If you thought American democracy couldn’t take any more strain, last week’s shocking killing of Alex Pretti has created a new low.
Pretti was a 37-year-old intensive care nurse who worked with veterans at a hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
On Saturday, he was shot dead by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. His murder, captured on video by multiple bystanders, was the latest flashpoint in a city under siege. The Trump administration claims the masked ICE officers prowling the streets of Minneapolis and other cities are trying to rid the US of illegal immigrants.
People like Pretti are stepping up to defend their neighbours. He was a US citizen, not undocumented, not under arrest, and, from all accounts, just on the scene filming federal immigration raids in his neighbourhood – something that’s generally protected under the country’s famed First Amendment.
Videos from bystanders show Pretti holding his phone (not a gun, despite initial federal claims), trying to help a woman who’d been pepper-sprayed and tackled. Agents then wrestled him to the ground, and at least two fired around ten shots. He died at the scene.
Pretti WAS legally carrying a hidden handgun at the time, but witnesses and footage note he wasn’t brandishing it or acting aggressively.
Pretti’s death came just weeks after another US citizen, Renee Nicole Good (also 37), was shot dead in the same city, through a car window by an ICE agent on 7 January.
The pushback against ICE is growing.
- Kristi Noem, the current Secretary of Homeland Security, has faced heavy criticism over her handling of the Pretti shooting and the broader immigration operations. Right after the incident, Noem held a press conference where she described Pretti as “the definition of domestic terrorism.” Pretti’s family has called government statements “disgusting lies”, stressing that he was a dedicated ICU nurse and beloved community member.
- A preliminary report released on Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security (the umbrella agency that controls ICE) said Pretti resisted arrest but made no mention of him brandishing a weapon, attacking officers, or planning any “massacre” – directly contradicting Noem’s early claims.
- The report and Noem’s comments have sparked backlash from across the political spectrum. Even some Republicans, including North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, have spoken up; Tillis called Noem “incompetent” and said she should step down.
- The two border patrol agents who shot Pretti have been placed on paid administrative leave pending investigation.
- A Minnesota judge has ordered ICE’s acting director to appear in court over the agency’s conduct.
To be clear, immigrants – by which it sometimes feels ICE means “anyone who doesn’t look white to us” – remain the agency’s biggest target and are most at risk of assault, arrest and detention. But the murder, on camera, of citizens showing up to keep their neighbours from harm, seems to have lit a real spark across the US and highlighted the democratic crisis the country has lurched into under Trump.
