Minnesota political leaders are vowing to hold federal officials accountable following the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by a U.S. Border Patrol agent, an incident that has sparked renewed protests in a state already facing heightened tensions over recent law-enforcement shootings.
Gov. Tim Walz and other Minnesotans have vowed that the state “will have the last word” on the fatal shooting that they see as the result of the Trump administration’s controversial deployment of agents who are there to do immigration enforcement operations, all of which have been resisted by the governor and other Democrats.
“I have a strong statement here for our federal government,” Walz. “Minnesota’s justice system will have the last word on this. It must have the last word.”
Minnesota National Guard members were deployed on Saturday at the governor’s request to secure the site of the shooting and the Whipple Federal Building, which is a known staging area for immigration authorities and has become a hotspot for protesters, according to the statement.
“The Minnesota National Guard’s mission remains the same: preserving life, protecting property, and ensuring Minnesotans can safely exercise their First Amendment rights,” Army Maj. Andrea Tsuchiya, a state national guard public affairs officer, said in a statement.
Pretti, a U.S. citizen and intensive care unit nurse for the VA, was killed during an encounter with federal immigration officers in Minneapolis.
Federal authorities said Pretti was armed with a handgun and claimed he intended to use it against law enforcement. Officials said a struggle occurred before an agent fired.
The incident follows the recent fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good, 37, who was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer earlier this month.
That shooting also prompted protests and calls for greater scrutiny of federal law-enforcement operations in Minnesota.
Former acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey sharply criticized Gov. Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Saturday, accusing them of attempting to block federal immigration enforcement.
Fahey said the actions taken by the Democratic officials amount to a “subversion effort” aimed at undermining President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
He made the remarks during an appearance on Fox News, where he joined host Jon Scott on Fox Report.
The interview aired shortly after Frey publicly called on Trump to remove Immigration and Customs Enforcement and US Border Patrol agents from Minnesota following the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old man earlier in the day.
During the segment, Fox News aired footage of Frey describing recent anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis as “peaceful” and said they “embody the very principles” of what it means to be an American.
Fahey rejected that characterization. He said Frey has actively worked to make it more difficult for federal agents to carry out their duties.
“[Frey’s] talking about our democracy,” Fahey said. “Well, part of our democracy is we have elections and we pass laws, and the Executive branch enforces the laws. And he’s using his authority to prevent the law from being enforced.”
Fahey said both Frey and Walz have created what he described as de facto “no-go zones” for federal immigration enforcement.
“It’s a complete subversion effort by him and Governor Walz — the likes of which we have not seen probably since the Civil War,” Fahey said.
He said the president has a responsibility to ensure that federal law is enforced and not selectively blocked by state or local officials.
“You can’t have a state, you can’t have a politician, and you can’t have some activists decide what federal laws get enforced and where they get enforced,” Fahey said. “It’s really outrageous conduct.”
Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino told reporters that Pretti approached agents with a 9 mm handgun while they were apprehending a violent illegal immigrant from Ecuador.
“The suspect also had two loaded magazines and no accessible ID,” Bovino said. “This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
