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Reporters Press Karoline Leavitt On Whether Tom Homan’s Visit To Minnesota Spells Trouble For Kristi Noem

[Screenshot/YouTube: The White House]

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt assured reporters on Monday that President Donald Trump still has confidence in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem ahead of border czar Tom Homan’s visit to Minnesota.

Leavitt confirmed on X that Trump is sending Homan to manage Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Minnesota and coordinate with investigators on “massive, widespread fraud.” Reporters questioned Leavitt throughout the briefing on whether Trump has lost trust in Noem to handle immigration operations as anti-ICE demonstrations have overtaken parts of Minneapolis.

“Should the deployment of Mr. Homan to Minneapolis be seen as a sign that the President is dissatisfied with how the officials on the ground have handled the incident?” NBC News White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez asked. 

“No,” Leavitt said. “Mr. Homan is doing an exceptional job, and he has been working with Secretary Nome and President Trump over the course of the last year. Secretary Nome still has the utmost confidence and trust of the President of the United States, and she’s continuing to oversee the entire Department of Homeland Security and all of the immigration enforcement that’s taking place across the whole entire country.”

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Another reporter asked whether Trump has confidence in Noem’s ability to lead DHS.

“Are you fully confident in Kristi Noem’s ability to lead the DHS?” the reporter asked.

“Yes … To your first question, the answer is yes. He still has confidence and trust in Secretary Noem,” the press secretary said. 

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Riots and wide-scale protests have continued to escalate throughout Minnesota following the deaths of Renee Good, who hit an ICE agent with her car on Jan. 7, and Alex Pretti, an anti-ICE protester who got shot by a Border Patrol agent on Saturday. Democrats in the state, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, have called on ICE and federal immigration officials to leave the state entirely.

A third reporter asked Leavitt to clarify whether Noem had made any mistake that prompted Homan’s upcoming arrival, which she denied.

“No, look, as I already mentioned, Mr. Homan has been working alongside Secretary Noem and for the president over the course of the last year. And again, he’s uniquely positioned to hop on a flight to Minnesota today to continue this correspondence with state and local authorities. And that’s what he’s going to be doing,” Leavitt said. 

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Noem celebrated Homan’s upcoming arrival in a statement on X, stating that it is “good news for peace, safety and accountability in Minneapolis.”

“I have worked closely with Tom over the last year and he has been a major asset to our team— his experience and insight will help us in our wide-scale fraud investigations, which have robbed Americans, and will help us to remove even more public safety threats and violent criminal illegal aliens off the of streets of Minneapolis,” Noem said. “We continue to call on the leadership in Minnesota to allow for state and local partnership in our public safety mission. Thank you Mr. President.”

This is good news for peace, safety, and accountability in Minneapolis.

I have worked closely with Tom over the last year and he has been a major asset to our team— his experience and insight will help us in our wide-scale fraud investigations, which have robbed Americans, and… pic.twitter.com/sLtArl1QcT

— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) January 26, 2026

Noem said during a press conference on Saturday that Pretti “violently resisted” officers as they attempted to disarm him, adding that the agent fired defensive shots while he feared for his life. Police confirmed that Pretti had a gun permit and that the gun was removed before the agent shot him.

Following the death of Good, the administration sent nearly 1,000 more ICE agents to Minnesota to allow federal immigration enforcement to conduct their operations safely. During a surprise appearance at a White House briefing on Tuesday, Trump held up several mugshots of illegal alien criminals who committed heinous crimes throughout the state, including molestation, terroristic threats, rape and drug possession.