Trump Says ICE Will ‘Make Mistakes Sometimes’

The president tried to pivot the conversation about ICE operations in Minnesota to the alleged criminal histories of those apprehended.

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President Donald Trump speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Jan. 20. Alex Brandon/AP

President Donald Trump said at a press conference on Tuesday that ICE can be “too rough,” a comment he made in reference to the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this month.

“They’re gonna make mistakes sometimes. ICE is going to be too rough with somebody,” Trump said. “Or, you know, they’re dealing with rough people. They’re going to make a mistake. Sometimes it can happen. We feel terribly.”

The president also expressed sympathy for Good’s family — particularly her father, who is reported to be a Trump supporter.

“I hope he still feels that way. That’s a hard, hard situation. But her father was a tremendous — and parents were tremendous — Trump fans. That’s so sad. Just happens, it’s terrible,” Trump said.

A poll from The Wall Street Journal taken after Good’s killing shows that more than half of Americans believe Trump has gone too far in deploying ICE to U.S. cities. Trump’s solution on Tuesday was to show the criminal histories of apprehended immigrants from the current operation in the Twin Cities.

“They don’t say it like they should,” Trump said of how his communications staff discusses the actions of ICE in Minnesota. “They’re apprehending murderers and drug dealers, a lot of bad people.”

Trump, at the front of the White House press briefing room, flipped through many pages of apprehended people from Minnesota, which his administration says totals 10,000 people.

On Tuesday morning before the press conference, Trump made comments on social media about turning the focus to illegal activity in Minnesota.

“The Department of Homeland Security and ICE must start talking about the murderers and other criminals that they are capturing and taking out of the system. They are saving many innocent lives!” Trump said of ICE agents on Truth Social. “There are thousands of vicious animals in Minnesota alone, which is why the crime stats are, Nationwide, the BEST EVER RECORDED!”