Observers say it was just a matter of time.
Minnesota’s liberal sanctuary policies and heated anti-ICE rhetoric had long set the stage for a violent clash between the liberal state’s left-wing politicians and activists, and federal immigration agents.
The state had become a powder keg, primed to explode. Over the weekend, a fateful spark was lit as immigration agents fatally shot 37-year-old Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, during an ICE operation in South Minneapolis that Pretti and fellow activists were allegedly obstructing.
Long-simmering tensions boiled over as Minnesota’s political leadership helped whip up the shock and distress over the killing, into a weekend of frenzied rioting against ICE.
Minneapolis’s Mayor Jacob Frey vilified the federal immigration enforcement agency as akin to “the Gestapo,” while Gov. Walz called ICE agents “violent and untrained people perpetrating brutality,” and demanding they be expelled from Minnesota immediately.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE and Border Patrol agents were in Minneapolis to arrest an illegal immigrant criminal, and Pretti and fellow agitators had assembled in the same spot to confront them.
Pretti, who was found to be “armed with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun loaded with two magazines,” according to Fox News, attempted to intervene in an arrest of a fellow agitator. Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino said agents attempted to arrest and handcuff Pretti, but he violently resisted.
“Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, a Border Patrol agent fired defensive shots,” Bovino told a press conference.
Local leaders dispute this narrative, casting the dead man as an innocent martyr who at no point had brandished his gun—for which he possessed a legal permit. They say he was cut down for no reason by aggressive, trigger-happy ICE Agents.
Video Shows Agitator Scuffling with Agents While Blocking Federal Arrest
Bystander footage released to the public shows Alex Pretti in the middle of the street, stopping traffic even before any law enforcement appeared on the scene.
As federal agents come on the scene, Pretti gets into an altercation with one of them while filming the confrontation on his phone. The altercation escalates into a chaotic scuffle involving a second activist whom federal officers attempt to subdue, with Pretti actively interfering with their efforts.
As additional federal officers join the melee, Pretti resists arrest and an agent yells out, “He’s got a gun!” An officer grabs the gun and a split second later, a shot rings out. It’s not clear from the footage who fired the gun or whether it accidentally discharged, leading agents to believe Pretti was firing at them.
A second later, Pretti is seen wrenching himself free and beginning to rise from the ground as another officer opens fire, ending his life with multiple shots.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem initially called the suspect a “domestic terrorist” who intended to assault ICE officers. That assessment is now under review as Pretti was not seen in any of the footage holding the gun in question. And yet, he was clearly armed.
Democrats are convinced the shooting was unjustified. But what appears obvious is that if thousands of people carefully analyzing the incident frame-by-frame, from multiple angles and videos, can’t even agree whether Pretti touched his gun or tried to reach his holster, how are officers at the heart of the chaotic scene expected to know in a split second whether the man and his gun posed a lethal danger?
Trump has avoided assigning blame, promising in an online post that “we will review everything about the incident” and get the full picture. Administration officials say investigators are studying footage from body cameras worn by several federal immigration enforcement officers, which have not yet been released to the public. Answers to pressing questions, they promise, will soon be forthcoming.
Methodical Harassment
Video evidence of recent protester confrontations with ICE, such as in the Renee Good shooting earlier this month, open a window on shocking methodical harassment by agitators to which federal immigration officers in Minnesota and other sanctuary states are regularly subjected.
Law enforcement cameras show protesters stalking federal agents; filming, recording and taunting them as they attempt to carry out law enforcement duties. Video clips show agitators blocking agents’ cars, shouting obscenities, blowing shrill whistles and bear horns in their faces, pelting food at them, and spitting at and cursing them.
A serious form of harassment has taken the form of “doxing” ICE agents — showing their photos, listing their homes and families online — to intimidate them. In addition, activists in groups like ICE WATCH post the license plate numbers of agents’ vehicles and their locations to members of the group, urging fellow agitators to rapidly converge at ICE operations to block immigration enforcement.
Renee Good, allegedly an ICE Watch trainee, was following her group’s playbook, blocking ICE officers and other traffic with her car, when she was instructed by federal officers to exit her vehicle. She ignored them and gunned her engine, appearing to aim the car at an ICE officer and hitting him as the car lurched forward.
The injured officer fired in her direction, fatally striking Good, a tragic incident that sparked days of anti-ICE protests and demands for “accountability.”
Critics say both deaths are the predictable outcome of anti-ICE agitation by Democratic leaders — including Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey. The political leadership has been relentless in fomenting public hostility, with Gov. Walz issuing a hyperbolic call for Minnesota’s citizens to “use their cameras to film” ICE operations, “to record them for use in a legal prosecution of atrocities being done in our state.”
As protests and tensions escalated after the shooting, Walz demanded that the DHS and the Trump administration withdraw ICE agents from the city. Walz said he contacted the White House, claiming “Minnesota has had it. The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.”
The White House at first rejected those demands, signaling no intention to pull federal law enforcement from Minnesota. As escalating anti-ICE protests seemed to be winning the PR war in many quarters, Trump softened that stance, announcing that he was sending “border czar” Tom Homan into Minnesota.
This move effectively sidelined DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, “hard-liners” who had been lightning-rod targets for public outrage in the liberal stronghold.
Walz Shifts Tone in Phone Call with Trump
Following Trump’s announcement, Gov. Walz immediately flipped his tone, courteously requesting in a phone call with President Trump on Monday, that the number of ICE agents in Minnesota be reduced. [About 3,000 ICE agents had been operating in Minneapolis, and had carried out roughly 3,400 arrests in the area.]
“Governor Tim Walz called me with the request to work together with respect to Minnesota. It was a very good call, and we actually seemed to be on a similar wavelength,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president also spoke with Frey, with whom he had previously engaged in a bitter war of words, commenting afterward that they had “a very good telephone conversation.” He noted Frey and Homan will be meeting on Tuesday.
A NY Post article entitled “ICE Tensions Could be Thawing in Minnesota,” reported that Homan’s transfer is a significant action for the Trump administration as it signaled a willingness to consider an easing of enforcement operations in Minnesota, in exchange for the state’s cooperation with federal authorities in rounding up illegal immigrants.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt outlined the three concessions the White House demanded in exchange for the reduction in the number of federal agents requested by Gov. Walz: turn over all illegal immigrants in state and local custody; promptly hand over any illegal immigrant arrested by local officials; and to work with federal law enforcement in apprehending illegal immigrants wanted for criminal behavior.
These requests had formerly been met with scornful refusals.
Commentators note that Trump’s somewhat softened stance comes amid indications that Democrats are prepared to make DHS funding the key issue in an upcoming spending bill.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer declared that Democrats will not provide the votes needed to advance a key appropriations bill if it includes funding for the Department of Homeland Security. “I will vote no. Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included,” Schumer vowed, ramping up the threat of another government shutdown.
The shutdown threat seems irrational since Democrats can’t actually put an end to immigration enforcement no matter how much they posture, critics say. ICE and Customs and Border Patrol are classified as “essential operations,” and are currently funded several years in advance. Ultimately, all Democrats can do right now is engage in bombastic rhetoric.
Walz Bends to DOJ Pressure as Federal Grand Jury Subpoenas Issued
Walz’s newfound compliance may have had something to do with federal grand jury subpoenas issued by the Department of Justice on Jan. 20, to Minnesota’s governor, AG Keith Ellison, Mayor Frey and three others.
During a Fox News interview, Bondi confirmed these subpoenas are part of a federal grand jury investigation, probing allegations that state leaders conspired to obstruct federal immigration enforcement in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The subpoenas seek documents and testimony related to possible interference with federal officers.
“The present tragedy has happened in Minneapolis because you have a mayor and a governor who have declared Minneapolis a sanctuary city,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. She noted that among the illegal immigrants being sought by ICE were scores of violent felons: convicted murderers, people accused or convicted of aggravated assault, abuse of children, drug dealing, domestic violence, armed robbery and other violent crimes.
“Gov. Walz and Mayor Frey have virtually told these criminals, ‘You’re invited here, we will protect you,’ Bondi said. “And that’s why so many of them have come here, leading to the crisis now facing us.”
The attorney general suggested the anti-ICE protests did not appear to be a grassroots movement, pointing to what she described as telltale signs of outside coordination — from groups of demonstrators carrying “identically matching” professionally printed signs to other indicators of a high level of orchestration.
“How did all these people end up with matching signs?” she questioned. “And what about the gas masks? The very next day after the shooting, hundreds of people showed up wearing gas masks [to shield themselves from tear gas], again matching, all the same type. Where did they all get it? They’re expensive. You don’t get gas masks at your corner convenience store.”
Vice President JD Vance concurred with Bondi’s assessment about the Minnesota rioting, that all evidence pointed to what he described as “coordinated activism aligned with local officials.”
“This level of engineered chaos is unique to Minneapolis,” Vance wrote online. “It is the direct consequence of far-left agitators working with local authorities.” This collaboration “set the stage for the deadly confrontation between Pretti and federal agents.” [See Sidebar]
AG Bondi Demands Minnesota Cooperate with Feds as Condition to Remove ICE
A strong letter from Attorney General Pam Bondi this week blamed the governor and other Minnesota Democrats for fostering “lawlessness” by refusing to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
“Americans are watching politicians ignore federal immigration law, criminals attack federal law enforcement, and rioters storm church services,” Bondi lashed out in her letter.
She warned that the federal government would step in if state leaders did not support federal law enforcement efforts.
Her letter went on to demand three things: first, that the state “share all of Minnesota’s records on Medicaid and Food and Nutrition Service programs, to investigate fraud and ensure that Minnesota’s welfare funds are being used to help those in need, not enrich fraudsters.
Second, the letter asked Walz to “repeal the sanctuary policies that have led to so much crime and violence in your state” and cooperate with ICE, including honoring federal detention requests.”
Lastly, Bondi said she expected Walz to “allow the DOJ to access voter rolls to confirm that Minnesota’s voter registration practices comply with federal law.”
“Do not obstruct federal immigration enforcement,” Bondi warned. “Do not allow rioters to take over the streets and houses of worship; do not hinder federal officials from investigating financial fraud and violations of election laws.”
“I am confident that these simple steps will help bring back law and order to Minnesota,” AG Bondi concluded, adding that compliance would establish a pathway toward “removing ICE forces” from the state.
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Congress Urged to End Sanctuary Cities
President Donald Trump has urged Congress to immediately pass legislation that would end sanctuary cities, and also called on every Democrat governor and mayor in America to formally cooperate with his administration to enforce U.S. laws.
The president issued four specific points in his bold message which echo the same conditions he outlined in his phone call with Gov. Walz this week. Those conditions require state authorities to turn over to federal law enforcement all criminal illegals currently in state prisons for immediate deportation. In addition, local police must assist federal law enforcement in apprehending and detaining illegal aliens who are wanted for crimes.
On Sunday, U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., appeared on Fox News to say he “introduced the ‘No Sanctuary for Criminals Act’ to bar sanctuary cities nationwide, enabling immigration enforcement to proceed in an orderly way focused on public safety.”
“Sanctuary cities incentivize massive fraud and continue to be a magnet for illegal immigration,” Kiley said. “It’s time to pass this bill, turn down the temperature, and find common ground to stop further tragedies.”
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‘Red flags’ Expose Paid Agitators
As tensions rise over who is behind the violent anti-ICE riots, a California-based company that specializes in providing on-demand crowds for protests says there are indicators to distinguish hired demonstrators from ordinary crowds.
Adam Swart, CEO and founder of Crowds on Demand, told Fox News that there are clear ways to distinguish authentic grassroots protesters from those who are paid to demonstrate. He said one giveaway is that “paid protest teams are kept on standby and can deploy within minutes, using geolocation tools and encrypted chats. Only compensated activists move that fast.”
Swart expressed his belief that many of the protesters are being compensated, explaining that “when you can gather hundreds of people at the wee hours of the morning or the late hours of the night with zero notice, with just a text message that gets results within 10 minutes, that sounds a lot more like a rapid reaction force than a group of grassroots demonstrators.”
“Activist groups are likely receiving tip-offs from informants about ICE raid locations, allowing them to stage protests before law enforcement even arrives,” Swart shared. He said the most revealing factor indicating rioters are being funded is the use of tactical gear.
If agitators come with tactical gear, including gas masks, body armor, special vests with pouches for food supplies and the like, that’s revealing, he said. “Tactical gear is extremely expensive. The fact that they’re passing out hundreds of tactical gear items is an indication that a) there’s someone with money funding them and b) they’re planning to start a riot.
“The only reason you need tactical gear is if you’re purposefully going into a situation where you’re expecting to create a riot,” he underlined.
The crowd expert’s words took on heightened relevance within minutes after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, as far-left activists descended on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis where the incident took place.
According to Fox News Digital, “a video clip showed corrugated boxes of supplies lined up on a Minneapolis sidewalk, apparently for agitators who might have to face tear gas. Some of the boxes were marked ‘DESINER MASKS’ [misspelled] and ‘FREE WINTER HATS,’ next to piles of bottled water.”
Within hours, activist leaders “apparently turbocharged their ‘rapid responders’ in Minneapolis and mobilized street protesters from New York City to Los Angeles,” the article reported.
“The Minneapolis activation marked the beginning of an almost instantaneous weekend surge by far-left organizations,” the news outlet said. “Media outlets described ‘angry protesters’ but failed to identify the socialist and Marxist networks behind the mobilization, even as protesters flashed their signs with their logos and names on camera!”