The President said he would use a ‘softer’ style, but would still be tough on criminals.
By Catholics for Catholics
After two recent fatal shootings in Minneapolis, President Donald Trump said that his hard-hitting immigration enforcement policies that have been very successful could use a “softer touch.”
Still, he clarified: “But you still have to be tough.”
“I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch,” Trump said, during an interview with Tom Llamas, with NBC News. “But you still have to be tough. These are criminals. We’re dealing with really hard criminals.”
“But look, I’ve called the people. I’ve called the governor. I’ve called the mayor, spoke to him, had great conversations with him, and then I see them ranting and raving out there, literally, as though a call wasn’t made,” he said.
In response to the escalating violence during anti-ICE riots in Minnesota, Trump sent Tom Homan, the Border Czar and recipient of the Protector of America award by Catholics for Catholics for spearheading the rescue of 129,000 missing children. Commander Gregory Bovino, who was formerly in charge of operations, was returned to his post as the chief of the Border Patrol in El Centro, California, a town close to the California-Mexico border.
Homan took over the operation after the fatal shootings involving federal immigration agents of anti-ICE activists Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
President Trump reflects on immigration enforcement in Minneapolis and says he's learned "maybe we could use a little bit of a softer touch."
— Julia 🇺🇸 (@Jules31415) February 5, 2026
"But you still have to be tough," Trump adds. "We're dealing with really hard criminals."
As for the ICE-involved shootings, President… pic.twitter.com/78fO1OcVbO
Immediately, Homan used a more streamlined approach to enforcement by concentrating on the arrests of the vilest criminals. While that’s the new focus in Minneapolis, the former ICE chief said during a press conference Wednesday that it doesn’t mean anyone whose only crime is being in the country illegally is off the table.
Homan also announced a “draw down” of 700 federal immigration authorities from the Twin Cities after the brokering of a deal between an “unprecedented” number of local jurisdictions to allow ICE into jails.
“We currently have an unprecedented number of counties communicating with us now and allowing ICE to take custody of illegal aliens before they hit the streets, unprecedented cooperation. And I’ll say it again, this is efficient, it requires only one or two officers to assume custody of a criminal alien target rather than eight or ten officers going into the community and arresting that public safety threat,” Homan said.
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