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Canada’s federal government on Monday gave Marineland conditional approval to sell its 30 imperilled beluga whales to parks in the United States, after rejecting an export request to China.Marineland, a once lucrative tourist attraction near Niagara Falls, has said it is in deep financial trouble, cannot afford to care for the whales, and will be forced to euthanize them if it can’t find them a new home.The park has been mired in controversy for years. Twenty animals, including 19 belugas, have died there since 2019, according to a tally by The Canadian Press.Marineland, which is closed to visitors, thought it had a solution last year when it forged a plan to sell the whales to the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, a lavish theme park in China.Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson rejected that plan, saying it would perpetuate the whales’ exploitation.Marineland presented Ottawa with a new plan last week to sell the 30 whales to a series of parks in the United States.”Today, I met with Marineland regarding their proposal to export the remaining whales to US facilities,” Thompson said in a statement.”I provided conditional approval,” Thompson said, adding that final permits would be granted once Marineland provides additional information.Marineland has said all the beluga deaths at the park resulted from natural causes, but animal welfare officials from the province of Ontario have been investigating the park for several years.

US President Donald Trump said Monday that he would raise tariffs on South Korean goods including autos, lumber and pharmaceuticals, accusing the country of not living up to an earlier trade pact struck with Washington.The increase would bring tariff levels from 15 percent to 25 percent.”South Korea’s Legislature is not living up to its Deal with the United States,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.He added that he was increasing tariff rates “because the Korean Legislature hasn’t enacted our Historic Trade Agreement, which is their prerogative.”South Korea’s presidential office said it had not been informed about the tariff hike plans in advance.It said Trade Minister Kim Jung-kwan, currently in Canada, would head to Washington for talks on the issue with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.Trump’s apparent about-face comes months after Washington and Seoul struck a trade and security deal, capping a period of tense negotiations.The agreement was finalized after Trump met his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae Myung in October, and included investment promises by South Korea alongside tariff cuts by the United States.Since then it remained in something of a legal limbo in South Korea.Seoul’s presidential office insisted in November the deal does not require parliamentary approval, arguing it represents a memorandum of understanding rather than a binding legal document.Asked whether the tariff deal had been submitted to parliament for approval, a senior official told AFP on Tuesday they were looking into it but did not elaborate.Under the pact, Washington would maintain levies of up to 15 percent on South Korean goods including vehicles, car parts and pharmaceuticals.Crucially, the deal’s terms brought US tariffs on South Korean cars down from a 25 percent level.Trump’s latest threat, if enacted, would reverse that.- Export pain -The auto industry accounts for 27 percent of South Korea’s exports to the United States, which takes in nearly half of the country’s car exports.A reversal to a higher tariff level could also put South Korean exports in a less advantageous position compared with economies like Japan and the European Union, which have both struck deals for a 15 percent US tariff.The Trump administration has yet to issue formal notices to enact the changes.The US president’s threat targeting South Korea is his latest against key trading partners in recent days.Over the weekend, Trump warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming across the border.Earlier in January, Trump also threatened to slap tariffs on multiple European nations until his purchase of Greenland is achieved. He has since backed off the threat.

President Donald Trump sent his top border enforcer to Minneapolis on Monday and struck a conciliatory note in a bid to tamp down nationwide outrage over the second killing of a US citizen protesting militarized immigration raids this month.The White House was scrambling as video of the latest shooting went viral, prompting street protests, criticism from former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and, increasingly, from within Trump’s Republican Party.Trump said Tom Homan, his point man for border security, “will report directly to me.”Homan’s new role appears to acknowledge the administration has run into political damage, with polls showing a majority of Americans disapprove of the often brutal crackdown by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.In a marked change of tone, Trump said he held a “very good” talk with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat whom he has repeatedly accused of corruption. Trump also said he had called Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, another Democrat, with the latter saying “the president agreed the present situation can’t continue.”Frey also said “some federal agents” will begin leaving Minneapolis on Tuesday, without providing specifics.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed.”She also expressed sorrow for the death of Alex Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse who was gunned down Saturday at point blank range by immigration officers while protesting in Minneapolis. Earlier, top Trump officials had branded Pretti, 37, a “domestic terrorist.”Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Sunday accused the Trump administration of pushing a “flat-out insane” narrative.In yet another indication of a pivot, US media reported that controversial Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino was leaving Minneapolis.However, there was no sign of Trump retreating from the broader, hardline policy of sending heavily armed, masked and unidentified ICE agents into Democratic-run cities to track down people breaking immigration laws — actions that Bovino has relished in leading.There remain “hundreds of thousands” of “the worst illegal aliens” left to deport, Leavitt said.- Ground zero -Campaigning against illegal immigration helped Trump get elected in 2024, but daily videos of violent masked agents, and multiple reports of people being targeted on flimsy evidence, have helped send Trump’s approval ratings plummeting.Minneapolis has become ground zero in the turmoil. Huge rallies took place despite bitter cold on Friday to protest an ICE agent’s killing of protester Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three on January 7.Like Pretti, she had been shot at close range and was a US citizen.After Pretti was killed, more rallies erupted over the weekend in Minneapolis, New York and other major cities.Opening a new front in the crisis, a federal judge in Minneapolis heard arguments Monday on whether the deployment of federal officers violates the state of Minnesota’s sovereignty.In a separate hearing, a judge was considering a request to force federal officials to preserve evidence in the killing of Pretti, saying she would rule quickly.Pressure is also mounting in Congress, where Democrats are threatening to hold up funding for the US government unless immigration enforcement agencies are reformed.- Republican pushback -Monday’s shift in White House messaging came as Republicans — who rarely criticize their 79-year-old party leader in public — began to express alarm.One of the most prominent cautions came from House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer, who signaled Sunday that federal agents should withdraw from Minneapolis — an intervention that would normally be unheard of from a figure considered one of Trump’s staunchest loyalists.Republican Chris Madel sent shockwaves when he dropped out of the running for Minnesota’s upcoming governor race to replace Walz, saying he could not remain a member of a party inflicting “retribution on the citizens of our state.”Even Texas Governor Greg Abbott, one of Trump’s most dependable supporters, called for the federal authorities “to recalibrate.”

Perilously cold temperatures threatened millions of Americans Monday in the wake of a sprawling winter storm that left at least 23 people dead as it knocked out power and paralyzed transportation.A frigid, life-threatening Arctic air mass could delay recovery as municipalities from New Mexico to Maine tried to dig out following the storm, which dropped a vicious cocktail of heavy snow and wind along with freezing rain and sleet.The storm was linked to at least 23 deaths, according to a compilation of state government and local media reports, with causes including hypothermia as well as accidents related to traffic, sledding, ATVs and snowplows.One man was found in the snow unresponsive with a shovel in his hand.In New York City, eight more people were found dead amid plummeting temperatures, and an investigation to determine the causes was underway. It was not known if all of these fatalities were storm-related.Electricity began blinking back on across the south but as of Monday evening well over 600,000 customers remained without it, according to the tracking site Poweroutage.com.Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana — southern states unaccustomed to intense winter weather and the bone-chilling cold that’s forecast to continue for much of the next week — were especially impacted.Approximately 190 million people in the United States were under some form of extreme cold alert, the National Weather Service (NWS) told AFP.People living as far south as the Gulf Coast were expected to experience freezing temperatures nightly well into the week.And people in the Great Lakes region woke up to extreme temperatures that could cause frostbite on exposed skin within minutes. In parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin, the NWS reported early Monday morning temperatures as low as -23F (-30.6C), with windchills exacerbating the bite.On Tuesday the temperature in those states was set to climb slightly but still remain extreme.Over the weekend nearly half of the states in the contiguous US received at least a foot of snow (30.5 cm), and in many cases far more. The NWS said New Mexico’s Bonito Lake accumulated the highest US total over the weekend with 31 inches (78.7 cm).Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell told journalists trees were continuing to fall under the weight of encrusted ice across the Tennessee capital city — sometimes knocking out power that had already been restored.The city’s police and fire departments were heading a new task force attempting to connect residents without power with transportation to an emergency warming shelter.Many other municipalities across the country were establishing similar shelters.A South Carolina driver, Gary Winthorpe, described to a local news station how he traversed a treacherous road and witnessed an SUV swerve into a ditch: “I was pretty scared,” he said.NWS meteorologist Allison Santorelli told AFP this storm recovery was particularly arduous because so many states were impacted — meaning northern states with more winter supplies were unable to share their resources with less-prepared southern regions.”A lot of those locations don’t have the means or the resources to clean up after these events,” she said. “We’re particularly concerned about the folks in those areas that are without power right now.”- Polar vortex -At least 20 states and the capital Washington were under states of emergency in order to deploy emergency personnel and resources.The snowfall and biting icy pellets that pummeled cities left impassable roads along with canceled buses, trains and flights — thousands of departures and arrivals were scrapped over the weekend.The storm system was the result of a stretched polar vortex, an Arctic region of cold, low-pressure air that normally forms a relatively compact, circular system but sometimes morphs into a more oval shape, sending cold air pouring across North America.Scientists say the increasing frequency of such disruptions may be linked to climate change, though the debate is not settled and natural variability plays a role.Dave Radell, a NWS meteorologist based in New York, told AFP that the character of this storm’s snow was “very dry” and “fluffy,” meaning the wind could lash it around with ease, impeding roadway-clearing efforts and visibility.”That makes it even more challenging,” he said.

“This is slaughter in the streets,” Stephen McLaughlin says softly, his words hanging in the bitter Minnesota air as he pays his respects to Alex Pretti, the intensive care nurse shot dead by federal border agents on Saturday. Around him, candles burn in the frigid breeze and flowers glaciate at their stems. Pretti, mourners and US media said, died as he had lived — caring for others. Now he is being remembered by strangers who came to honor a life cut violently short.Anger has been simmering in Minneapolis for weeks, sparked after federal agents shot and killed Renee Good on January 7, and deepened when Pretti became the second US citizen killed during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.What had already seemed intolerable now feels, to many in Minnesota’s largest city, unrecognizable.A couple of miles south of downtown Minneapolis, the place where Pretti was killed has been transformed into a makeshift memorial — just a few blocks from a similar shrine marking the spot where Good was shot. Sidewalk snow has been ground hard by mourners’ boots and the street corner has become a space for community: a place to grieve, to gather and to fret about a head-on collision with the Trump administration that has left residents feeling scared and unsafe.Police officers stood nearby Monday as a steady stream of well-wishers — a few dozen at a time — stopped to leave flowers, photographs, candles and handwritten notes. Some paused only briefly, heads bowed in silent reflection or prayer. Others lingered, fighting back tears in the brutal cold for a man they had never met.With the wind chill, it felt like minus eight degrees Fahrenheit — about minus 22 Celsius — but people kept coming. Hands gloved and faces wrapped in scarves, they braved the cold to stand before messages praising the bravery shown by Pretti, who was trying to help a woman who had been shoved to the ground when federal agents dragged him to his knees and shot him dead.”Thank you for your compassion and love towards everyone you cared for,” read one placard, balanced among bouquets, wreaths and other tributes.- ‘This is not America’ -McLaughlin, 68, a retired Minnesotan, said the killing — and the government’s baseless statements smearing Pretti as a terrorist out for blood — had left him shaken.”Corruption is now the rule — you cannot trust the government. It’s frighteningly despicable when you can execute someone in cold blood in the street and then defame them and lie about what happened,” he told AFP.”The world needs to know that. This needs to stop and we need to stop it now. This is slaughter in the streets. This is not America.”The memorial has become more than a marker of grief — it provides a gathering point for a community struggling to reckon with fear, loss and a deepening sense that something fundamental is slipping away.People embraced before moving on, leaving behind flowers, notes and quiet anger. Taylor Stoddart, a 25-year-old business owner, shook her head as she spoke, her voice breaking with emotion.”It’s a lie. I mean it’s terrifying, because we all have eyes, we all saw what happened. We all saw what happened on Saturday and we saw what happened with Renee Good,” she said.”They are trying to tell us not to believe our own eyes. Are you kidding me? It’s really sad and it’s really, really scary.”For Tricia Dolley, a nurse like Pretti, the killing struck especially close to home.”This is not an America that we can live in. That is not what any of us wants, it can’t be,” she said.Others spoke more quietly, struggling to articulate what the moment meant. A Minneapolis resident who asked to be identified only by her first name, Jessica, held back tears as she described why she felt compelled to be there.”What’s happening is an assault on the constitution and the rights of American citizens,” she told AFP. “The freedoms that are being abridged currently are the freedoms that we fought for and are the reason for the American Revolution in the first place.”

A Republican candidate for governor of Minnesota withdrew from the race Monday in protest at the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis that has resulted in two civilian deaths at the hands of federal agents.The rare move highlighted deep political and legal tensions over immigration enforcement that have thrust the Midwestern state and its largest city into the international spotlight.Chris Madel, a Minneapolis attorney known for defending law-enforcement officers, had been seeking the Republican nomination in a crowded field, but criticized his party’s response in the resignation video posted to social media.”I cannot support the national Republicans’ stated retribution on the citizens of our state,” he said, signaling a profound break with the party establishment.”Nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so.”Madel drew widespread attention recently for providing legal counsel to Jonathan Ross, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman, on January 7.Madel ended his campaign after the killing of nurse Alex Pretti, also 37, who was documenting federal activity in Minneapolis when he was set upon by Border Patrol agents, wrestled to the ground and shot dead.- ‘Nearly impossible’ -Like Good, Pretti was a US citizen and his death intensified criticism of the deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents under “Operation Metro Surge,” prompting legal challenges and political backlash.Madel had presented himself as a defender of public safety and the rule of law, often emphasizing his work representing officers in high-profile cases. Yet he argued that the federal immigration operation ordered by President Donald Trump had broadened far beyond its original focus on serious criminal threats, creating fear among US citizens, especially people of color, and eroding civil liberties.”National Republicans have made it nearly impossible for a Republican to win a statewide election in Minnesota,” Madel said.Following Good’s death, Vice President JD Vance asserted that the ICE officer had “absolute immunity.”Madel’s withdrawal underscores rising internal divisions within the party over immigration policy and federal intervention. Some Republican lawmakers have begun calling for investigations or for a pause in the surge of agents into Minnesota, reflecting discomfort even among the party’s ranks over recent tactics.Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced he would not seek reelection earlier in January, leaving the field open. 

Rapper Kanye West on Monday denied being a Nazi and expressed regret over his antisemitic rants, blaming such behavior — which included recording a song that celebrates Hitler — on his bipolar disorder.The disgraced 48-year-old music star, who has lost fans and business deals in recent years because of his racist or antisemitic outbursts, released his song “Heil Hitler” last May to mark the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.The song has been banned on major music streaming platforms but is easy to find on the internet. Among other punishment it cost West his visa to travel to Australia.West, who changed his name to Ye and struggled with bipolar disorder for years, said in an open letter published Monday in The Wall Street Journal that when bipolar people are in a manic phase they do not feel sick.”You think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you’re seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely,” said West, whose achievements include winning 24 Grammy awards.In his letter entitled “To Those I’ve Hurt,” he said he sometimes has “disconnected moments” that lead to poor judgment and reckless behavior, describing such instances as feeling like an out-of-body experience.”I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change,” West said.”It does not excuse what I did, though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.”In late 2023 West apologized to Jews for having said “I love Nazis.”In 2022 he caused outrage by wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “White Lives Matter,” seen as a racist insult to the Black Lives Matter movement, and by attending a dinner with Donald Trump that included the white supremacist and antisemite Nick Fuentes.

Millions of Americans were facing dangerously cold temperatures Monday in the wake of a massive winter storm that whipped snow and ice across the country, knocking out power and paralyzing transportation.A frigid, potentially life-threatening Arctic air mass threatened to delay clean-up as municipalities from New Mexico to Maine tried to dig out following the storm, which dropped a vicious cocktail of heavy snow and wind along with freezing rain and sleet.Over 780,000 customers remained without electricity, the Poweroutage.com tracking site showed.Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana — southern states unaccustomed to intense winter weather and the bone-chilling cold that’s forecast to continue for much of the next week — were especially impacted.Approximately 190 million people in the United States were under some form of extreme cold alert, the National Weather Service (NWS) told AFP.Areas across 20 states received at least a foot of snow (30.5 cm), and in many cases far more. The NWS said New Mexico’s Bonito Lake accumulated the highest US total over the weekend with 31 inches (78.7 cm).New York’s Central Park received 11.4 inches (29 cm) — breaking a same-day snowfall record from 1905.A compilation of local media reports tallied at least 21 storm-related deaths.NWS meteorologist Allison Santorelli told AFP the agency was seeing widespread reports of significant ice accumulation, including in places unaccustomed to severe winter weather.She said this storm recovery was particularly challenging because so many states were impacted — meaning northern states with more resources were unable to share their equipment and resources with less-prepared southern areas.”A lot of those locations don’t have the means or the resources to clean up after these events,” she said. “We’re particularly concerned about the folks in those areas that are without power right now.”Dave Radell, an NWS meteorologist based in New York, told AFP that the character of this storm’s snow was “very dry” and “fluffy,” meaning the wind could lash it around with ease, impeding roadway-clearing efforts and visibility.”That makes it even more challenging,” he said.- Excruciating cold -The snowfall and biting icy pellets that pummeled cities saw impassable roads, canceled buses and trains along with grounded flights — thousands of departures and arrivals were scrapped over the weekend — as concern turned to the hazardous temperatures set to linger for the better part of a week.The brutal storm system was the result of a stretched polar vortex, an Arctic region of cold, low-pressure air that normally forms a relatively compact, circular system but sometimes morphs into a more oval shape, sending cold air pouring across North America.Scientists say the increasing frequency of such disruptions may be linked to climate change, though the debate is not settled and natural variability plays a role.People in the Great Lakes region woke up to extreme temperatures that could cause frostbite on exposed skin within minutes — in parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin, the NWS reported early morning temperatures as low as an excruciating -23F (-30.6C).Forecasted windchills in those areas that make the apparent temperature even more frigid could hit as low as -50F (-45.6C), the weather authority said.As far south as the Gulf Coast was expected to see freezing temperatures each night into the end of the week.At least 20 states and the US capital Washington were under states of emergency in order to deploy emergency personnel and resources.Many cities had opened warming centers for those without shelter or without power to take refuge, and authorities across the country were continuing to encourage residents who could to stay home.

Donald Trump is likely facing the second government shutdown of his presidency after a fatal shooting by US immigration agents detonated a fragile budget truce in Congress and unified Democrats against funding his hardline immigration crackdown.Until the weekend, the president and Republican leaders appeared close to averting a lapse in funding at the end of the week. The House of Representatives had passed the remaining funding bills for fiscal year 2026, and Senate Republicans were quietly confident they could secure enough Democratic votes to push the package through before Friday night’s deadline.That calculation collapsed after Saturday’s killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, during a confrontation with federal agents in Minneapolis — the second fatal shooting by immigration officers in the city this month.His death has become a political flashpoint in Trump’s immigration crackdown, triggering an unusually broad backlash that now threatens to shut down large parts of the federal government.Numerous departments would be affected, including defense, health, labor, transportation, housing and, crucially, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as well as Customs and Border Protection (CBP).Democrats say they will no longer provide the votes needed to advance the six-bill funding package if it includes DHS money without new guardrails on immigration enforcement.”This brutal crackdown has to end. I cannot and will not vote to fund DHS while this administration continues these violent federal takeovers of our cities,” Democratic Virginia Senator Mark Warner said on X.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer formalized the Democratic position Saturday, saying his party would block the funding package if it includes the DHS bill, which he described as “woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of (ICE).”- ‘Uncharted territory’ -The White House and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have portrayed Pretti’s killing as an act of self-defense, initially claiming — against all evidence — that he approached agents brandishing a handgun, intent on a “massacre.” Multiple witness videos contradict that account, appearing to show Pretti holding a phone while recording, rushing to help a civilian who was shoved to the ground, and being sprayed with chemical irritant before being dragged to his knees, beaten, disarmed and then shot dead.Pretti was licensed to carry a concealed weapon, local law enforcement and his family said.For Trump, the standoff risks reviving memories of last year’s record-length shutdown — which disrupted travel, delayed paychecks and bruised the administration politically — and underscores how his aggressive immigration push is colliding with the basic mechanics of keeping the government open.The Republican leader struck a conflicted tone when asked about the incident, saying, “I don’t like any shooting,” while also criticizing armed protesters. He said Monday he was sending his point man for border security to Minneapolis, which is around 300 miles (480 kilometers) from the US-Canada frontier and 1,400 miles from Mexico.But state and city leaders have demanded the immediate withdrawal of federal officers and an independent investigation, saying Minnesota authorities have been excluded from the probe. “We’re in uncharted territory here,” Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said.The fallout has rattled Republicans as well. The party’s House lawmakers have asked for testimony from immigration agency heads, and for a federal withdrawal from Minneapolis, while several senators — including longtime Trump allies — have called for investigations, in an unusual break with the administration. Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy called Pretti’s shooting “incredibly disturbing,” warning that “the credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake,” while Pete Ricketts of Nebraska urged a “prioritized, transparent investigation.”Despite the growing unease, Republican leaders are pressing ahead with the funding package as written. Separating the DHS bill — Democrats’ preferred off-ramp — would require new votes in the House, which is out of Washington this week, making a temporary shutdown look highly likely.

US President Donald Trump dispatched his top border official Monday to Minnesota in a bid to regain control over an escalating crisis sparked by the second killing of a protester against his administration’s militarized immigration raids.Trump said that Tom Homan, his point man for border security, would arrive in the state later and “will report directly to me.”Minneapolis has become ground zero in the clash between Trump and growing numbers of Americans over his nationwide immigration crackdown.Trump’s deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, described the city on Fox News as a “powder keg.”Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has been transformed under Trump into the United States’ most heavily funded law enforcement body. But polls show growing anger over its frequently brutal tactics.A huge rally took place despite bitter cold in Minneapolis on Friday to protest the raids and the point blank shooting by an ICE agent of protester Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three on January 7.Then on Saturday, immigration agents gunned down Alex Jeffrey Pretti, also 37, after having already tackled him to the ground. Like Good, the intensive care unit nurse was a US citizen.More rallies erupted after his death in Minneapolis, New York and other major cities.Opening a new front in the crisis, a federal judge in Minneapolis was hearing arguments Monday on whether the deployment of federal officers — often masked, heavily armed and unidentified — violates the state of Minnesota’s sovereignty.And in Congress, Democrats are threatening to hold up funding for the US government unless immigration enforcement agencies are reformed.- Trump defends tactics -Trump has so far dismissed concerns.The 79-year-old Republican’s first reaction to Pretti’s killing was to suggest that the nurse had come intending to shoot at the police.Pretti was carrying a pistol with him at the time but never removed it and had apparently already been disarmed when he was shot multiple times at point-blank range. He was licensed to carry a weapon.Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Sunday accused Trump of pushing a “flat-out insane” narrative.Trump repeated the insinuation that Pretti was to blame when he told The Wall Street Journal on Sunday: “I don’t like any shooting… but I don’t like it when somebody goes into a protest and he’s got a very powerful, fully loaded gun.”White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt indicated Homan would not focus on Pretti’s killing and instead lead efforts to arrest “criminal illegal aliens” and tackle alleged fraud by Somali immigrants — racially charged claims fueling the crackdown.Blanche told Fox News “it is extraordinarily important that we do not jump to conclusions,” while describing the incident as “a very violent altercation.”- Republican criticism -In Monday’s court action the judge was hearing arguments from state and city lawyers that the federal deployments amount to an occupying force. Also under consideration was a bid to force federal officials to preserve evidence related to Pretti’s killing.The lawsuits highlight the deep rift between local and federal law enforcement over the deployment, dubbed “Operation Metro Surge.”Trump’s immigration raids have focused deliberately on Democratic-run cities, pitting mayors and governors against the president.Local police have repeatedly confronted federal agents and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has even suggested he could call out the state’s National Guard to push back against Trump’s forces.Trump will also be watching signs of growing disenchantment from his Republican Party in Congress. The party is usually in lockstep with Trump but it has only a slender majority.One of the most prominent cautions came from House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer, who signaled Sunday that federal agents should withdraw from Minneapolis — an intervention that would normally be unheard of from a figure considered one of Trump’s staunchest loyalists.Trump told the Journal that the immigration agents would leave Minneapolis “at some point.”