Two immigration agents involved in the fatal shooting of a protester in Minneapolis have been placed on leave, a US Customs and Border Protection spokesperson has said.
It comes as US President Donald Trump battles backlash over the shooting which happened during a protest against an immigration crackdown last weekend.
"The two officers involved are on administrative leave. This is standard protocol," the spokesperson told AFP in a statement.
Intensive care unit nurse Alex Pretti, 37, was shot multiple times on Saturday after being forced to the ground by camouflaged officers in a scuffle captured on video.
His death, which followed the fatal shooting of another protester by an immigration officer earlier this month, sparked nationwide and bipartisan outrage.
Mr Trump has called for an "honourable and honest investigation" into Mr Pretti's death and suggested he would "de-escalate a little bit" the administration's immigration crackdown in the city in the northern state of Minnesota.
Stephen Miller - a powerful figure who leads Mr Trump's hardline immigration policy - told AFP yesterday that the agents may have breached "protocol" before the shooting.
The White House later said that Mr Miller was referring to "general guidance" to immigration agents operating in Minnesota, not the specific incident involving Mr Pretti.
It added that officials would be "examining why additional force protection assets may not have been present to support the operation" to remove undocumented migrants from Minnesota.
Trump says 'going to deescalate a little bit' in Minnesota
Mr Miller also appeared to blame both the border agency and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for his comments on Saturday, which have since attracted criticism.
Shortly after the killing, Mr Miller called Mr Pretti a "would-be assassin" and accused him of wanting to murder federal agents.
But Mr Miller said his comments were based on an initial statement by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who falsely said Mr Pretti was brandishing a weapon when he approached federal agents.
Video evidence later showed that Mr Pretti was not holding a gun at the time. He had a sidearm on him, but agents had already removed it before he was shot multiple times at point-blank range.
"The initial statement from DHS was based on reports from CBP on the ground," Mr Miller said in his statement.
Meanwhile, the president's so-called border czar, Tom Homan, has met the Minneapolis mayor and the Minnesota governor, as the White House sought to ease unrest in the city.
Some advisers have expressed concern that national outrage over the deaths of Mr Pretti and that of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good on 7 January, could derail Mr Trump's broader immigration agenda.
Mr Homan's job in Minneapolis is to "recalibrate tactics" and improve cooperation with state and local officials, a source with ties to the White House said, adding: "The goal is to scale back, eventually pull out".
Speaking about the situation on Fox News yesterday, Mr Trump said his administration was "going to de-escalate a little bit".
"I don't think it's a pullback. It's a little bit of change," the president said.
Asked whether he retained confidence in Ms Noem, whose role in the crisis brought calls for her dismissal or impeachment from leading Democrats on Capitol Hill, President Trump said: "I do."
The president met with Ms Noem, at her request, for two hours in the Oval Office on Monday evening, a source briefed on the matter confirmed.
Recalibrating the surge
A senior Trump administration official said Mr Homan would move away from the broad, public neighbourhood sweeps that Gregory Bovino has conducted in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis and other cities and adopt a more traditional, targeted approach.
In a statement, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he had reiterated to Mr Homan his request that the enforcement action, known as Operation Metro Surge, "come to an end as quickly as possible," and that city leaders would remain in touch with him.
The 30-minute meeting included the city's police chief.
In a separate meeting with Mr Homan, Governor Tim Walz said he had outlined the state's priorities, including impartial investigations into the two shootings and a reduction in the 3,000-strong force of federal agents deployed to the city.
Mr Homan and Mr Walz agreed to continue working toward those goals, the governor said.
Mr Homan called the meetings a "productive starting point" for additional "conversations with key stakeholders in the days ahead".
Tension in Minneapolis stayed high, despite the initial efforts to lower friction.
At a town hall meeting yesterday, a man sprayed an unknown liquid at Democratic US Representative Ilhan Omar as she called for ICE to be abolished and for Ms Noem to resign.
Ecuador's foreign ministry said an ICE agent tried to enter its Minneapolis consulate yesterday.
Support for Trump's immigration drive wanes
The killing of Mr Pretti has turned into a full-blown political crisis for Mr Trump, with even some Republicans in Congress calling for investigations.
Coupled with the 7 January shooting of Ms Good, a mother of three, by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, Mr Pretti's death sparked renewed anger over the heavily armed federal agents on the Minneapolis streets.
Minnesota's chief federal judge threatened to hold the acting head of ICE, Todd Lyons, in contempt for his agency's failures to comply with court orders that some detainees receive bond hearings.
Public support for Mr Trump's immigration enforcement tactics appeared to be waning both before and after Mr Pretti'’s shooting, a Reuters/Ipsos poll suggested.
The issue has put Republicans on the defensive ahead of November's midterm elections, when the party's narrow congressional majorities are at stake.
