Trump on Shooting Deaths by Federal Agents: ICE ‘Feels Worse About It Than Anybody’

President Donald Trump claimed that immigration agents feel “worse” about the recent shooting deaths by immigration agents “than anybody.”

Last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis. About two weeks later, Alex Pretti was fatally shot in the city, reportedly by Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez. The killings come amid Trump’s ongoing crackdown in the Twin Cities area, where on Wednesday the administration announced it would withdraw 700 of the 2,700 federal immigration agents in the area.

On Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News, anchor Tom Llamas interviewed Trump and asked about Good’s death.

“After the shooting of Renee Good, you say ICE made some mistakes,” Llamas said. “What were the mistakes?”

“Well look, I’m not happy with the two incidents,” Trump replied. “Both of them, it’s not one or the other. He was not an angel and she was not an angel. Look at some tapes from back– but still, I’m not happy with what happened there. Nobody could be happy, and ICE wasn’t happy either. But I’m gonna be always with our great people of law enforcement. ICE, police, we have to back them. If we don’t back them, we don’t have a country.”

Llamas seized on Trump’s comment about Good and Pretti not being “angels.”

“Do you think any of that justified what happened to them, though?” the anchor asked.

“No, I don’t. It should have not happened,” the president said, before claiming that the agencies involved are more upset about the killings than anyone. “And you know who feels worse about it than anybody? The people of ICE. They’re strong, tough people.”

“Yeah,” Llamas said.

“And they have to be tough because we’re dealing with hardened criminals,” Trump added.

Watch above via NBC News.

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