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US President Donald Trump yesterday slammed comments by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey who said the northern city “does not and will not” enforce federal immigration laws.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he was surprised by Frey’s statement since the two had “a very good conversation” following the fatal shooting of two Minneapolis residents by federal agents amid massive immigration raids there.

“Could somebody in his inner sanctum please explain that this statement is a very serious violation of the Law, and that he is PLAYING WITH FIRE!” Trump wrote.

On Tuesday, Trump suggested he would “de-escalate a little bit” in the city, as a senior White House aide said US immigration agents may have breached “protocol” in Minneapolis before shooting dead a nurse during protests.

The comments came the same day a man sprayed Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with a syringe of unknown liquid at a Minneapolis town hall meeting, where she called for curbing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told AFP the administration is evaluating whether the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents who gunned down 37-year-old Alex Pretti on Saturday failed to follow “clear guidance” to “create a physical barrier between the arrest teams and the disruptors.”

Two federal officers fired their weapons during the shooting of Pretti in Minneapolis, according to a Department of Homeland Security report to Congress published Tuesday by US media.

Trump told Fox News on Tuesday that Gregory Bovino, a hardline Border Patrol commander who is now expected to leave the city, was “a pretty out-there kind of a guy” whose presence may not have helped the situation. He sent top US border security official Tom Homan to meet with officials there.

The turmoil could result in a fresh US government shutdown, with Democrats calling for broad reforms to federal immigration operations at DHS and threatening to block approval of its funding, as part of the spending bills that go up for votes in the Senate later this week.