Washington DC - Federal immigration agents may have breached "protocol" in Minneapolis before the fatal shooting of a nurse during protests, President Donald Trump's senior aide Stephen Miller said Tuesday – days after falsely branding the victim an assassin.
The admission comes as Trump says he wants to de-escalate the situation in Minneapolis following the killing of 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti during a protest against an immigration crackdown on Saturday.
Deputy Chief of Staff Miller, a powerful figure who leads Trump's hardline immigration policy, said in a statement to AFP that the White House was now looking into the possible breach.
He said the White House had provided "clear guidance" that extra personnel were sent to Minnesota to protect deportation agents and "create a physical barrier between the arrest teams and the disruptors."
"We are evaluating why the CBP (Customs and Border Protection) team may not have been following that protocol," Miller said.
The White House later said that Miller was referring to "general guidance" to immigration agents operating in the state, rather than the specific incident in which Pretti was killed.
It added that officials would be "examining why additional force protection assets may not have been present to support the operation" to remove immigrants from Minnesota.
Stephen Miller calls Alex Pretti "would-be assassin"
Miller also appeared to blame both the border agency and the Department of Homeland Security for his comments on Saturday, which have since attracted criticism.
Shortly after the killing, Miller called Pretti a "would-be assassin" and accused him of wanting to murder federal agents.
But Miller said his comments were based on an initial statement by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who falsely said Pretti was brandishing a weapon when he approached federal agents.
Video evidence later showed that the victim was not holding a gun at the time. Pretti had a sidearm on him, but agents had already removed it before he was shot multiple times at point-blank range.
"The initial statement from DHS was based on reports from CBP on the ground," Miller said in his statement.