Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown, just did something remarkable: he admitted federal agents may have screwed up when they killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, in Minneapolis on Saturday.
“We are evaluating why the CBP team may not have been following that protocol,” Miller told The Daily Mail.
This is a stunning reversal from the same guy who, just days ago, called Pretti “an assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.”
There are not enough pardons in the world to shield Stephen Miller from the Nuremberg-esque legal onslaught that is coming for this fucking Nazi. pic.twitter.com/CoyRBWtIAi
— Bill Madden (@maddenifico) January 25, 2026
WHAT’S GOING ON: The Trump administration is in full damage-control mode after Border Patrol agents shot Pretti ten times in broad daylight while he was filming them with his phone.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is now throwing Miller under the bus, telling sources she did “everything” at “the direction of the president and Stephen.”
Miller, meanwhile, is pointing fingers at Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, who was conveniently removed from Minneapolis on Tuesday.
And Republican senators are calling on all of them to resign.
GOP Sen. Thom Tillis:
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) January 28, 2026
“Stephen Miller never fails to live up to my expectations of incompetence”
pic.twitter.com/9fTWdFnJF7
THE DETAILS: A new Border Patrol report confirms two agents fired those ten shots but notably doesn’t mention Pretti actually drawing his weapon. Witness videos appeared to show Pretti holding his phone—not a gun—as agents tackled him. Minneapolis police confirmed Pretti had no serious criminal history and was a lawful gun owner with a valid permit – although that didn’t stop them from reportedly breaking his rib a week before he was killed.
One agent reportedly took Pretti’s weapon from his waistband and walked away with it moments before he was killed.
Trump himself has distanced himself from the initial “assassin” rhetoric, telling reporters he “flat out disagreed” with Miller’s characterization.
“I don’t like any shooting. I don’t like it,” Trump said. By sending Border Czar Tom Homan to Minnesota to replace Bovino, Trump signaled a shift: “We’re going to de-escalate a little bit.”
BUT BUT BUT: The White House is still trying to have it both ways. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insists “Stephen Miller is one of President Trump’s most trusted and longest-serving aides. The president loves Stephen.”
Meanwhile, sources inside the administration are clearly briefing reporters that Bovino—not Miller—”should be blamed.” Someone’s getting sacrificed here, and the scramble to avoid accountability is almost comical.
WHY IT MATTERS: A U.S. citizen is dead. Federal agents killed him in the street. And the administration’s story has completely fallen apart in less than a week—from “domestic terrorist planning a massacre” to “maybe they weren’t following protocol.”
Pretti was the second person killed by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis this month alone. The first was Renee Good, shot by an ICE officer on January 7, just over a mile away.
BOTTOM LINE: When the people running the immigration crackdown can’t keep their story straight for 72 hours, it tells you everything about how this operation is actually being conducted. Miller’s walkback isn’t accountability—it’s an attempt to limit political damage while a grieving family buries a nurse who went to a protest with his phone.