DHS grapples with PR nightmare after Alex Pretti shooting in Minneapolis

The Department of Homeland Security is in the midst of a public relations crisis as officials fight internally over how to explain and respond to Border Patrol‘s shooting of protester Alex Pretti in Minneapolis over the weekend.

The behind-the-scenes and public finger-pointing between the White House, political officials at the Department of Homeland Security, and career law enforcement officials at U.S Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the past several days caps months of infighting across the department, which the Washington Examiner previously reported on in October 2025 and last week.

Three sources said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is worried about keeping her job amid the fallout, much of which centers on how she and Border Patrol’s now-demoted Commander of At-Large