserve the evidence, citing the lack of cooperation the state is getting from federal authorities after they said they were blocked from the scene.

But the federal government’s attorneys argued that the temporary restraining order should be dissolved because its investigators are already following proper preservation procedures, and they’d object to “micromanaging” from the court what evidence the state can examine while the federal investigation is ongoing.

Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jack Brook in Minneapolis, Giovanna Dell’Orto in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Mike Catlaini in Trenton, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

FILE - U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino walks through a Target store Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Adam Gray, File)

A man, center left, next to a Minneapolis police officer grabs a protester in the doorway during a noise demonstration protest in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Federal agents try to clear demonstrators near a hotel, using tear gas during a noise demonstration protest in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

A federal agent points a weapon at a person outside a hotel during a noise demonstration protest in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

A federal agent stands guard near a hotel during a noise demonstration protest in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Attorney General Keith Ellison speaks during a news conference in Blaine, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Attorney General Keith Ellison, right, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz give a news conference in Blaine, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

VICKSBURG, Miss (AP) — Residents in a iced-over swath of Mississippi began to confront the ugly truth Monday as they shivered in ever-colder and darkened houses: Recovery from the state's worst ice storm in more than 30 years could take a week or more.

While the weekend's winter storm impacted tens of millions of Americans, the most lingering effects are concentrated in a band from far eastern Texas across north Louisiana, Mississippi and into Nashville, Tennessee.

Parents were worrying about the 20,000-plus college students at the University of Mississippi, which canceled classes and closed campus for the rest of the week. Officials were fretting not only about restoring electricity and opening warming stations, but keeping fuel flowing to backup generators that run water pumps and supply medical facilities and opening darkened gas stations and grocery stores.

“I mean, it looks like a war zone out here,” said Adrian Ronca-Hohn, who estimated that the storm toppled around 40 trees surrounding his property in Iuka, in the state's hilly northeast corner. He and relatives plan to chain saw their way out Tuesday.

Like others, Ronca-Hohn couldn't see the destruction when ice began toppling trees before dawn Sunday. But the 23-year-old football coach and storm chaser said he could hear it.

“We couldn’t go 10 seconds without hearing what sounded like a gunshot," he said of trees falling. “You’d hear a pop, a hard pop, and you’d hear the whistle of it falling, and then it would crash to the ground and just kind of explode. And every now and again, you’d hear one real close, like, right outside. It was a sleepless night.”

Marshall Ramsey, an editorial cartoonist who teaches journalism at Ole Miss, said trees breaking, electric transformers exploding and thunder made for a “demonic symphony" in Oxford.

Power outages dropped below 150,000 Monday afternoon, but Mississippi still had the largest share of outages of any state. At Alcorn County Electric Power Association in Corinth, all 19,000 customers were dark at midday Monday. Tennessee Valley Authority high voltage lines were down, and General Manager and CEO Sean McGrath said the cooperative couldn't fully evaluate damage until TVA restores power to substations.

TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks said the power provider couldn't deliver electricity to 12 of its 153 local utilities. Brooks said some utility substations are so damaged that they can’t receive electricity. Some faced expensive choices in what is one of the nation's poorest states. In Vicksburg, Jamita Washington said she wrapped herself in blankets but could see her breath in the home she shares with her 20-year-old son and small dog. She has spent the past two days warming up in her car before returning to her freezing home.

When the power didn’t return Monday, she started seeking a hotel room. “I wanted to wait it out, but I think I have to,” Washington said. “I can’t take another chance on it. It was extremely cold last night.“

Jackson Mills, 25, said he was staying with his wife, son and in-laws at his grandfather’s house in Corinth where there's a gas fireplace. Mills said he trekked into nearby Tennessee Sunday to buy gas for a generator the family is using.

“We’d like for all this to mostly go away, just melt away, but it’s just so dadgum cold that it’s not melting,” Mills said.

Things were worse in neighboring Tippah County, where not only was power out, but most didn't have running water or natural gas service. State Rep. Jody Steverson of Ripley said low temperatures will make conditions "life-threatening," He communicated by text because cellphone service was faltering.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Monday that he's deploying 500 National Guard soldiers by Wednesday to remove debris and control traffic. He said 61 shelters and warming centers were operating in 30 counties, and the state had doubled its request for generators from the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 30 to 60 to provide power to shelters, nursing homes, hospitals and water systems. The state is also distributing cots, blankets, prepackaged meals and bottled water.

“We will get through this,” Reeves said. "We’re not going to get through it today and we’re not going to get through it tomorrow.”

Ramsey said his Oxford family has been running a generator to power a space heater and a light and charge phones. He said his house was about 50 degrees inside Monday morning, calling it “a little chilly, but doable.“

"Apparently, the new status symbol in this town is having electricity,” Ramsey said. “It’s a mess.”

Amy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press reporters Charlotte Kramon in Atlanta and Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed.

Arriana Delguerra, left, and Cera Lacomb walk on the icy streets in Oxford, Miss. on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Bruce Newman)

A man walks past a car damaged by a tree that fell during an ice storm, in Oxford, Miss. on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Bruce Newman)

A worker clears trees from the roadway in Oxford, Miss. on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, following a weekend ice storm. (AP Photo/Bruce Newman)

A lineman works to restore power in Oxford, Miss. on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, following a weekend ice storm. (AP Photo/Bruce Newman)

A woman walks across the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, following a weekend ice storm. (AP Photo/Bruce Newman)

In this image provided by the City of Oxford, Miss., snow and ice cover trees as a winter storm passes through, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Oxford, Miss. (Josh McCoy/City of Oxford, Miss. via AP)

In this image provided by the City of Oxford, Miss., snow and ice cover trees as a winter storm passes through, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Oxford, Miss. (Josh McCoy/City of Oxford, Miss. via AP)

In this image provided by the City of Oxford, Miss., snow and ice cover trees and streets as a winter storm passes through, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Oxford, Miss. (Josh McCoy/City of Oxford, Miss. via AP)