By Bo Erickson and Brad Brooks
WASHINGTON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - A second fatal shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis has thrust President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown deeper into the national political spotlight, forcing Republicans to defend the administration's hard-line tactics while motivating Democrats, who see it as an urgent election-year issue.
Federal officers have killed two U.S. citizens in the city this month - including ICU nurse Alex Pretti on Saturday - during clashes
with protesters angered by the administration’s sweeping enforcement surge.
The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate, Chuck Schumer, said on Saturday his party would vote against funding legislation that includes money for the Homeland Security Department that oversees ICE, the federal immigration agency. Congress faces a January 30 deadline to fund the government or risk a partial government shutdown.
Moderate Democrats, who broke with their party during last year's government shutdown standoff and have been most cautious to not appear as anti-law enforcement, have joined this call.
“This is clearly not about keeping Americans safe, it’s brutalizing US citizens and law-abiding immigrants,” Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto said in a statement about the ICE operation.
The Trump administration has launched its most ambitious immigration operation to date in Minneapolis, sparking weeks of protests by residents and violent altercations with federal agents, including two shooting deaths - Renee Good on January 7 and Pretti this weekend.
While Republicans have mostly backed the crackdown, Saturday's shooting of a legally armed U.S. citizen raises particular political risks for a party that sees itself as the home of gun rights supporters.
Gun rights groups have already expressed alarm at efforts by the administration to blame Pretti for bringing a weapon to a protest, even though he was legally entitled to do that.
The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus said it was “deeply concerned” about the administration’s justification for the shooting, noting that “every peaceable Minnesotan has the right to keep and bear arms, including while attending protests.”
Recent Reuters polling indicates that Democratic voters do not support Trump's enforcement tactics, and even a significant slice of Trump's Republican backers - 39% - are wary of the approach, saying harm should be minimized even if this means fewer immigration-related arrests.
Among independents, 73% said authorities should prioritize reducing harm, while 19% said they should be willing to risk causing serious injury or death in pursuit of arrests.
”The rest of the country needs to know that what's happening here could happen everywhere,” said protester Eric Gray, a 50-year-old Minneapolis resident.
“I think that Minnesota is turning out to be the starting point, or the litmus test."
SOME REPUBLICANS QUESTION ICE TACTICS
Viral videos of violent clashes between heavily armed masked federal immigration agents in tactical gear and civilians have caused unease among Republican lawmakers, many of whom are already confronting voter anger over rising prices ahead of November's congressional midterms.
Republican lawmakers approved a massive cash infusion into ICE last year, but after the two shooting deaths in Minnesota, some are demanding answers from the Trump administration.
Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, said in a Saturday social media post that the Minneapolis shooting was "incredibly disturbing" and "the credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake."
Republican Representative Michael Baumgartner welcomed this weekend's request from the House Homeland Security committee for testimony from ICE officials on their operation.
"It’s critically important that the American people and Congress be given a better understanding of how immigration enforcement is being handled," the Washington representative said.
Republican Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt echoed the concerns, telling CNN on Sunday that Americans were watching fellow citizens being shot on television and that "federal tactics and accountability" had become a growing concern for voters.
Democrats have seized on the Minneapolis ICE operation and the aggressive federal tactics to accuse the Trump administration of government overreach - a charge that could resonate with both Democrats and independents in the coming election.
"Trump’s ICE is out of control and poses a grave domestic threat. Senate Democrats are right to do whatever they can to try and rein it in,” said Tre Easton, Democratic policy strategist at the Searchlight Institute, which advises Democratic candidates. “Democrats should say exactly what they mean about ICE. No pithy slogans.”
For weeks, Trump and his administration have used the federal enforcement surge in Minnesota to draw a political contrast with the state's Democratic leadership.
The president has repeatedly blamed Democratic Governor Tim Walz for the clashes between protesters and federal officers, saying he is inciting people to go out onto the streets.
Walz and state and local law enforcement reject this characterization, saying they will work with the federal government to remove violent offenders but that the administration's operation is stirring the chaos.
(Reporting by Bo Erickson in Washington, Brad Brooks in Minneapolis; additional reporting by Andy Sullivan, Doina Chicu, editing by Ross Colvin and Diane Craft)
