Recent remarks by President Trump regarding Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by federal agents last weekend, have ignited controversy.
The shooting of Pretti by Customs and Border Protection agents on Saturday, January 24, has intensified the anger towards immigration enforcement in Minneapolis and across the nation.
This incident comes just two weeks after Renée Good, a mother, was shot in the head by an ICE officer while leaving a protest. Pretti’s death, occurring while he was unarmed and lying on the ground, has spurred public opinion and Democrats to oppose President Trump’s extensive immigration policies.
However, a newly surfaced video showing Pretti involved in an altercation with an ICE vehicle and clashing with masked agents the week before his death has prompted President Trump to attempt to change the narrative about the 37-year-old veteran hospital worker.
By sharing the video from January 13, which Pretti’s family has verified as genuine, Trump suggested that the ICU nurse’s reputation has significantly diminished. His TruthSocial post has been criticized as ‘disgusting’ by some.
In the post, the president stated: “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, and then crazily kicking in a new and very expensive government vehicle, so hard and violent, in fact, that the taillight broke off in pieces.
“It was quite a display of abuse and anger, for all to see, crazed and out of control. The ICE Officer was calm and cool, not an easy thing to be under those circumstances! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”
Although Trump sought to shift the narrative, his TruthSocial post further angered those who were already upset, especially as Democrats contemplate withholding ICE funding amid a potential government shutdown.
An X user noted: “He shows more empathy for a car than for a man who was killed by federal agents. It’s disgusting.”
The video appears to capture Pretti kicking a car’s taillight and being subdued by immigration officers, with a moment possibly revealing his legally-owned firearm tucked at his waist.
Unlike the events of January 24, when Pretti was disarmed and then shot 10 times, none of the agents in the video brandish their weapons.
Steve Schleicher, the attorney for Pretti’s family, stated: “A week before Alex was gunned down in the street – despite posing no threat to anyone – he was violently assaulted by a group of ICE agents.
“Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing.”
The Department of Homeland Security is reviewing the video as part of its investigation into the circumstances surrounding Pretti’s death.