Minneapolis, Minnesota - President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that a "softer touch" may be needed on immigration, as his administration said 700 federal officers would be pulled from Minnesota after weeks of aggressive and even deadly operations.

The fatal shootings of two protesters – Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good – in Minneapolis last month sparked widespread outrage in the US and calls for an end to immigration raids in the Midwestern city, but Trump's administration has been reluctant to shift course.

"I learned that maybe we could use a little bit of a softer touch," Trump said in an interview with NBC's Nightly News when asked what he had learned from Minneapolis.

"But you still have to be tough. We're dealing with really hard criminals."

Trump's border chief Tom Homan had earlier announced that 700 federal officers would be withdrawn from Minnesota, but said the contentious deployment would continue, with about 2,000 agents remaining after the drawdown.

The mayor of Minneapolis and the governor of Minnesota – both Democrats – described the announcement as "a step in the right direction," but called for the federal government to move faster in winding down its immigration operations in the state.