Untruths -- and consequences
After Renee Good's killing, Trump administration officials indicated that immigration agents could act with impunity and immunity. Then Alex Pretti took 10 bullets in the back.
Ten shots in the back.
That’s what took Alex Pretti’s life in Minneapolis on Saturday morning. Pepper-sprayed into submission and stripped of the gun he lawfully carried, he kneeled on the ground while federal officers shot him. Again and again. In the back.
If you’re looking for an explanation of why this happened, it may well begin with the Trump administration’s rhetoric after an ICE agent killed Renee Good on Jan. 7. Administration officials basically indicated that immigration officials could act with impunity — and immunity.
Let’s begin with a close look at the character assassination that followed Good’s killing.
Despite the video evidence that showed Good was merely trying to drive away from the site of an anti-ICE protest in Minneapolis, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Good “weaponized her vehicle” against ICE officers. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem branded Good a domestic terrorist. President Trump, on his TruthSocial website, said Good “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer.”
None of it was true. Multiple videos showed it to be untrue. But all of it delivered the same implied message to the 3,000 federal agents hunting for undocumented immigrants in Minnesota: Do what you want to do. We’ll have your back.
Then two days later, the Trump administration’s anti-immigration commissar, Stephen Miller, went one step further.
“To all ICE officers: You have federal immunity in the conduct of your duties,” Miller said on the Department of Homeland Security’s page on X.
Think about that for a moment. In essence, Miller, who’s not even a lawyer but who is one of Trump’s top advisers, told the nation’s 22,000 ICE agents that the federal government will not prosecute them no matter what they do on duty.
Might that have made some of the Border Patrol agents working with ICE in Minneapolis a little trigger-happy when Pretti filmed them and then rushed to the aid of a woman they tackled? What other explanation can there be for shooting a man who had already been subdued 10 times in the back?
Of course and predictably, Trump administration officials responded to Pretti’s slaying with yet another cavalcade of lies. Repeating herself, Noem indicated that Pretti – an intensive care nurse at a veterans hospital – was a domestic terrorist. Miller called him “a would-be assassin.” Trump called him “the gunman” even though an agent stripped Pretti of his weapon before shots were fired.
This time, though, even some of Trump’s traditional allies saw through the gaslighting.
After a federal prosecutor said on X that any federal agent would be justified in shooting an armed protester, the National Rifle Association called that statement “dangerous and wrong.”
“Responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens,” the NRA said.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Andrew Garbarino, said he would be calling on ICE officials to testify about the immigration crackdown. And a former chairman of that committee, Rep. Michael McCaul, seems ready to ask some tough questions.
“I am troubled by the events that have unfolded in Minneapolis,” McCaul, a Texas Republican, said on X. “As an attorney and former federal prosecutor, I believe a thorough investigation is necessary — both to get to the bottom of these incidents and to maintain Americans’ confidence in our justice system.”
Sens. Bill Cassidy and Lisa Murkowski, both Republicans, also called for investigations into Pretti’s shooting.
Questioning whether agents were properly trained, Murkowski said on X: “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.”
Murkowski also appeared to rebuke Miller, delivering a message that federal immigration officers quite obviously need to hear.
“ICE agents do not have carte blanche in carrying out their duties,” she said.
MUSICAL CODA: Frank Turner, “1933”
Here's hoping this gets more Republicans to speak up. I'm not optimistic. But Republican Chris Madel dropping out of the Minnesota gubernatorial race because, in not so many words, he's ashamed to be a member of that party, was heartening. What would be more heartening would be if more Republicans would also come to their senses. They could start a sensible, responsible, ethical conservative party. Leave the dregs to the MAGA minions who have destroyed it. Start something fresh from the ashes — says I, a lifelong Democrat.