The second shooting of a protester in Minneapolis has brought the actions of ICE and DHS back into the spotlight. The actions of the agents, as well as the quick defense of those actions by members of the Trump administration, should chill Americans of any political persuasion.
As we watched a person rendering aid to an adjacent protester, then pulled away, pepper-sprayed, and slammed to the ground with no less than four agents holding him down, his holstered permitted concealed weapon was removed. He then suffered a death by being shot no fewer than six times. You have to ask whether this is not proof of a lost democracy? We must demand not only accountability but also responsibility to set a policy that ensures this can never again happen in our country.
Alex Pretti was someone’s son. Can anyone explain to his parents why the action we just witnessed was justified? He was practicing the most sacred right we have as Americans. The right to protest is enshrined in our First Amendment. The right to bear arms is enshrined in the Second Amendment. There are ways in which you can participate in speech or being armed that still run afoul of the law, but Saturday's shooting did not include any.
Moreover, if we are a nation of laws—the very reason given for these enforcement deployments—those laws must be applied equally and viewed equally, whether or not you agree with the ideology of the individuals involved.
When protestors traveled to Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, and assaulted Capitol Police officers with baseball bats and other weapons, they were later pardoned by President Trump and recast as heroes on an official White House website entry commemorating the treasonous behavior as something to be celebrated.
Yet, when Alex Pretti legally armed himself with a concealed pistol while protesting ICE and DHS lawlessness in Minneapolis, where a mother of three had just been shot in the face three times before being denied medical treatment as she died in her car, the administration defended the actions of the agents. DHS agents shot him dead multiple times despite having him pinned to the ground, and after they had taken his still holstered pistol.
A detailed, slow-motion video examination from multiple angles by the New York Times clearly demonstrates this. How can anyone find reason to believe their life was endangered by this man to the point where they became the judge and executioner? Pretti was a VA nurse who proudly served disabled veterans who died because he was rendering care as he had done for so many others.
Yet, the narrative advanced by the Trump administration—led publicly by Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and reinforced by the president and his allies—was that Pretti was a “domestic terrorist” who had “brandished a gun” and intended to carry out a violent attack on federal agents, even suggesting he sought to do “maximum damage,” despite video evidence contradicting those claims.
The United Nations definition of terrorism is “Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons, or particular persons for political purposes.”
In the wake of Renee Good’s murder just 17 days earlier, there were numerous instances captured on video in which ICE and DHS agents told protestors they should take heed to what happened to Good and not protest. This suggests more evidence of government-sponsored terrorism than domestic terrorism targeting the government.
Comply or die is not the American way.
On Saturday, hours after Pretti was murdered, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz suggesting that things might go more easily in his state if officials gave her agency access to the Minnesota voter rolls so that the so-called Justice Department could “better guarantee free and fair elections and boost confidence in the rule of law.”
That caused a judge to ask whether the deployments were really about illegal immigrants or accomplishing through force what the Attorney General’s office had been unable to accomplish via the courts. This is an unacceptable use of the Justice Department.
Congress is in the final stages of negotiating the federal funding bills for the 2026 fiscal year. This includes an appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security, which funds ICE and CBP. The House already passed a package of spending bills that includes DHS funding, roughly $64.4 billion, about $10 billion of which is for ICE.
Many Senate Democrats have already publicly stated they will move to block the overall funding legislation if it includes DHS funding. But even if all 45 Senate Democrats and the two independents who caucus with them hold firm, they will need to find at least four Republican Senators who will need to buck their party—probably more, given the track record of some Senate Democrats.
We are hopeful that the Senate will use this leverage to force reform. The use of military-like force needs to stop. Preventing agents from being masked and requiring that they all wear bodycams should be at the top of the list. Human beings almost always behave better when their identities are known and their actions are on video. Preventing the use of administrative warrants that are not signed by a judge should also be a demand. Congress must end the so-called Kavanaugh stops in which agents are demanding to see proof of citizenship with no probable cause, often based on things like skin color and accents.
America is at a crossroads in which we must choose between democracy and totalitarianism. Some Americans seem fine with the latter, so long as it is imposed by someone who shares their ideology, and it is not their child who just got shoved to the ground and shot to death. But they would do well to remember that while ideology is often flexible, absolute power is not, and rooting for your oppressor is not a guarantee that they will not turn state power on you or yours should the opportunity arise.
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lib224
Republicans did this. Never vote for a Republican.
Wednesday, January 28 Report this
tjgachter
The tragedy, the hypocrisy, the lies and government sponsored manipulations. I find it both sickening and heartbreaking. In the words of John Stuart Mill, “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” The time has more than come for the good “men” to do something. Our hard fought and won democracy is in peril.
Wednesday, January 28 Report this
RRICH69176
YET..we have a candidate for governor who supports these actions....can we change this course?
Wednesday, January 28 Report this
san.gander
I witnessed a murder of a man who was going to help a woman who had been violently shoved to the ground by a masked man who "representing himself" as a law enforcement official. I don't accept that legitimate legal authorities in my United States looked or acted like these ICE agents! Its wrong! It fits scenarios in old war movies of jack-booted, gestapo-thugs, dragging people away and murdering in streets of Europe.
Yes, he was carrying a weapon, holstered and never once did he think to reach for it as he was set upon from the back by attackers... he was attacked, as he tried to assist the woman who had been sprayed with tear gas and brutally shoved to the ground. He became the victim - attacked by five men. Pummeled, struck, dragged to the ground, disarmed, and then shot ten times! Yes, a murder by "ICE Agents"! Or, execution as some rightly called it!
How, in my country - land of the free?
Wednesday, January 28 Report this
Kneeds2Know+
The big topic not being discussed is Trump's recent implementation of significant changes to training and vetting procedures for ICE and CBP agents that began in Aug 2025 leading to those fatal incidents.
Over time, training was drastically reduced from 20 weeks to 6-8 weeks. The 5-week Spanish-language instruction was eliminated. Reduced training included the use-of-force, de-escalation tactics, and standard federal law enforcement procedures with a heavier emphasis on tactical drills and repaid deployment. Removed the age cap to no age limit. Qualifications were removed to increase the speed of hiring which resulted in a less experienced workforce, less vetting, and thousands of new agents deployed with significant reduction of preparation and no oversight. Add computer technical errors that send hundreds to field offices without even completing training. For local police officers deputized to work with ICE, the previous four-week in-person training was replaced with a 40-hour online course.
Look at the videos again and note the lack of training, control, emotional responses, their recklessness and inexperience. Add injury to insult as this administration immediately began speaking about lies and smearing characters all to cover up.
Today, new legislation for the “ICE STANDARDS ACT” for Clear, Commonsense Guardrails by for Homeland Security was introduced in Congress, seeking to mandate standard training in de-escalation and constitutional search and seizure in response to these recent reductions.
Thursday, January 29 Report this