President Donald Trump on Tuesday shielded Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, seeking to tamp down on growing opposition to improper arrests and documented misuses of force witnessed while agents carry out the president’s deportation agenda.
Much of Trump’s remarks, delivered to reporters in the White House press briefing room on Tuesday, the first anniversary of his second inauguration, focused on the federal government’s operations in Minnesota.
The president lauded ICE for allegedly arresting “tens of thousands of illegal alien gang members, drug dealers, murderers, drug runners, human traffickers, fraudsters, and savage criminals.”
The president, however, appeared to acknowledge the documented overreaches by ICE agents, including the multiple improper detainments of American citizens.
“They’re going to make mistakes. Sometimes ICE is going to be too rough for somebody,” he stated. “They’re going to make a mistake. Sometimes it can happen.”
Opposition to ICE operations in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has only increased following the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent earlier this year, but, unlike Trump, senior administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, have repeatedly denied to reporters that ICE agents have engaged in any wrongdoing.
Trump additionally told reporters Tuesday that he felt “horribly” when he learned of the killing of Good.
“I learned her father was a tremendous Trump man,” he added.
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You can watch Trump’s remarks in full below.
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