The killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis at the hands of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent this past Saturday (Jan. 24) has alarmed many who’ve seen bystander footage of the incident. This includes former President Barack Obama, who weighed in with a statement shared on social media on Sunday (Jan. 25).
In the statement, Obama called the fatal shooting a “tragedy” and a “wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.” Joined by former First Lady Michelle Obama in the statement, he acknowledged that federal and immigration officers “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.”
The Obamas also called out the “unprecedented tactics” of ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), expressing that “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.”
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The statement goes on to firmly criticize the Trump administration’s insistence that Pretti was an intentional agitator, saying “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.”
They called on all Americans to “draw inspiration from the wave of peaceful protests in Minneapolis and other parts of the country” and encouraged the administration to work with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to tamper down the situation. Pretti’s death comes two weeks after another incident where Good, a 37-year-old mother, was shot and killed by another ICE agent in a residential area of Minneapolis.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson accused Obama of being opportunistic in using Pretti’s killing to “sow more division.” Trump administration officials are continuing to vilify Pretti as an agitator who border patrol chief Gregory Bovino claimed intended to “massacre law enforcement.”
