Grief and fury over the second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by at least one immigration agent is reaching massive proportions.
The condemnations by humanitarian and civil rights organizations have grown ever louder since news of the Jan. 24 killing of Alex Jeffrey Pretti in Minnesota went viral.
Some reports have blamed Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the homicide while others said a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was involved in the shooting. The name of the federal gunman has not been released.
Paul Raushenbush
“We are outraged and heartbroken that another innocent person has been brutally gunned down by ICE in the streets of Minneapolis, simply because he tried to help his neighbors and to bravely stand against oppression perpetrated by ICE in the community,” said Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president of the Interfaith Alliance.
Pretti’s is the second fatal shooting by immigration agents since Jan. 7 when Renee Good, an unarmed U.S. citizen, was gunned down while observing an ICE raid in Minneapolis.
Interfaith Alliance is joining with Minnesota activists in demanding ICE leave the state and the officers involved in the shootings are held accountable for both killings, Raushenbush added. “ICE should be shut down, denied additional federal funding in the upcoming budget, and investigated for their violations of Americans’ constitutional rights. All corporations and businesses should exercise their Fourth Amendment rights to end all economic relations with ICE and deny ICE access to their property.”
Hundreds of clergy from across the nation descended on Minneapolis over the weekend and helped with awareness, protester training and public events.
Jeffrey Haggray
“My heart grieves the tragic deaths of Alex Jeffrey Pretti and Renee Nicole Good,” said Jeffrey Haggray, executive director of American Baptist Home Mission Societies. “They were both law-abiding citizens killed while exercising their civic and moral duty, along with their constitutional rights to peacefully resist the ruthless conduct of federally appointed agents that were visibly violating the rights of their neighbors.”
Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of the Catholic Diocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, said: “The loss of another life amidst the tensions that have gripped Minnesota should prompt all of us to ask what we can do to restore the Lord’s peace. While we rightly thirst for God’s justice and hunger for his peace, this will be not be achieved until we are able to rid our hearts of the hatreds and prejudices that prevent us from seeing each other as brothers and sisters created in the image and likeness of God.
“That is as true for our undocumented neighbors as it is for our elected officials and for the men and women who have the unenviable responsibility of enforcing our laws. They all need our humble prayers.”
Tracy Malone (Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News)
“The United Methodist Church deplores the use of violence, fear, separation, and intimidation as a means of creating social order,” Council of Bishops President Tracy S. Malone wrote on behalf of the council. “Such means do not build beloved community. We reaffirm our longstanding commitment to the sacred worth of every person and to the way of peace taught and embodied by Jesus. We stand against the separation of children from their families. We detest the inhumane, evil actions that are perpetuated by governmental authorities.”
Global Refuge President Krish O’Mara Vignarajah said she and her organization are “both outraged and heartbroken” by Pretti’s killing. “Alex’s death is another unbearable loss in what has become a near-constant stream of violence, pain and cruelty under the auspices of federal immigration enforcement.”
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah
The fatal shootings violate the “core principles of human dignity and justice, said Anna Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.
“We uphold the right to peacefully protest and to bear witness to actions by law enforcement; we reject violence in all its forms and recommit ourselves to the gospel call to protect life, welcome the stranger and build systems grounded in compassion, human dignity and peace,” she said.
Church World Service said it was horrified and grief-stricken by the killing of Pretti, 37, an ICU nurse with the Veterans Administration who had stopped to help a pepper spray victim when he was tackled by agents and then shot multiple times.
Rick Santos
“The violence must end,” said Rick Santos, president of the global humanitarian organization. “We stand resolute with all who peacefully resist ICE and (Customs and Border Protection’s) reckless and lawless actions. The victims, their families and the American people deserve accountability for the Department of Homeland Security’s lawless operations and an end to their brutal tactics.”
The Department of Homeland Security claimed in a Jan. 24 social media post the shooting occurred because Pretti pointed a handgun at agents searching for an undocumented immigrant.
“The officers attempted to disarm the suspect, but the armed suspect violently resisted,” DHS said. “Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject but (he) was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Hardly any of that description is true, according to bystanders who witnessed the event and multiple video recordings made of the event.
DHS also speculated that Pretti arrived with the intention of conducting an attack on immigration agents. “The suspect also had 2 (firearm) magazines and no ID — this looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
The Trump administration also described Pretti as a “would-be assassin.”
Expert analysis of bystander videos of the confrontation contradicts all these assertions. The Associated Press reported interviewing use-of-force analysts who disputed claims that Pretti approached agents aggressively and that a CBP officer fired at Pretti defensively.
“There has been no evidence made public, they said, that supports a claim by Border Patrol senior official Greg Bovino that Pretti, who had a permit to carry a concealed handgun, intended to ‘massacre law enforcement.’”
Video shows Pretti holding a cell phone, not a handgun, in his right hand moments before at least 10 rounds were fired, The New York Times reported. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the victim did not have a criminal record.
The incident was apparently disturbing enough to motivate some Republicans in Congress to demand the administration order a full investigation into the actions of DHS. And by the end of the day Monday, Jan. 26, Bovino had bene relieved of duty and likely sent into retirement.
Rumors swirled online that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem would be next out the door.
This unusual reaction from the White House likely was motivated, in part, by the immense public backlash to the death of Good and Pretti. Faith groups were among the leaders of these opposition events.