MN - Alex Pretti dead after Minneapolis shooting involving immigration agents, US media report, January 24, 2026

[Inthedetails]

[T]he immigration agents flooding the Twin Cities are generally less experienced in urban policing and crowd control than other police.

"The skills that these federal immigration agents are bringing to these cities are a complete mismatch for what we actually need," says Irene Vega, an associate professor of sociology at UC Irvine. "That's not what their job has been, historically, and I just think it's a very dangerous situation."

https://www.npr.org/2026/01/28/g-s1-107602/cbp-has-a-history-of-excessive-force-critics-say-they-were-unprepared-for-minnesota

From the same link, bbm

"There's a duty of obligation that you have in policing, if you incapacitate someone," says Leon Taylor. He's a retired Baltimore police officer, who also served as a military peace keeper in the Balkans He and other former police have been discussing the scenes coming out of Minnesota.

"If [a pepper-sprayed person] stumbles out into traffic and gets run over and killed, that's on me. There's a duty of care."

He says the videos appear to show federal officers escalating conflicts, instead of defusing them.

"They live in a toxic environment of their own creation that has nothing to do with policing," Taylor says, and he blames the message from high-level officials – such as Vice President Vance – that they have "immunity."

"If they told these guys instead, before they turned them loose, that you have an absolute responsibility, instead of absolute immunity… it starts with the mindset about what you are doing," he says.

 

[JennieM]

‘Evil is resilient’: pressure on Stephen Miller but Trump unlikely to cut ties

Outrage followed ‘would-be assassin’ lie but experts say architect of ICE drive too dominant a figure to be shunned

[…]

About three and a half hours after the tragedy on Saturday, Miller used social media to describe Pretti, 37, as a “would-be assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents”.

[…]

But arguably the true culprit of the Minneapolis debacle is Miller, who is officially the White House deputy chief of staff but has been likened by some to Trump’s prime minister. Axios reported: “His reach, sources say, includes effective oversight of Noem, despite her cabinet-level seniority. ‘Everything I’ve done, I’ve done at the direction of the president and Stephen,’ Noem is said to have told one interlocutor.”

[…]

“Stephen Miller is the architect,” Jacobs said. “He’s the guy who has been haranguing ICE to get tougher and deliver more numbers, bring people in and we’ll sort them out as to whether you got the right people later. The recklessness, the brutality, the lack of legal process – all of that has its roots with Stephen Miller.

[…]

Olsen does not believe that Miller is in danger of becoming the fall guy, however. “Miller’s been with him for quite some time. Trump has no problem getting rid of non-performing subordinates but one suspects that Miller in many ways is performing and he is not going to toss him over the side lightly.”


Miller performs where it matters for Trump: on television.

[…]


“The problem with Stephen Miller is that evil is resilient. He doesn’t feel any shame. He doesn’t think that this is a bad thing. He’s convinced that other people have embarrassed him but not that he’s running a vast assault on the constitutional liberties of Americans.”

[…]

‘Evil is resilient’: pressure on Stephen Miller but Trump unlikely to cut ties

Outrage followed ‘would-be assassin’ lie but experts say architect of ICE drive too dominant a figure to be shunned

www.theguardian.com

 

[JennieM]

Woman who recorded Alex Pretti fatal shooting by ICE agents speaks out

CNN's Anderson Cooper speaks to a witness who captured with her phone the critical moments of Alex Pretti's fatal shooting by ICE agents in Minneapolis.

02:17 • Source: CNN

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/27/us/video/alex-pretti-witness-video-recording-anderson-digvid

 

[Inthedetails]

‘Evil is resilient’: pressure on Stephen Miller but Trump unlikely to cut ties

Outrage followed ‘would-be assassin’ lie but experts say architect of ICE drive too dominant a figure to be shunned

[…]

About three and a half hours after the tragedy on Saturday, Miller used social media to describe Pretti, 37, as a “would-be assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents”.

[…]

But arguably the true culprit of the Minneapolis debacle is Miller, who is officially the White House deputy chief of staff but has been likened by some to Trump’s prime minister. Axios reported: “His reach, sources say, includes effective oversight of Noem, despite her cabinet-level seniority. ‘Everything I’ve done, I’ve done at the direction of the president and Stephen,’ Noem is said to have told one interlocutor.”

[…]

“Stephen Miller is the architect,” Jacobs said. “He’s the guy who has been haranguing ICE to get tougher and deliver more numbers, bring people in and we’ll sort them out as to whether you got the right people later. The recklessness, the brutality, the lack of legal process – all of that has its roots with Stephen Miller.

[…]

Olsen does not believe that Miller is in danger of becoming the fall guy, however. “Miller’s been with him for quite some time. Trump has no problem getting rid of non-performing subordinates but one suspects that Miller in many ways is performing and he is not going to toss him over the side lightly.”


Miller performs where it matters for Trump: on television.

[…]


“The problem with Stephen Miller is that evil is resilient. He doesn’t feel any shame. He doesn’t think that this is a bad thing. He’s convinced that other people have embarrassed him but not that he’s running a vast assault on the constitutional liberties of Americans.”

[…]

‘Evil is resilient’: pressure on Stephen Miller but Trump unlikely to cut ties

Outrage followed ‘would-be assassin’ lie but experts say architect of ICE drive too dominant a figure to be shunned

www.theguardian.com

He's also from California and I think he picked winter for the ICE invasion in Minnesota thinking the public would be snuggled inside and not likely to protest. He was wrong.

jmopinion

 

[JennieM]

Gun-rights groups decried the administration’s rhetoric on Alex Pretti’s gun. Then Trump went even further​

[…]

“With that being said, you can’t have guns,” Trump said. “You can’t walk in with guns. You just can’t.”

A reporter asked Trump how that squared with the Second Amendment. But Trump didn’t back down.

“You can’t walk in with guns, you can’t do that,” he said. “But it’s a very unfortunate incident.”

[…]

The biggest gun-rights group is, of course, the National Rifle Association.

It turned plenty of heads over the weekend by calling Essayli’s comments “dangerous and wrong.”

“Responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens,” the NRA posted on X on Saturday night.

That sentiment would sure seem to apply to Trump. But the organization was more muted on Tuesday about Trump’s comments, posting a general statement of principles without invoking the president specifically.

“The NRA unequivocally believes that all law-abiding citizens have a right to keep and bear arms anywhere they have a legal right to be,” the NRA said on X.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/27/politics/gun-alex-pretti-ice-nra

 

[Inthedetails]

What ICE is doing in Minnesota, bbm:


The 2-year-old’s detention is part of an accelerating trend of what Vaynerman describes as ICE agents sending children and adults with legal immigration status out of state to avoid dealing with accountability from the federal court system. ...

“Minnesotans are being unlawfully detained and are then being quickly marshalled across state lines by the government,” Vaynerman said. “They’re doing that in order to evade the reach of the federal district court in Minnesota.”

“This is an intentional, calculated effort,” Vaynerman added, “Especially where folks are already being denied the access of counsel before they're placed on the planes.”

(in another situation) the entire family was put on a flight to Texas within a few hours despite a federal judge ruling that the family be kept in Minnesota.

“They flood the zone with all these arrests,” Clark said. “All the tactics towards protesters, and then people are just missing the biggest thing (which) is this conveyor belt where they’re just arresting people without legal basis, and moving them,” Clark said.

more at the link: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/...ldren-to-texas-faster-than-courts-can-respond

 

[Inthedetails]

What ICE is doing in Minnesota, bbm:


The 2-year-old’s detention is part of an accelerating trend of what Vaynerman describes as ICE agents sending children and adults with legal immigration status out of state to avoid dealing with accountability from the federal court system. ...

“Minnesotans are being unlawfully detained and are then being quickly marshalled across state lines by the government,” Vaynerman said. “They’re doing that in order to evade the reach of the federal district court in Minnesota.”

“This is an intentional, calculated effort,” Vaynerman added, “Especially where folks are already being denied the access of counsel before they're placed on the planes.”

(in another situation) the entire family was put on a flight to Texas within a few hours despite a federal judge ruling that the family be kept in Minnesota.

“They flood the zone with all these arrests,” Clark said. “All the tactics towards protesters, and then people are just missing the biggest thing (which) is this conveyor belt where they’re just arresting people without legal basis, and moving them,” Clark said.

more at the link: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/...ldren-to-texas-faster-than-courts-can-respond

from same link^^, bbm

Prokosch said the parents have no criminal record in the state and no order of deportation. He also said their removal from Minnesota happened so quickly, he had been unable to determine their exact location a full day after they’d been detained.

“We have clients that once they’re picked up, they’re whisked away to the airport literally within hours. And so that’s (what happened), to the best of our knowledge. They’re in a family holding cell (in Texas now),” Prokosch said.

For Prokosch, like many other lawyers, ICE tactics being deployed in Minnesota seem designed to evade the law.

“That’s intentional,” Prokosch said. “Since Metro Surge came, they’ve been moving them all out to Texas … within 24 hours. That’s one of the core elements of being able to help somebody in the legal sphere, is to be able to communicate with them … it’s really hard to talk to them.”

 

[Inthedetails]

bbm

Clark believes ICE operations are driven by numbers. “They know these aren't legal detentions, but they’re doing it anyways, because if they act fast enough, enough people get deported, and they can report on the numbers of people getting deported in the press.” ...

“Swaths of Minnesotans are being unlawfully detained then they are being quickly ushered across state lines in order to avoid the reach of the federal district court here in Minnesota,” she said. “I have never seen anything like this to the extent and depravity that we are seeing right now.”

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/01/28/ice-detaining-moving-minnesota-children-to-texas-faster-than-courts-can-respond

 

[Inthedetails]

This comment is about the two federal agent shootings in Minnapolis, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, from the leader of the United States in an interview Jan 27:

"Bottom line, it was terrible. Both of them were terrible; the other was terrible too," Trump said. "And I'm not sure about his parents, but I know her parents were big Trump fans, makes me feel bad anyway. But I guess you could say even worse, they were tremendous Trump people, Trump fans."

Trump Says He Feels 'Terrible' About Alex Pretti but 'Even Worse' About Renee Good Since Her Parents Were 'Tremendous Trump Fans'

President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News' Will Cain that he feels "terrible" about the death of Alex Pretti, who was killed by federal agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, but feels "even worse" about the death of Renee Nicole Good, because her parents were "tremendous Trump fans."

people.com

 

[Ruminations]

Except not all immigrants being detained and deported were illegal…

Trump Administration Moves to Deport More Than 500,000 Lawful Immigrants After Stripping Them of Their Status

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a notice today to all beneficiaries of the humanitarian parole pathway for people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (“CHNV” humanitarian parole) directing them to “self-deport” immediately. This...

justiceactioncenter.org

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/23/nx-s1-5653364/trump-policies-leave-historic-number-of-legal-immigrants-at-risk-for-deportation

“In the past 11 months, the Trump administration has stripped more than 1.6 million people of legal status”

One example is the now viral ‘Little Liam’, the 5 year old who was taken with his father by ICE at their home. His father has committed no crimes and was following all protocols for legally seeking asylum in the US. Thankfully, a judge has just blocked Liam’s deportation.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/23/us/liam-conejo-ramos-ice-wwk

ETA another example of two children being deported that were U.S Citizens:

https://www.congress.gov/119/meeting/house/118180/documents/HMKP-119-JU00-20250430-SD003.pdf

“NBC News reports that, according to a lawyer with the National Immigration Project, the two children, ages 4 and 7, were put on their mother’s deportation flight the day after they were all detained on April 24.”

Another article to help inform you: Migrants in U.S. legally and with no criminal history caught up in Trump crackdown

It's so infuriating that we (the US) do this. When people come in through legal ports of entry, we know who they are. These actions are forcing people, whose countries are destabilized partially because of policies BY THE USA, who want to escape danger to come in illegally. It's safer, in a way, because the US government does not have a record of entry, and it's harder to find them.

It used to be that people with clean records in their origin country would come in through ports of entry, and people with records like driving drunk, trafficking, etc., would be forced to sneak in the country if they wanted to enter.

Now, border control has a harder job because the legal entry system is broken, plus once someone enters the country, this country might break its promise and revoke the legal status. So, legally entering is disincentivized, and the pool of illegally entering people is all mixed up with very good people who can't wait for status or realistically don't trust legal status.

I would think the borders have a much higher percentage of the action of people entering the country. Yet, the border control officers are inland, to "help" the overstaffed ICE people who seem to need a gang for each routine arrest. It makes no sense.

MN does have an international border but it is well north of these killings. It really adds to MN argument that their deployment is NOT about ICE things or Border Control things.

And, it is cruel to immigrants- and cruel to Americans.

MOO

 

[tlcya]

Was there a problem with crowd control? Do you have a link that suggests the crowd was rowdy? From what I see, it was several groups of citizens exercising their right to protest. Where does crowd control come in and how does it prevent an agent from tackling a man to the ground and shooting him in the back multiple times despite neutralizing any potential threat?

MOO.

In addition, in the multiple angles of video footage taken on that block, we saw no crowd. There were six to eight citizens on that block, the rest of the individuals present were agents MOO. There was no crowd to control in the immediate area where this shooting played out. There were one to two individuals inside the white car parked in the spot closest to the shooting. There were two female near the victim, one of whom was being shoved down by an agent. [ETA there was also the woman in pink who filmed from the sidewalk near AP and the women being shoved] There may have been other citizen observers on the other side of the street, but those were also few. The footage shows no crowd, nothing in need of control by local LE. JMO

 

[tlcya]

Although he had stepped into the road, it appeared that Mr Pretti was basically just videotaping what was happening. Then he moved to go to the assistance of a woman who'd been shoved, and that's when the situation severely deteriorated. I think this is why so many people are upset as he does seem to be doing more or less what you're suggesting should be acceptable?

people, whether protesters or observers, may do so in the street, so long as they are not blocking traffic.

 

[LAborn]

ICE wearing masks is also a new thing - agents only started wearing masks last year under Trump. So for the past 20 years that agents have conducted immigration raids, they’ve been mask-less and had more official looking uniforms to clearly show that they are law enforcement/ICE, but now they wear masks to hide their identity. They are often in plain clothes with just a vest and no other real identifying clothing. That’s part of the funding bill being debated in Congress - there’s a push to ban agents from concealing their identities.

Why do ICE officers wear masks – and is it legal?

Federal agents involved in nationwide immigration crackdowns have come under fire for wearing face coverings – and it’s not about COVID or the cold weather, the Department of Homeland Securit…

thehill.com

Maybe this proposed law in Denver can go nationwide. Unmask, have name badges with numbers, unarm (why on earth do they need guns?!?!? Replace guns with tasers). When people can be ID'd they will act more responsibly. Denver police could arrest masked ICE agents under proposed law

 

[LAborn]

This comment is about the two federal agent shootings in Minnapolis, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, from the leader of the United States in an interview Jan 27:

"Bottom line, it was terrible. Both of them were terrible; the other was terrible too," Trump said. "And I'm not sure about his parents, but I know her parents were big Trump fans, makes me feel bad anyway. But I guess you could say even worse, they were tremendous Trump people, Trump fans."

Trump Says He Feels 'Terrible' About Alex Pretti but 'Even Worse' About Renee Good Since Her Parents Were 'Tremendous Trump Fans'

President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News' Will Cain that he feels "terrible" about the death of Alex Pretti, who was killed by federal agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, but feels "even worse" about the death of Renee Nicole Good, because her parents were "tremendous Trump fans."

people.com

I've never seen anyone so capable of making everything about himself as he is.

 

[Inthedetails]

This incident speaks directly to the level of training (or lack of) of the agents in Minnesota. It begins at the 1:25 timestamp at the link:

 

[Inthedetails]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed>

Thousands of Italians have signed petitions to demand that ICE be barred from entry since it was first reported that they would be travelling with the US delegation. On Tuesday, ICE confirmed it would send a branch with the diplomatic security service to protect top officials....

Italian officials have raised concerns over the potential safety risk of ICE agents being used after the death of intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot in Minneapolis on 24 January.

Italy’s foreign minister defends ICE attendance at Winter Olympics: ‘It’s not the SS’

Italian opposition parties are urging the government to stand up to Donald Trump and bar agents from entry

www.independent.co.uk

 

[sds71]

@MayorFrey
The job of our police is to keep people safe, not enforce fed immigration laws. I want them preventing homicides, not hunting down a working dad who contributes to MPLS & is from Ecuador. It’s similar to the policy your guy Rudy had in NYC. Everyone should feel safe calling 911.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2016517831538446802

 

[AppleTreeGreen]

My opinion is that the agents were angry at this which is why they were being aggressive with the people who began whistling and documenting.

There was no reason to shoot him once, let alone ten or eleven times.

Also according to a top firearms instructor in MN and the CBP union rep they have the best training, especially in de-escalation and disarming tactics in the country. Their instructors wanted to prepare them to neutralize almost any threat considering they were expected to detain and arrest very violent and aggressive criminals. However, as their trainer pointed out they did not even apply the basic disarming protocol he taught them by not securing Alex’s hands. Seeing as how now they see him as a threat, doing so would keep him from reaching for his weapon and help facilitate the agent’s the gray shirt removal of the gun. Just that little tactic alone may have helped saved Alex’s life as it helped diffuse the tension or stress upon completion.

Furthermore, when the agent in the grey shirt removed the gun from Alex’s person it did not appear in the video that he announced it to his teammates before he runs off. He doesn’t even seem to come back when he hears the guns go off or try to tell them to stop because Alex was disarmed. 5 seconds could have saved Alex’s life or prevented further him suffering from bodily harm if he had just told the rest of the CPB he had the gun. Instead it took his teammates 79 more seconds to realize that their victim was not even holding the firearm but that it was in the possession of their colleague taking pictures of it in the car. According to they were supposed to be trained to be the best of the best because they are expected to capture and arrest some of the most brutal and prolific. offenders in America. Per Joe Biden They were supposed to be able to discern when to de-escalate violence so that could spare a life instead of ending one. And yet, none of those expectations are reflected in their actions towards Alex and the two women that day or in their lack of coordination and communication skills and inability to apply the skills their instructors. Alex still died brutally while fighting for the recognition and protection of the humanity and rights of others.

He deserved better, he and his family deserve justice and those agents and their leadership should be made to face to the public as they are held accountable for the abuse, disappearances, deaths and physical, emotional and psychological trauma their victims have endured.

- YouTube

- YouTube

Overhauling ICE

Trump’s ICE has demonstrated itself to be reckless, dangerous, and lawless towards Americans and immigrants alike. Democrats must condemn these abuses and advocate for immediate reforms, while also remembering who is to blame first: this is Donald Trump and Kristi Noem’s ICE. Most Americans want...

www.thirdway.org

ICE expansion has outpaced accountability. What are the remedies? | Brookings

Examining ICE’s expanded role, this piece looks at federal authority, training standards, and long-term effects on civil liberties.

www.brookings.edu

https://www.fletc.gov/glock-armorers-course-enhances-law-enforcement-readiness-fletc

How to de-escalate in Minneapolis : Consider This from NPR

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5687936

 

[Inthedetails]

@MayorFrey
The job of our police is to keep people safe, not enforce fed immigration laws. I want them preventing homicides, not hunting down a working dad who contributes to MPLS & is from Ecuador. It’s similar to the policy your guy Rudy had in NYC. Everyone should feel safe calling 911.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2016517831538446802

USA has it's own homegrown criminals that local LE has to deal with, along with other emergencies from people calling 911. Why the demand for local LE to also do ICE's job, unless the intention is to harm the community by pulling their resources.

Let local LE do their job.

jmo

 

[Marantz4250b]

It has

Moo..take away their masks. They will not be so wild
Also the reason ice films is for facial identification. That is politically and personaly creepy to my mind..moo

It's been my opinion for a very long time that it should be unlawful to cover your face in public. Exceptions being bona-fide reasons relating to safety (crash helmets, etc), medical or suchlike along with some very narrow exceptions for certain law enforcement positions. There is no other legitimate reason to cover your face. None.

A huge amount of human interaction is subconscious via body language and facial expression, especially the latter. Hiding your face is nothing more than an effort to hide either your identity or your intentions. Both reasons are intended to place the people you interact with at a disadvantage to you, and both should be 100% unacceptable in a civilised society.