After nearly a month of protests and widespread condemnation across the U.S., particularly in Minneapolis following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, another such tragedy unfolded over the weekend.
Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was shot during an encounter with ICE officers on January 24.
Highlights
- Former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama condemned ICE’s killing of nurse Alex Pretti, calling it a heartbreaking tragedy and a wake-up call for America.
- Alex Pretti was shot while filming an ICE immigration operation; videos show him holding a phone.
- Obama criticized the Trump administration for escalating conflict and ignoring video evidence in the shootings of Pretti and Renee Good.
- Former President Bill Clinton called the Minneapolis incidents ‘horrible’ and urged Americans to stand up for democracy amid misinformation.
Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama condemned President Donald Trump’s administration publicly in the aftermath of the recent killing.
Barack and Michelle Obama condemned ICE’s killing of Alex Pretti
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Pretti was shot as he filmed an immigration operation on his phone. The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents fired their weapons in self-defense, claiming Pretti was armed at the time of the encounter.
However, witness accounts and multiple videos shared online appear to show Pretti holding his phone rather than a gun.
The Obamas said ICE’s heavy-handed tactics have gone from an outrageous “spectacle” to a “wake-up call” for all Americans.
“The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault,” they wrote in a statement shared on X.
“For weeks now, people across the country have been rightly outraged by the spectacle of masked ICE recruits and other federal agents acting with impunity and engaging in tactics that seem designed to intimidate, harass, provoke and endanger the residents of a major American city,” it added.
“Federal law enforcement and immigration agents have a tough job. But Americans expect them to carry out their duties in a lawful, accountable way, and to work with, rather than against, state and local officials to ensure public safety. That’s not what we’re seeing in Minnesota. In fact, we’re seeing the opposite,” they continued.
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The statement added, “And yet rather than trying to impose some semblance of discipline and accountability over the agents they’ve deployed, the President and current administration officials seem eager to escalate the situation, while offering public explanations for the shootings of Mr. Pretti and Renee Good that aren’t informed by any serious investigation—and that appear to be directly contradicted by video evidence.”
“This has to stop,” the Obamas said.
Former President Bill Clinton also spoke up, calling the scenes in Minneapolis “horrible.”
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“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,” he wrote in a statement on X.
He added that “the people in charge” are lying to the public, telling them “not to believe what we’ve seen with our own eyes.”
“It is up to all of us who believe in the promise of American democracy to stand up, speak out, and show that our nation still belongs to We the People,” Clinton said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has once again defended ICE agents, with the DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commander Greg Bovino, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche all defending ICE.
They claim that federal agents fired their weapons in self-defense because Pretti was armed at the time of the encounter.
“We will do everything that we need to do to protect the men and women of ICE when the state and local government refuse to do so,” Blanche said on Meet the Press.
The Obamas said the tragedy should be a ‘wake-up call’ for all Americans
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Bovino told CNN on Sunday, “The victims are the Border Patrol agents. I’m not blaming the Border Patrol agents. The suspect put himself in that situation.”
However, witness accounts and multiple videos shared online appear to show Pretti holding a mobile phone rather than a gun.
Witness footage shows Pretti recording federal agents as they shove a woman, before placing himself between the woman and agents to help her.
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An agent then sprays Pretti with a chemical irritant at close range, leading him to struggle on the ground. The footage stands as contradictory evidence to claims made by the Trump administration, and shows that Pretti was not attempting to draw or use a firearm.
A CNN video analysis showed a federal immigration officer removing a gun from Pretti right before he was fatally shot at least 10 times.
A bystander’s video shows officers restraining Pretti, while an agent reaches into the scuffle and retrieves a weapon that appears to match the firearm the DHS alleges Pretti possessed.
Just a second after the officer emerges with the gun, shots ring out. About a minute after the shooting, another officer can be heard asking, “Where’s the gun?” and the officer who retrieved it says, “I got the gun.”
“I would hope that after this most recent tragedy, administration officials will reconsider their approach, and start finding ways to work constructively with Governor Walz and Mayor Frey as well as state and local police to avert more chaos and achieve legitimate law enforcement goals,” the Obamas told the Trump administration.