Trump faces growing backlash against immigration crackdown after shooting
Donald Trump faces a mounting backlash against his immigration crackdown after federal agents killed a second person in Minneapolis, causing some Republicans to break ranks and Democrats to threaten a government shutdown.
Protesters took to the streets across the US in freezing conditions over the weekend after Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, was shot dead by immigration agents on Saturday.
“I think the death of Americans, what we’re seeing on TV, it’s causing deep concerns over federal tactics and accountability,” Oklahoma’s Republican governor Kevin Stitt told CNN’s Face the Nation. “Americans don’t like what they’re seeing right now.”
Asked whether federal immigration agents should be pulled out of Minnesota, Stitt, who chairs the Republican Governors Association, said: “I think that the president has to answer that question . . . And he’s getting bad advice right now.”
Other senior Republicans also expressed alarm over the killing as video footage contradicted authorities’ claims that Pretti had violently resisted attempts by Border Patrol agents to disarm him.
“The events in Minneapolis are incredibly disturbing,” said Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy, adding that the credibility of the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency at the front line of the raids, was now at stake.
North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis called for a “thorough and impartial investigation” into the shooting.
Senator Lisa Murkowski said the incident “should raise serious questions within the administration about the adequacy of immigration-enforcement training and the instructions officers are given”.
There have been mounting protests across the US against the White House’s hardline approach to immigration, in which it has flooded several Democratic-led cities with federal agents to detain undocumented migrants.
In a rare intervention, former Democratic president Barack Obama on Sunday said the shooting was “a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault”.
Senate Democrats on Sunday threatened to block a key government financing package if it contained funds for the DHS, raising the prospect of a fresh federal shutdown as soon as next week, just months after Washington emerged from its longest ever official closure.
“As all Americans can see with their own eyes, ICE and those under their command are not acting as responsible law enforcement agencies,” said Elissa Slotkin, a moderate Democratic senator from Michigan.
“They are recklessly inciting violence at the whims of the President.”
The fallout also spilled into the corporate world, with the chief executives of more than 60 Minnesota-based companies calling for lawmakers to take steps to calm the situation.
“With yesterday’s tragic news, we are calling for an immediate de-escalation of tensions and for state, local and federal officials to work together to find real solutions,” wrote the heads of 3M, Best Buy, General Mills, Target, UnitedHealth and a host of other major companies.
Trump administration officials continued to maintain on Sunday that Pretti had threatened agents with a firearm, despite video footage that contradicted those claims.
Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino told CNN that “the victims are the Border Patrol agents there”. On Saturday he said his officers had prevented a “massacre”.
Footage of the incident showed Pretti holding a mobile phone but not brandishing a weapon. In clips from various angles, Pretti is seen attempting to help another protester who had been pepper sprayed before being wrestled to the ground by agents who then fired several shots from close range. In one clip, a federal agent is seen apparently disarming Pretti before he is shot multiple times.
Criticism of Pretti — who was licensed to carry a firearm — over his possession of a weapon riled gun ownership groups, traditionally a rock-solid part of the Republican alliance. The National Rifle Association said any suggestion that law enforcement is justified in shooting an individual because they are armed is “dangerous and wrong”.
“Responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalisations and demonising law-abiding citizens,” the NRA said.
Trump responded to the furore on Sunday night with a series of social media posts doubling down on his accusations that local Democratic officials were encouraging the chaos.
“Democrat run Sanctuary Cities and States are REFUSING to co-operate with ICE, and they are actually encouraging Leftwing Agitators to unlawfully obstruct their operations to arrest the Worst of the Worst People!” He posted.
He then called on Minnesota officials to hand over all undocumented immigrants, and Congress to outlaw local laws designed to shield them from federal deportation procedures.
Pretti’s family released a statement saying they were “heartbroken but also very angry” and condemned the comments.
“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting,” the Pretti family said. “Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs.”
Despite freezing conditions caused by Winter Storm Fernprotests erupted across the country on Saturday in response to Pretti’s death.
In New York, thousands of people took to the streets of Manhattan calling for the abolition of ICE. In Washington, footage showed hundreds of protesters gathering outside the DHS headquarters.
Similar events took place in Los Angeles and San Francisco, while demonstrators clashed with authorities in Minneapolis at the scene of the shooting throughout Saturday afternoon. Authorities deployed tear gas, batons and flashbang devices to push back crowds.
The shooting has also escalated a bitter clash between state and federal officials.
Democratic local officials and Minnesota law enforcement officials said on Saturday that they had been denied access to the scene of the shooting, underlining the tensions between the Trump administration and authorities in the state.
A judge on Saturday night granted a temporary order preventing federal officials from destroying evidence, ahead of a hearing on Monday after a lawsuit was filed by the Minnesota attorney-general’s office.
Additional reporting by Peter Andringa
