Trump calls slain US citizen Alex Pretti an “agitator” amid Minneapolis immigration crackdown, sparking outrage and Congress scrutiny
MINNEAPOLIS: US President Donald Trump walked back his conciliatory tone on Friday after outrage over the killings of two American citizens in Minneapolis by federal agents, branding one of them, Alex Pretti, an “agitator.”
Footage shared online this week reportedly showed intensive care nurse Pretti in a scuffle with federal agents 11 days before he was shot dead on Saturday by officers enforcing an immigration crackdown.
The White House has scrambled to stem widespread outrage over Pretti’s killing, which came weeks after Renee Good, another US citizen and mother of three, was fatally shot by agents in the same city.
Trump said he wanted to “de-escalate a little bit,” and appointed a new point man in Minneapolis, border chief Tom Homan, who said on Thursday that some federal agents could be withdrawn from the city after weeks of protests against immigration raids.
However, Trump said on his Truth Social platform on Friday that 37-year-old Pretti was an “agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist.”
“Alex Pretti’s stock has gone way down with the just released video of him screaming and spitting in the face of a very calm and under control ICE Officer,” Trump wrote, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
The video reportedly shows Pretti kicking the tail light of federal agents’ car, before they emerge and tackle him to the ground.
AFP could not immediately verify the footage.
Government shutdown
Backlash over the deaths of Pretti and Good, and the mass deployment of ICE agents in Minneapolis, has landed in Congress, with the Senate edging closer to a vote on Friday on a funding deal to avert a government shutdown over the crisis.
Democrats have drawn a red line around funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), demanding it be stripped out and renegotiated to impose new constraints on immigration enforcement agencies.
Trump held a cabinet meeting on Thursday, but the Minnesota unrest did not come up while reporters were in the room, and he did not call on Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem when asking some officials to give remarks.
Trump sent Homan to Minnesota to take control of immigration operations there with orders to report directly to him, effectively sidelining Noem.
‘Improvements’ needed
Homan said at his first news conference there on Thursday that “certain improvements could and should be made,” a marked difference from his predecessor Greg Bovino, who was removed.
Homan urged Minnesotans to avoid “hateful rhetoric” against federal immigration officers.
He said his staff was “working on a drawdown plan” for some of the more than 3,000 federal agents who have been taking part in “Operation Metro Surge.”
One such measure, for example, would be notifying ICE agents about the release dates of incarcerated migrants considered “criminal public safety risks” so they could be detained by the agency, he said.
“This is commonsense cooperation that allows us to draw down on the number of people we have here,” Homan said.
Steven Gagner, a 41-year-old jewelry designer and “citizen observer” in Minneapolis, was skeptical about the drawdown.
“This administration has proven time and time again that they just lie to us and they do not really hold themselves or anyone else accountable,” he told AFP.
The two agents involved in Pretti’s shooting have been placed on leave, and Homan said any federal agents who breach standards of conduct “will be dealt with.”
However, Trump has not let up on his inflammatory rhetoric.
The Republican president suggested that Somali-born Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar could have staged an attack on Tuesday, when a man sprayed her with a liquid while she gave a speech.
The man, Anthony Kazmierczak, faces state and federal assault charges for using a syringe to spray what appeared to be apple cider vinegar on the Democratic representative.
