The unjust killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse in Minneapolis, marks a turning point in President Donald Trump’s second term. His mass deportation campaign has been a moral and political failure, leaving American citizens feeling outraged and unsafe.
A Border Patrol officer killed Pretti on Saturday, and the Department of Homeland Security quickly claimed that Pretti was a “domestic terrorist” who wanted to “massacre” agents. Yet Pretti can be seen on tape holding his phone, not a gun, in his right hand, and his left hand is empty. While an independent investigation is necessary to iron out all the facts, it appears that the precipitating event was a federal officer pushing a woman down onto the sidewalk. Pretti, who was a medical professional at the VA, stepped between them and gets pepper sprayed. In the ensuing scuffle, a federal officer fired 10 rounds.
Minneapolis’s police chief said Pretti was “a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.” Minnesota law allows the open carry of handguns for people with permits. He had no criminal record.
The outrageous refusal by the feds to allow local authorities to properly secure the crime scene or gather evidence further inflames tensions with state and city police. The lack of accountability for federal officers has undermined the administration’s claims that this is about law and order. The local population clearly wants the roughly 3,000 immigration officers now deployed around the Twin Cities to leave.
Senate Democratic leaders have threatened to shut down the federal government by blocking passage of a DHS funding bill which must be approved by Friday. Republican senators horrified by the immigration enforcement tactics could create room for a compromise. But it’s not that simple. ICE’s operations will continue under the status quo if Democrats block the DHS spending bill, because $75 billion was already allocated in the tax bill last summer. If Democrats block the bill, unintended consequences will cascade across unrelated parts of government, from FEMA to the Coast Guard.
The version of the DHS funding bill that passed the House on Thursday adds money for conflict de-escalation training and independent oversight of detention facilities. It also provides $20 million for the purchase of body cameras for DHS agents. The mayhem in Minneapolis has made it untenable to argue that the tweaks in the House package go far enough.
The House version does not require DHS officers to wear the body cameras it allocates funding for. Officers should want that because video will help exonerate them when they’re falsely accused of wrongdoing. Transparent guidelines for releasing this footage would go a long way to restoring trust between law enforcement and locals. Absent body cameras, many citizens will continue to feel compelled to constantly record federal officers performing their duties.
It’s essential that federal immigration officers don’t think they can act with impunity, because that will only encourage more fatal encounters. An independent probe of this shooting is an important step. On Saturday night, a federal judge ordered DHS not to destroy evidence related to Pretti’s killing in response to a lawsuit filed by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D).
Democrats will prevail if they focus on a narrow set of reasonable demands. The president will gain the upper hand if the left clamors for abolishing ICE. They already tried that during Trump’s first term, and it backfired. At the same time, that agency needs to be bound by laws, oversight and accountability. Most of all, U.S. citizens need to be secure in exercising their First and Second Amendment rights without worrying they’ll get gunned down.
Most Americans want a secure border, and they think violent criminals should be deported. That’s a large part of why Trump returned to the White House. The overreach of the past year, however, could consume his presidency and lead to more tragedy. If Trump won’t change course on his own, can Republicans in Congress save him from himself?
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