Minneapolis: Former Democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have raised concerns over the killing of two citizens by federal immigration agents, urging Americans to voice their dismay to the Trump administration and warning that it was a watershed moment in US history.
Republicans are increasingly growing wary about overreach by immigration enforcement squads and are demanding an independent investigation into the fatal shooting of Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti – the second US citizen killed by federal agents in that city this month.
One day after the tragedy, officials were still unable to say whether the 37-year-old, who was observing and documenting an immigration enforcement operation, pulled out his gun during the fatal encounter.
Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, who in the immediate aftermath of the incident asserted that Pretti was intending to “massacre” law enforcement officers, was asked several times in an interview with CNN whether the nurse brandished his weapon.
“That’s going to come to light through the investigation,” Bovino said. He accused Pretti of impeding a law enforcement operation by virtue of his presence at the scene and said he should not have brought a gun to a “riot” – although filming such an operation is legal, and Pretti was licensed to carry a firearm in Minnesota.
Footage filmed by bystanders contradicts the administration’s explanation of what happened. It shows that Pretti approached agents while holding a phone before they wrestled him to the ground. In a chaotic moment, an officer appeared to pull a handgun away from Pretti before another agent fired numerous lethal shots.
Bovino told CNN the exact sequence of events was not yet known and would be confirmed by an investigation.
But at a news conference, Minnesota Attorney-General Keith Ellison said federal authorities had again blocked local police from accessing the crime scene and investigative files, as occurred following the fatal shooting of Renee Good on January 7.
The state of Minnesota also successfully sought a court order to restrain federal authorities from destroying or tampering with evidence from the Pretti shooting. “We are in uncharted territory,” Ellison said. “We’ve never had to do anything like this before.”
In a bold statement, Clinton, a centrist Democrat from the south who was president from 1993 to 2001, said he never thought he would witness the scenes that had played out in Minneapolis over the past three weeks.
“People, including children, have been seized from their homes, workplaces and the street by masked federal agents,” he said. “Peaceful protesters and citizens exercising their constitutional right to observe and document law enforcement have been arrested, beaten, teargassed, and most searingly, in the case of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, shot and killed.
“All of this is unacceptable and should have been avoided. To make matters worse, at every turn, the people in charge have lied to us, told us not to believe what we’ve seen with our own eyes, and pushed increasingly aggressive and antagonistic tactics, including impeding investigations by local authorities.”
Clinton said the country was at a seismic juncture. “Over the course of a lifetime, we face only a few moments where the decisions we make and the actions we take will shape our history for years to come. This is one of them. If we give our freedoms away after 250 years, we might never get them back.”
In a joint statement with his wife Michelle, Obama said Pretti’s death should be “a wake-up call” that American values were under assault, and called on the Trump administration to reconsider its approach. “This has to stop,” the Obamas said.
Republican senators Lisa Murkowski and Thom Thillis were among those calling for an independent probe into what happened amid rising concern about tactics used by ICE agents as they attempt to execute the biggest mass deportation in US history under orders from the Trump administration.
Murkowski said Pretti’s death raised serious questions about the adequacy of training given to ICE officers and the instructions they received. “Lawfully carrying a firearm does not justify federal agents killing an American – especially, as video footage appears to show, after the victim had been disarmed,” she said.
Tillis said: “Any administration official who rushes to judgment and tries to shut down an investigation before it begins are doing an incredible disservice to the nation and to President Trump’s legacy,” he said.
Republicans in Congress have already reiterated their requests for ICE and Border Patrol leadership to testify before a broader inquiry into their operations.
Congressman James Comer, a staunch Trump ally and chair of the House oversight committee, defended ICE but said the president should consider sending them elsewhere.
“If the mayor and governor are going to put our ICE officials in harm’s way, and there’s a chance of losing more innocent lives or whatever, maybe go to another city and let the people of Minneapolis decide, ‘Do we want to continue to have all these illegals?’” Comer said on Fox News.
Tim Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, doubled down on his calls for peaceful resistance to ICE. He invoked Nazi Germany and the diaries of Anne Frank, who hid from the Gestapo in an Amsterdam attic before being taken to a concentration camp.
“We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside,” Walz said. “Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody’s going to write that children’s story about Minnesota.”
Some conservatives were critical of Walz for exacerbating tensions. Vice President JD Vance said Minnesota’s Democrat leaders “created the chaos so they can have moments like yesterday, where someone tragically dies and politicians get to grandstand”.
“The solution is staring everyone in the face. I hope authorities in Minneapolis stop this madness,” Vance said.
Trump has largely avoided commenting directly on the circumstances of Pretti’s death but reiterated demands for Minnesota to co-operate with ICE.
In a lengthy statement posted to social media, he called for Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to turn over any “criminal illegal aliens” currently in prison, as well as any with an active warrant or known criminal history, for immediate deportation.
He also urged the state to hand over undocumented immigrants arrested by local police, and for police to assist law enforcement in apprehending and detaining those wanted for crimes.
In Minneapolis, crowds grew over the day at the site where Pretti was killed. People dropped flowers, photographs and cardboard signs at a makeshift memorial. Most people stood and observed in silence, while some delivered speeches, recited prayers or led the crowd in chants.
Meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in downtown Minneapolis for a snap rally, vowing to keep up protests and economic blackouts as they fight to get ICE out of the city.
“What they’re doing to us right now is totally f—ed, it’s wrong, and we need them out of here,” said 69-year-old Carolyn Pare, a former Minnesotan who now lives in neighbouring Wisconsin.
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via Twitter or email.
