US Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino is expected to leave Minneapolis on Tuesday.
The Trump administration is reshuffling the leadership of its immigration enforcement operation and scaling back the federal presence after a second fatal shooting by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers.
President Donald Trump said he was placing his border tsar, Tom Homan, in charge of the mission, with Mr Homan reporting directly to the White House, after Mr Bovino drew condemnation for claiming the man who was killed, Alex Pretti, had been planning to “massacre” law enforcement officers, a characterisation that authorities had not substantiated.
Saturday’s fatal shooting of Mr Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse, by Border Patrol agents ignited political backlash and raised fresh questions about how the operation was being run.
Mr Bovino’s leadership of highly visible federal crackdowns, including operations that sparked mass demonstrations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and Minneapolis, has drawn fierce criticism from local officials, civil rights advocates and congressional Democrats.
A person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that Mr Bovino is among the federal agents leaving Minneapolis.
The departure accompanies a softer tone from Mr Trump on the Minnesota crackdown, including the president’s touting of productive conversations with the governor and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey.
The mayor said he asked Mr Trump in a phone call to end the immigration enforcement surge, and Mr Trump agreed the present situation cannot continue. Mr Frey said he would keep pushing for others involved in Operation Metro Surge to go.
Mr Homan will take charge of Ice operations in Minnesota. Mr Frey said he planned to meet Mr Homan on Tuesday.
Mr Trump and Democratic governor Tim Walz spoke in a phone call and later offered comments that were a marked change from the critical statements they have exchanged in the past. Their conversation happened on the same day a federal judge heard arguments in a lawsuit aimed at halting the federal immigration enforcement surge in the state.
“We, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength,” the president wrote in a social media post.
Mr Walz, in a statement, said the call was “productive” and that impartial investigations into the shootings were needed. Mr Trump said his administration was looking for “any and all” criminals the state has in their custody. Mr Walz said the state Department of Corrections honours federal requests for people in its custody.