WASHINGTON, Jan 2 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- President Donald Trump said on Monday that he is sending White House border coordinator Tom Homan to Minnesota, two days after a second fatal shooting by federal law enforcement in the northern state this month, reported Xinhua.
"I am sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight," Trump announced on the social media platform Truth Social.
Trump added that an investigation is going on with respect to a "massive" welfare fraud in Minnesota, claiming that the alleged fraud is "at least partially responsible for the violent organised protests going on in the streets."
Trump's remarks came a day after former United States (US) presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton –both Democrats – on Sunday sharply criticised the federal government's actions after the fatal shootings of two people in the city of Minneapolis.
On Jan. 7, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot and killed 37-year-old citizen Renee Good during a raid targeting illegal immigrants, sparking local tensions and prompting protests across the country against violent law enforcement.
On Saturday, another immigration enforcement shooting occurred in which a Border Patrol officer fatally shot 37-year-old citizen Alex Pretti.
The two parties have offered differing characterisations of the incidents.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz strongly criticised federal law enforcement, saying their actions had caused chaos in the area and calling on Trump to immediately end the operations targeting illegal immigrants in the state.
Meanwhile, Trump said Sunday on Truth Social that Democrat-run "sanctuary cities and states" were refusing to cooperate with ICE, arguing that the deaths of the two people were the result of "Democrat ensued chaos."
In another post on Monday, Trump seemed to be cooling down his rhetoric, saying that he had a "very good call" with the Minnesota governor. "Governor Tim Walz called me with the request to work together with respect to Minnesota ... and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength."
--BERNAMA-XINHUA
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