Donald Trump criticizes DHS killings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good: ‘Should have not happened’

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good by Department of Homeland Security officers in Minneapolis “should have not happened,” offering his most direct acknowledgment yet that two of the most consequential deaths of his second term were unjustified, even as he continued to defend the broader aims of his immigration crackdown.

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In an exclusive interview with NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Llamas at the White House, Trump said he was “not happy with the two incidents,” adding, “It’s both of ’em, not one or the other.” He went on to claim that Pretti “was not an angel” and that Good “was not an angel."

Pressed on whether anything about either person justified what happened to them, Trump drew a clearer line. “No, I don’t,” he said. “It should have not happened. … It was, to me, a very sad incident. Two incidents.”

President Trump talks Minneapol…

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Both Pretti and Good were U.S. citizens, killed weeks apart during Minnesota DHS operations led by Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino that turned Minneapolis into a national flashpoint. Their deaths sparked protests, drew condemnation from civil rights groups, and prompted renewed scrutiny of what critics describe as the creeping militarization of immigration enforcement inside American cities. Last week, Trump removed Bovino from the operation and appointed White House border czar Tom Homan to lead the response.

The president’s remarks came just a day after Good’s brothers, Luke and Brent Ganger, appeared before a congressional forum to describe their sister not as a threat, but as a mother, a sister, and a woman whose life was abruptly and violently cut short.

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Sitting before members of Congress, the brothers spoke about the void Good’s death left in her family and in the lives of her children, rejecting portrayals that cast her as anything other than a civilian who should have gone home that day. Their appearance added emotional gravity to a hearing already shaped by anger and grief, and it sharpened the political pressure now bearing down on the administration.

Trump, in his interview, appeared to try to strike a careful and uneasy balance. He said he would “always be with our great people of law enforcement, ICE, police,” arguing that “if we don’t back them, we don’t have a country.” At the same time, he acknowledged that the two killings had crossed a line. “Nobody could be happy,” he said, adding that agents themselves felt the weight of what had happened.

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The president also suggested that Minneapolis had changed his thinking about tactics. “I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch,” he said, even as he insisted that officers still have to be “tough” because, in his words, they are dealing with hardened criminals.

Trump’s interview also came as Homan announced that 700 federal officers would be pulled back from Minneapolis, a partial retreat from a surge that had inflamed tensions with local leaders. Trump said he did not want to “force ourselves into a city” without cooperation from mayors or governors, hinting at a more conditional approach to future deployments.

Watch Donald Trump's interview with NBC News anchor Tom Llamas below.

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