Washington DC - President Donald Trump hinted at partially backing down from his administration's assault on Minneapolis, where federal officials killed two people this month.

"We're going to de-escalate a little bit," Trump said in an interview with Fox News aired on Tuesday evening. He did not provide any details or say to what extent his attack on immigrant communities nationwide would change.

Amid widespread fury at the killing of Rene Good and Alex Pretti – both US citizens – by ICE and Border Patrol agents, Trump admitted that both cases were "terrible."

The Republican couldn't help but add that he felt "even worse" for Good's parents, because they were reported to have been "tremendous Trump people."

Top government officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House advisor Stephen Miller, publicly smeared both victims as "domestic terrorist" after their deaths, though Miller has since attempted to walk back some of his comments.

Trump meanwhile denied the departure of Boder Patrol "commander at large" Greg Bovino from Minneapolis constituted a pullback.

"It's a little bit of a change," he said.

So-called "border czar" Tom Homan has now been asked to take over the operation in Minnesota.

Despite being portrayed as "fair" and comparatively moderate by Trump, Homan is best known as the architect of draconian family separation policies for immigrants.

He also defended ICE agent Jonathan Ross, saying he "did the right thing" in shooting Renee Good three times as she was trying to drive away from him.