The DHS shakeups in Minnesota.

I'm Isaac Saul, and this is Tangle: an independent, nonpartisan, subscriber-supported politics newsletter that summarizes the best arguments from across the political spectrum on the news of the day — then “my take.”

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Today’s read: 14 minutes.

Kanye West apologizes.

This week, rapper and cultural icon Kanye West, now known as Ye, took out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal apologizing for his past antisemitic remarks and blaming some of his actions on manic, bipolar episodes. Tomorrow, Executive Editor Isaac Saul writes about that apology, how he views it, and what the response to Ye tells us about American cultural values. 

Quick hits.

1. The Federal Open Market Committee voted 10–2 to keep interest rates unchanged at 3.5%–3.75%. The committee said U.S. economic growth has been “solid” and the unemployment rate “has shown some signs of stabilization.” Two Trump-appointed Federal Reserve governors dissented and supported a quarter-point rate cut. (The vote)
2. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents searched an election center in Fulton County, Georgia, as part of an investigation into the 2020 election. The agents’ warrant authorized them to search for all “physical ballots from the 2020 general election” and other election-related materials. (The search)
3. President Donald Trump said that the USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group are deploying to the Middle East in preparation for a potential attack on Iran. The president called on Iran to negotiate with the United States over a deal on its nuclear-weapons program. (The latest)
4. Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, telling lawmakers that the U.S. does not intend to take further military action in Venezuela but that it reserved the right to in response to an “imminent threat.” (The testimony)
5. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) announced her candidacy for Minnesota governor. (The announcement)

Today’s topic.

Shakeups in Minnesota immigration enforcement. On Monday, President Donald Trump announced that border czar Tom Homan would go to Minnesota to oversee immigration enforcement efforts. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who had previously spearheaded the operations, reportedly left Minnesota on Tuesday along with an unspecified number of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents; Bovino returned to his previous post in California. Separately, two Customs and Border Patrol agents who fired guns in the Saturday shooting death of 37-year-old U.S. citizen Alex Pretti were placed on leave; Bovino had previously shared that the agents had been reassigned to another state but were still working. The moves follow widespread, bipartisan scrutiny of DHS over Pretti’s death and the earlier shooting death of 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer.

We covered the death of Renee Good here and the death of Alex Pretti here.

Also on Monday, President Trump announced that he had a “very good” call with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), saying that the two were on a “similar wavelength” regarding the path forward for immigration operations in the state and that Walz had agreed to comply with federal immigration enforcement. Walz’s office told Fox News that the call with Trump was “productive,” adding that the governor had emphasized Minnesota was already in compliance with federal forces. Later in the day, Trump said he had a similarly productive call with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D), who said he “appreciated” the conversation and “was clear that my main ask is that Operation Metro Surge needs to end.” 

In a Tuesday interview with Fox News, Trump called the shooting deaths of Good and Pretti “terrible” and said he planned to “de-escalate a little bit in Minnesota.” Trump stressed that this was not a “pullback” in enforcement efforts in the state, and he has since criticized Mayor Frey’s comments that Minneapolis will not enforce federal immigration law, saying Frey was “playing with fire.” In a Thursday morning press conference in Minneapolis, Homan said that the government would “draw down” the number of DHS agents in Minnesota and that the administration would prioritize “criminal aliens, public safety threats, and national security threats.” 

On Wednesday, new video surfaced of an altercation Alex Pretti had with DHS agents 11 days prior to his death, in which he appears to spit at an officer before kicking out the taillight on their vehicle. Pretti is wrestled to the ground by the agents, but then let go. President Trump shared the video on Truth Social on Wednesday night but has not commented directly on the development.

Additionally, several prominent lawmakers have called for Kristi Noem to be removed as DHS Secretary, including Republican Sens. Thom Tillis (NC) and Lisa Murkowski (AK). Other GOP lawmakers publicly called on the Trump administration to open a thorough investigation into Pretti’s death and asked the administration to reconsider its deportation methods.

The political pressure is weakening support for an appropriations package that includes funding for DHS and ICE. A vote on the funding package is scheduled for Thursday, and federal funding will lapse if the bill is not passed by Friday. Senate Democrats have threatened to withhold votes unless Senate Republicans add several DHS reforms and strip DHS funding. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said, “Right now the conversation should be between the White House and Democrats.”

Below, you’ll hear what the right and the left are saying about the recent shakeups and the DHS funding bill. Then, Executive Editor Isaac Saul gives his take.

What the right is saying.

• Many on the right support an impartial investigation into DHS’s actions in Minnesota — and the tactics of activists. 
• Some say President Trump was smart to put Homan in charge of operations.
• Others argue the deportation effort must continue despite protester resistance.

The Washington Examiner editorial board called for an investigation into “the Minnesota shootings.”

“Senate Democrats are coalescing around a number of proposals, including a demand that the Department of Homeland Security cooperate with state investigations of the deaths. Considering Minnesota’s complete inability to police massive welfare fraud in its own jurisdiction, the refusal of state law enforcement agencies to cooperate with immigration agencies, and the obvious bias of the state’s top law enforcement official, such a state-led investigation is an obvious nonstarter,” the board wrote. “People across the country, not just in Minnesota, nevertheless deserve a full account of what happened.”

“Did Good and Pretti encounter them randomly while going about their daily routine and then suddenly decide to intervene? Of course not. Were they, rather, part of larger groups that have been tracking, following, and actively interfering with federal law enforcement? What are the goals of these groups? What are their tactics?” the board said. “Unfortunately, President Donald Trump’s Justice Department does not have the credibility to conduct an investigation of the shootings on its own. An independent party could be appointed within the Justice Department to lead the investigations, a person approved by Democratic and Republican senators.”

In The Hill, Robby Soave wrote “send in Tom Homan.”

“Behind the scenes, there’s tremendous frustration among immigration enforcement officers and other Republican officials with the job that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is doing. Under her leadership, immigration enforcement has focused on areas where this is maximum non-compliance from local, Democratic authorities,” Soave said. “You can argue these are necessary fights that the administration is picking, but Homan prefers to actually accomplish the job of deporting large numbers of criminal illegal aliens.” 

“The administration has a short window to restore confidence in their operations, which they must do. The American people voted for Trump to carry out deportations of illegal immigrants who are gang members and fraudsters and a net drain on communities,” Soave wrote. “They did not vote for, and will not tolerate, a permanent new police state where American citizens are killed with impunity, and then the administration turns around and lies about the circumstances of those killings.”

In Fox News, Mike Davis said “surrender is not an option for ICE's Minnesota mission.”

“After days of Democratic-spurred riots, President Trump and Minnesota Gov Tim Walz had a phone call on Monday. Trump described it as ‘very good,’ and Walz expressed a desire to ‘work together.; This detente may be short-lived, as leftist agitators have now turned on Walz and directed their protests to his office. Regardless, ICE’s withdrawal from Minneapolis would be a disaster and cannot occur,” Davis wrote. “Immigration is squarely under the federal domain. Indeed, over a decade ago, the Obama Justice Department successfully sued Arizona for attempting to independently enforce federal immigration law. Now, ICE is in Minneapolis pursuant to this core power.”

“ICE is not the problem in Minneapolis. Leftist violence is. Florida and Texas each have far more people and illegals than does Minnesota. We do not hear about tumult in those states for one reason: stellar state leadership,” Davis said. “Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis respect the Constitution, including ICE’s law enforcement authority. These governors do not use Holocaust references, and they do not tell the good men and women of federal law enforcement to get out of their cities — in sharp contrast to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.”

What the left is saying.

• Many on the left argue that President Trump’s immigration tactics are to blame for rising tensions in Minnesota.
• Some say that the reform Democrats are seeking are important — but only one step toward lasting change.
• Others call for accountability for federal agents involved in the shootings.

In The Wall Street Journal, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) criticized “the un-American assault on Minnesota.”

“Everyone wants to see our immigration laws enforced. That isn’t what is happening in Minnesota. In recent weeks, masked agents have abducted children. They have separated children from their parents. They have racially profiled off-duty police officers. They have aggressively pulled people over and demanded to see their papers. They have broken into the homes of elderly citizens without warrants to drag them outside in freezing temperatures,” Walz said. “That isn’t effective law enforcement. It isn’t following the rule of law. It’s chaos. It’s illegal. And it’s un-American.”

“I have repeatedly appealed to President Trump to lower the temperature. But he refuses. I fear that his hope is for the tension between ICE agents and the communities they’re ransacking to boil over—that he wants you to see more chaos on your TV screens, protests turn into riots, more people get hurt,” Walz wrote. “This assault on our communities is not necessary to enforce our immigration laws. We don’t have to choose between open borders and whatever the hell this is. Mr. Trump can and must end this unlawful, violent and chaotic campaign, and we can and must rebuild an immigration enforcement system that is secure, accountable and humane.”

In MS NOW, Hayes Brown argued it’s “time for Democrats to start dismantling ICE.”

“The Trump administration is now on its back foot, and even Republican lawmakers have raised questions about whether Pretti really deserved to die, as though the first inklings of shame have finally begun creeping back into their bodies. The swiftly shifting political headwinds have left Democratic lawmakers, who had seemed sure to begrudgingly fund DHS later this week, looking to press their advantage. Given the stakes, and what is likely to be a brief window for action, there’s little room for error or delay to prevent the rot within DHS from metastasizing further,” Brown said. “Noem herself is an understandable target, given her visibility and callousness when confronted with evidence of DHS agents’ culpability.”

“An undue focus on Noem, though, would be an ironic shadow of the conservative ethos, looking to solve problems at the individual level rather than taking on the system. As Republicans ignored as they targeted Noem’s predecessor, Biden administration DHS chief Alejandro Mayorkas, she is dutifully following orders coming from the president,” Brown wrote. “While two-thirds of the upper chamber voting to show Noem the door would make for a stunning political rebuke, it would be all too easy to confuse that shiny trophy as a true victory. The reforms pushed by [Sen. Chris ] Murphy and other Democrats are likewise important but, as Murphy himself recognized, still only scratch the surface of how we reached this point in the first place.”

In Bloomberg, Noah Feldman argued federal agents must face “the rule of law.” 

“The law on the books is extremely clear that Minnesota prosecutors and law enforcement have the authority to investigate and criminally charge Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who have not acted in a way that is ‘necessary and proper’ to carry out their official duties. That certainly includes unjustified shootings. Legal immunity from state prosecution for federal officials arises only if they are found to have been carrying out their duties in that manner.”

“The federal government and the Trump administration have no legal leg to stand on in attempting to impede the investigations. Courts should affirm that,” Feldman said. “No criminal justice system catches every criminal, and no just criminal justice system convicts every criminal who is apprehended. There is room for error and for resource limitations. What there is no room for is obvious impunity and lack of accountability. Impunity is worse when it’s a government official who violates the law. The very definition of a police state is that the law applies to ordinary people, but not to the police — which, in this context, includes ICE.”

My take.

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Executive Editor Isaac Saul: The situation with DHS and Minnesota is actively evolving and changing by the minute — but I’ll offer ten thoughts on where things stand right now, on Thursday, January 29:

1. Trump is reactive to public sentiment and polling. This is, and will continue to be, one of my favorite things about him as a president. Enough public pressure can genuinely change his mind, because he is not a particularly ideological person. Even now, on the issue he is perhaps most ideological about, he’s adjusting his course after his enforcement efforts became a major political liability. It’s a good characteristic of Trump’s and a good development.
2. I’m fascinated by how often Trump walks people out onto a limb and then cuts it off. A few days ago, the president called the protests in Minnesota an “insurrection” and signalled he was ready to push back with the full force of the federal government. His aides and allies in the media followed him out onto the limb, immediately defending the killing of Alex Pretti and positioning all opposition to immigration enforcement as akin to “domestic terrorism.” Then, Trump felt the issue turning against him, and started distancing himself from people like Kristi Noem who were trying to enforce his stated position. It really is remarkable how often this happens.
3. According to Reuters, ICE agents have now been directed not to interact with “agitators” and to only target immigrants who have criminal charges or convictions in Minneapolis. This would be a major departure from their methods thus far, and would also constitute a pivot toward Trump’s previously stated goal to focus on the “worst of the worst.” But the truth is, a finite number of immigrants are here illegally who also have criminal records, and any deportation effort limited to that scope would need to be narrow and well organized. I think it’s an open question whether this DHS, under Kristi Noem, is capable of that. 
4. Speaking of Noem: President Trump should fire her. One of Biden’s great failings was that incompetence was rarely met with consequence (most notably when the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal produced zero firings and no leadership shakeups), something Trump called attention to during his campaign. Noem leads an agency that has now killed two American citizens in three weeks, in shootings that the public broadly views as horrific and unnecessary, and she has overseen and condoned systematic violations of the rights of thousands of other people and ignored dozens of court orders. She’s being criticized harshly by Republicans in the Senate, discontent with leadership is widespread among agents in DHS, and her inability to step before a microphone without lying has cost the president any political leverage he might have had on immigration enforcement. Yet, I believe he probably won’t fire her, because he despises a lot of the people calling for it — and the negative polarization effect on Trump makes him averse to ever giving his opponents a perceived win.
5. Trump and Republicans look to be playing ball with Democrats over DHS funding in the appropriations package due Friday. The new plan could include provisions that force DHS agents to remove their masks, wear body cameras, halt random sweeps and warrantless searches, and apply the same use-of-force policies that are applied to local and state law enforcement agencies. That last item is critical, as it would mean independent investigations for violent interactions. It’s incredible to me that this isn’t already the case, but I’ll take it. And I hope Republicans do, too. If Democrats get this win, it would probably constitute the most notable successful act of “resistance” since Trump took office a second time.
6. Whatever happens in Congress, DHS must allow an independent investigation into both of the agent-involved shootings. To put it simply: We cannot live in a world where agents of the government kill American citizens without any accountability, especially when they’re trying to conceal their own identities. Maybe their actions will be determined lawful. Maybe not. But there must be an investigation.
7. Politico published a fascinating piece this week about Minnesota’s chief district judge, Patrick Schiltz, a veteran in conservative legal circles who was a mentor to Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and whose typically low-key demeanor has been supplanted by fury at the Trump administration for violating nearly 100 court orders and laws. In what I believe is an unprecedented moment, Judge Schiltz demanded the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Todd Lyons, appear before the court on Friday to explain his agency’s "rampant violation of court orders,” as Politico put it. Schiltz has since backed off the order for Lyons to appear but reaffirmed his criticisms of the agency’s conduct, saying, “ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.” Again, this rebuke is coming from a Republican-appointed judge with strong conservative bona fides — so it tells us a lot about how far the Trump administration has overstepped.
8. Immigration has been a swing issue in the U.S. for years, and in many ways it’s “thermostatic.” When the border seems out of control and stories about towns inundated with tens of thousands of migrants dominate the headlines, support for immigrant communities goes down. When the border is secure and masked ICE agents are snatching people who have lived here peacefully for 20 years off the street, support for immigrant communities goes up. Most people interact positively with immigrants (legal and illegal) on a daily basis but want a sense of security in their country, towns, and homes — and most people want those who come here to “follow the law.” A political force that could hold all these sentiments at once could make a lot of progress on this issue, but both sides have trouble walking these lines.
9. The new Alex Pretti video is being framed by some people as proof he was not a peaceful protester but a violent agitator. It obviously doesn’t reflect well on him, but his actions in this video aren’t particularly relevant to how agents treated him nearly two weeks later when he was far more docile. The video also doesn’t justify shooting him. I’m most interested in how different it is from the video of his killing. His behavior is worse — he appears to spit at an agent and then kicks out their car’s taillight — while the agents’ behavior is much better. They wrestle him down, yes, but then — seeming to realize the situation is dangerous — let him off the ground. One or two agents even get between Pretti and the agents he’s screaming at to de-escalate. It’s like night and day. It’s both proof that Pretti was more aggressive in other interactions with agents, and it’s proof that the agents who killed him had many other options. 
10. In Minneapolis, Trump’s enforcement effort has brought scores of non-political people off the sidelines. Administration officials have framed the protesters as “left-wing agitators” coordinated by some kind of deep-pocketed funders, but on-the-ground reporting suggests something different: A lot of normal Americans who had never even been to a protest before just hate what is happening in their towns. This is a seismic event in Minnesota that has major electoral implications across the country, where I suspect a lot of previously unengaged voters are now paying close attention to what is happening. Anytime an enforcement effort looks like this, Trump is bound to face some kind of resistance, because Americans everywhere tend to resist obvious and dangerous government overreach. That’s a logistical and political obstacle that I do not see the Trump administration conquering anytime soon. 

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Your questions, answered.

Q: I keep hearing that Obama deported 3 million illegal aliens during his presidency and there were 37 deaths at the hands of ICE agents or while they were in federal custody. No one seemed to care back then, I don’t recall a single protest. Is that true?

— Donna from Columbus, OH

Tangle: Great question. According to DHS data from each year of Obama’s term, roughly 3.1 million people who came to the U.S. illegally were removed from 2009–2016 (the data varies from year to year, but rounds to about 3 million). Notably, this number doesn’t include returns — migrants who were apprehended but voluntarily agreed to leave the United States without going through legal proceedings. Additional context here is relevant, too: Under Obama, more people were arriving at the border annually, and he focused most of his deportation efforts on people who had criminal histories or were “recent arrivals.” 

A list of ICE detainee death reports shows 67 deaths during Obama’s presidency. That figure includes death by natural causes, though at least one report from an immigrant-rights group during the Obama administration suggested that several deaths in custody were due to medical negligence. For comparison, ICE’s detainee death reporting lists 18 deaths in custody during fiscal year 2025, though some sources suggest that the true total is upwards of 32 for calendar year 2025.

Finally, while large protests over these deportations and deaths were not common at the time, Obama certainly faced resistance. He was dubbed “Deporter in Chief” by immigrant-rights activists, and his treatment of illegal immigrants became a major fault line among Democrats, drawing harsh criticism from members of his own party in Congress.

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Under the radar.

On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will accompany U.S. athletes at the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy, in February. The announcement prompted backlash among Italian officials, who are facing public pressure to bar ICE from entering the country. Antonio Tajani, Italy’s foreign minister, said the agents would not be deployed in public, adding that Italian police would be responsible for public order during the Olympics. In a statement Tuesday, the State Department said that “as in previous Olympic events, multiple federal agencies are supporting the Diplomatic Security Service, including Homeland Security Investigations, ICE’s investigative component.” The New York Times has the story.

Numbers.

• 82. The number of Minnesota-based CEOs and businesses who signed an open letter on Sunday calling for an “immediate deescalation of tensions” in the state.
• 35% and 51%. The percentage of U.S. adults who feel that immigration policy is on the right track and wrong track, respectively, according to a January 2026 Reuters/Ipsos poll.
• 39% and 53%. The percentage of U.S adults who approve and disapprove, respectively, of President Trump’s handling of immigration, according to the same poll.
• $1.3 trillion. The total amount of funds in the six spending bills the Senate is considering.
• $64.4 billion. The amount of those funds appropriated to the Department of Homeland Security.
• 12:01 a.m. The time, in EST, on January 31 that the current government funding expires if no agreement is reached.

The extras.

• One year ago today we wrote about Trump’s executive orders on immigration.
• The most clicked link in yesterday’s newsletter was the ad in our free version for Amazon shopper hacks.
• Nothing to do with politics: Will you receive a peanut butter pay raise in 2026?
• Yesterday’s survey: 2,005 readers responded to our survey on recent measles outbreaks with 94% supporting vaccination and the belief that non-vaccination is leading to the disease’s spread. “I support most vaccinations & believe non-MMR vaccination contributed to the outbreaks,” one respondent said. “I am old enough to remember what a terrible disease measles is and am one of the first kids vaccinated against it,” said another.

Have a nice day.

Hipolito and Liz Cisneros were two of the many people whose lives were upended by the wildfires in the Los Angeles area in January 2025, losing their home in the blaze. Among the possessions they lost was Liz’s wedding ring. In the aftermath of the fire, Hipolito dug through the rubble of their home and was able to recover a part of the ring. Using that remnant, he had a new ring made — with three diamonds to represent each of their children — and surprised Liz by re-proposing. They now plan to renew their vows in the new home they are building in Altadena, California. People has the story.