President Donald Trump’s No. 2 at the Justice Department reacted to a blistering statement from Alex Pretti’s family by accusing them of lying and by pledging additional support for ICE.
Todd Blanche suggested to NBC News that Pretti, the Veterans Affairs nurse killed by a Border Patrol agent Saturday, was impeding federal officers when he was thrown to the ground, beaten, and then shot dead—a chilling encounter captured on video.
“There was an isolated arrest effort yesterday to arrest somebody that did not belong in this country,” Blanche said. “He’s here illegally, and he’s a convicted felon. ICE should be able to do that with cooperation and support, not with what we saw happening yesterday.”
After being read a statement from Pretti’s loved ones and asked to respond, Blanche stumbled over his words. He eventually alleged that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, had been lying about the circumstances of Pretti’s killing. Pretti’s parents have echoed the version of events shared by Frey and Walz.
“My response is that—is, we are, have nothing but sympathy for the family of him, we do,” Blanche said, stuttering.
He continued, “But make no mistake, this is an investigation that’s ongoing, and long before [Homeland Security] Secretary Noam took the stage yesterday, the mayor and the governor took their own narrative and said a bunch of things that were just as false and just as misleading and just as horrible as anything that we’ve heard over the past month.”
Blanche did not condemn the conduct of the agents who physically subdued, punched, and then killed Pretti.
“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,” he said.
Meet the Press host Kristen Welker asked Blanche if the deaths of Americans are “a price the Trump administration is willing to pay to carry out its immigration policies?”
His voice rising a pitch, Blanche answered, “It shouldn’t be.”
Including the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent this month, federal officers have killed more U.S. citizens (two) in Minneapolis this year than the city has homicides that do not involve federal law enforcement (one).
Pretti’s family supported their late loved one’s final act—to help a woman shoved to the ground by officers—in a statement released Saturday night
“We are heartbroken but also very angry,” Pretti’s parents wrote. “Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends, and also the American veterans whom he cared for.”
They continued, “Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the hero term lightly. However, his last thought and act was to protect a woman.”
The grieving parents then slammed the Trump administation attempting to paint Pretti as a domestic terrorist who sought to murder federal agents. They characterized those claims as bald-faced lies.
Videos from their son’s killing show he never brandished a handgun he was legally carrying in his waistband, which appears to have been removed by an officer prior to him being shot.
“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting,” the family’s statement said. “Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed. Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.”
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