The emerging blame game over the Trump administration’s handling of the deadly shooting by border authorities in Minneapolis this week has exposed the internal jockeying for power within the Homeland Security Department over President Trump’s expansive federal immigration crackdown, and left the department in what current and former officials say is a severe crisis.
In the days since federal agents fatally shot a Veterans Affairs nurse, a bellicose Border Patrol agent leading the operation in the city was cast aside. The embattled homeland security secretary scrambled to get face time with Mr. Trump amid calls to step down. And a top White House official who designed Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda said the administration was examining whether border agents had violated protocol.
The situation has engulfed the department in turmoil and prompted widespread concern among the rank and file and members of Congress over the future of an agency tasked with protecting the United States from threats at home and abroad. Current and former homeland security officials have already described a growing sense of frustration and disillusionment at the agency leading Mr. Trump’s push to arrest and deport millions of immigrants.
