#usdepartmentofhomelandsecurity — Public Fediverse posts

Women’s college basketball player will remain in ICE custody, DHS says https://www.rawchili.com/nba/842623/ #AminataSeck #Basketball #CollegeBasketball #kentucky #KentuckyStateUniversity #ncaa #NCAABasketball #ncaab #RemovalProceedings #SadiqaReynolds #Seck #USDepartmentOfHomelandSecurity #USATODAYSports

Iran’s World Cup team has US travel restrictions eased https://www.rawchili.com/5029204/ #AmirGhalenoei #AndrewGiuliani #CentralAmerica #fifa #FifaWorldCup #GeneralNews #iran #IranNationalSoccerTeam #IranWar #LatinAmerica #Mexico #Seattle #SeattleRedhawks #Soccer #sports #SportsTopics #USDepartmentOfHomelandSecurity #USNews #WAStateWire #Washington #WashingtonNews #WorldNews

Letters from an American – February 7, 2026 – Heather Cox Richardson

https://substack.com/session-attribution-frame

Letters from an American, February 7, 2026

By Heather Cox Richardson, Feb 07, 2026

Yesterday two right-wing circuit judges signed off on the Trump administration’s new mass detention policy: the extraordinary assertion that vast numbers of noncitizens throughout the country can be arrested and held in detention centers without the right to release until they are deported.

As Steve Vladeck explained in December in One First, this new policy dramatically expanded the number of immigrants suddenly subject to arrest and long-term detention. U.S. judges overwhelmingly rejected the new policy; Vladeck quoted Politico’s Kyle Cheney, who reported that in more than 700 cases, at least 225 judges appointed by all modern presidents—including 23 appointed by Trump—have ruled that the new policy likely violates both the law and the right to due process.

But the administration handpicked a right-wing circuit to rule on the policy, and last night, as Vladeck explained today in One First, Judge Edith Jones and Judge Kyle Duncan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit okayed the Trump administration’s new rule denying detained immigrants the right to release on bond. That includes, as Vladeck wrote, “millions of non-citizens who have been here for generations; who have never committed a crime; and who pose neither a risk of flight nor any threat to public safety.” It is likely the plaintiffs will appeal the decision.

This policy has dramatically increased detention of immigrants. Before it, the U.S. held about 40,000 people on any given day. Now, according to Laura Strickler and Julia Ainsley of NBC News, the United States is currently holding more than 70,000 immigrants in 224 facilities across the nation, 104 more facilities than it had before Trump took office. Those detainees include children.

Private prison companies under contract with the U.S. government operate these detention facilities, including the $1.2 billion Camp East Montana located at Fort Bliss Army base in Texas, where a medical examiner recently ruled the death of detainee Geraldo Lunas Campos a homicide. The cause of the January death of Victor Manuel Díaz there remains unclear, although officials claim it was “presumed suicide.” A third man, Francisco Gaspar Andrés, died in December after being transported from the camp to an El Paso hospital for treatment for a serious medical condition.

On January 20, Judd Legum of Popular Information reported that ICE stopped paying third-party providers for medical care for detainees on October 3, 2025, and that it would not start even to process claims again until at least April 30, 2026. It told medical providers to “hold all claims submissions” until then. A source in the administration told Legum that some medical providers are now denying detainees medical care.

From 2002 to 2023, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) helped to make sure detainees had medical care if an ICE facility couldn’t provide it, with ICE paying the VA for the coverage. But in 2023, Alabama Republican senator Tommy Tuberville lied that President Joe Biden was “robbing veterans to pay off illegals,” and on September 30, 2025, a small right-wing nonprofit sued to get documents from the Trump administration about the VA’s role in detainee care. On October 3, Legum discovered, “the VA ‘abruptly and instantly terminated’ its agreement with ICE,” leaving it with no way to provide prescribed medication or access off-site care.

According to Legum, ICE said it could not provide “dialysis, prenatal care, oncology, [and] chemotherapy.” ICE officials described the loss of care as an “absolute emergency” that needed an immediate solution to “prevent any further medical complications or loss of life.” But it did not get solved.

Douglas MacMillan, Samuel Oakford, N. Kirkpatrick, and Aaron Schaffer of the Washington Post reported that according to ICE’s own oversight unit, Camp East Montana at Fort Bliss, Texas, has violated at least 60 federal standards for immigrant detention. The contract for the $1.24 billion project was awarded to a small business that operates out of a residential address and has, as Lyndon German of VPM News reported, “little to no publicly available record of managing immigration facilities.”

Last April, at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, Arizona, acting director of ICE Todd Lyons told attendees: “We need to get better at treating this like a business.” He called for a deportation process “like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings.” In the Republicans’ July 2025 budget reconciliation bill—which they call the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—they put $45 billion into additional funding for ICE detention.

In November and December, NBC News and Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration was considering “mega centers” for detaining people. Fola Akinnibi, Sophie Alexander, Alicia A. Caldwell, and Rachel Adams-Heard of Bloomberg reported that in November, ICE issued a $29.9 million contract—just below the threshold of $30 million that would require open bidding—to KpbServices LLC for “due diligence services and concept design for processing centers and mega centers throughout the United States.”

In December, Douglas MacMillan and Jonathan O’Connell of the Washington Post reported that the administration was working to put in place a national detention system that would book newly arrested detainees into processing sites before sending them to one of seven warehouses that would hold 5,000 to 10,000 people each. MacMillan and O’Connell reported that “sixteen smaller warehouses would hold up to 1,500 people each.” From there, people would be deported.

“These will not be warehouses—they will be very well-structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards,” a DHS spokesperson wrote to Angela Kocherga and Dianne Solis of KERA News in Texas. “It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the U.S. and is actively working to expand detention space.”

Strickler and Ainsley reported Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security has already secured at least three facilities. It paid $87.4 million for one outside Philadelphia and $37 million for another outside San Antonio, a warehouse of nearly 640,000 square feet. ICE bought a building the size of seven football fields in Surprise, Arizona, outside Phoenix, for $70 million.

But there is increasing criticism of the new warehouses as Americans mobilize against the violence and abuse of ICE and Border Patrol.

Officials from Surprise answered concerns about the federal facility with a statement saying: “The City was not aware that there were efforts underway to purchase the building, was not notified of the transaction by any of the parties involved and has not been contacted by DHS or any federal agency about the intended use of the building. It’s important to note, Federal projects are not subject to local regulations, such as zoning.”

On Tuesday, February 3, more than a thousand people turned out for the Surprise City Council meeting to oppose the establishment of the federal detention center. One of the speakers reminded the council of Ohrdruf, the first Nazi camp liberated by U.S. troops, on April 4, 1945. He said:

“The U.S. Army brought the leading citizens of Ohrdruf to tour the facility, which turned out to be part of the Buchenwald network of concentration camps. A U.S. Army colonel told the German civilians who viewed the scenes without muttering a word that they were to blame. One of the Germans replied that what happened in the camp was ‘done by a few people,’ and ‘you cannot blame us all.’ And the American, who could have been any one of our grandfathers, said: ‘This was done by those that the German people chose to lead them, and all are responsible.’

“The morning after the tour, the mayor of Ohrdruf killed himself. And maybe he did not know the full extent of the outrages that were committed in his community, but he knew enough. And we don’t know exactly how ICE will use this warehouse.

But we know enough. I ask you to consider what the mayor of Ohrdruf might have thought before he died. Maybe he felt like a victim. He might have thought, ‘How is this my fault? I had no jurisdiction over this.’ Maybe he would have said, ‘This site was not subject to local zoning, what could I do?’ But I think, when he reflected on the suffering that occurred at this camp, just outside of town, that those words would have sounded hollow even to him. Because in his heart he knew, as we do, that we are all responsible for what happens in our community.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: February 7, 2026 – by Heather Cox Richardson

The Trump Administration’s ICE and CBP Have Become a Threat to Americans: Congress Must Ensure That DHS Follows the Law and Adopts Commonsense Reforms – Center for American Progress

Article Jan 28, 2026

The Trump Administration’s ICE and CBP Have Become a Threat to Americans: Congress Must Ensure That DHS Follows the Law and Adopts Commonsense Reforms

The Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security is out of control, endangering the well-being and lives of Americans. DHS must follow the law and fulfill its role to enhance—not compromise—the security of Americans and the homeland.

• AUTHORS
• Dan Herman
• Allie Preston
• Gréta Bedekovics

Restoring Social Trust in Democracy, Domestic Policy, Immigration, +4 More

Media Contact

Sam Hananel Senior Director, Media Relations, [email protected]

Government Affairs

Peter Gordon Senior Director, Federal Affairs, [email protected]

The recent killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis are the latest in a pattern of dangerous, reckless law enforcement tactics that are terrorizing communities, costing lives, trampling on Americans’ constitutional rights, violating the law, and undermining actual immigration enforcement.

Since the start of the second term, the Trump administration has launched a series of immigration enforcement operations involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and other federal law enforcement agencies. These operations—involving masked, unidentified agents using aggressive tactics against both U.S. citizens and immigrants—have caused chaos across the United States. Many of these operations have been targeted against President Donald Trump’s political opponents, deploying large roving task forces to cities and states run by Democratic officials.

As an immediate next step, the Trump administration must pull ICE and U.S. Border Patrol agents out of Minneapolis and fire Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem in order to prevent further tragedies in Minnesota. But the problems with this administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are far more widespread and demand meaningful reforms and accountability from Congress.

To immediately reform the Department of Homeland Security, the Center for American Progress recommends the following commonsense measures:

• DHS must be held to the same standard as local police and wear uniforms that clearly identify their agency, be unmasked, and be equipped with body-worn cameras during public enforcement actions.
• DHS must reform hiring, screening, and training to remove unqualified personnel.
• DHS personnel must be held accountable for improper uses of force and allegations of misconduct.
• DHS must preserve Americans’ constitutional rights and operate within the rule of law.
• DHS must enhance accountability to Congress and the public.

This militarized, unaccountable behavior by the Trump administration’s DHS and other federal law enforcement agencies is unlawful and unsafe. As their mission becomes increasingly politicized, these agencies are behaving more like regime secret police than federal law enforcement officials protecting the American public. It is critical that Congress, the courts, and a future administration demand and implement real reforms that keep our communities safe, protect rights and freedoms, and prevent overreach and abuse.

DHS must be held to the same standard as local police and wear uniforms that clearly identify their agency, be unmasked, and be equipped with body-worn cameras during public enforcement actions

The reckless actions of ICE, CBP, and other federal law enforcement agencies during these raids have undermined the legitimacy of and public trust in law enforcement more broadly. State and local police from jurisdictions across the country, many of which have spent years building trusted relationships with communities, are seeing those relationships jeopardized by federal deployments that have made people, particularly immigrants, more cautious about engaging with the police and the legal system. Eroding trust in police makes communities less safe because effective public safety depends on cooperation between residents and law enforcement. When trust and law enforcement legitimacy break down, people are less likely to report crimes or cooperate with investigations—making it harder to solve crimes, hold offenders accountable, and prevent future violence.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: The Trump Administration’s ICE and CBP Have Become a Threat to Americans: Congress Must Ensure That DHS Follows the Law and Adopts Commonsense Reforms – Center for American Progress

Restoring DHS: Bipartisan roots and public trust – The Hill

Opinion>Opinions – National Security

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill

Return the Homeland Security Department to its bipartisan roots

by Jane Harman, opinion contributor – 01/31/26 11:00 AM ET

In the early evening of Sept. 11, 2001, I stood with my colleagues on the steps of the U.S. Capitol and sang “God Bless America.” In that moment, we were not Democrats or Republicans. We were just Americans, determined to respond to all that had happened and ensure such an attack would never happen again. That bipartisan resolve produced two of the most significant reforms in a generation: the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence. I was one of the legislators who helped design them.

Today, the Department of Homeland Security is facing a grave crisis, with its enforcement agencies having killed two American citizens in Minneapolis this month. Public confidence in Homeland Security has collapsed, and congressional support for its embattled secretary, Kristi Noem, is eroding by the day.

A fight over Homeland Security funding brought the government to the brink of shutdown before a tentative two-week deal was reached Thursday but the fundamental crisis remains unresolved.

The solution is for the Department of Homeland Security to return to its bipartisan roots and embrace its mission of protecting America, rather than pursuing an agenda that has shattered public trust and caused the agency to drift from its core purpose.

The 9/11 Commission identified catastrophic failures that made the attacks possible. Intelligence agencies hoarded information. The CIA tracked two hijackers to Malaysia but never told the FBI they had entered the U.S. All 19 hijackers had entered on legal visas, many with applications containing detectable false statements. The verdict was damning: We had failed to connect the dots.

The Department of Homeland Security was one of two major reforms to ensure these failures would not be repeated. Immigration enforcement was placed within the new department because it is a national security function. The reforms were hard-fought, but we worked through our disagreements. The Senate passed the final legislation 90-9.

For more than two decades, the department operated as we intended, above partisan politics. Michael Chertoff was confirmed as secretary 98-0. Leaders were apolitical, chosen for competence. The work was sometimes uneven, but it was professional. And by the measure that matters most, it succeeded: there has been no catastrophic terrorist attack on American soil.

That tradition has now been abandoned. According to the Cato Institute, nearly three-quarters of those detained by ICE have no criminal conviction. Only 5 percent have been convicted of a violent crime. The administration promised to deport “the worst of the worst.” Instead, ICE has shifted resources away from violent offenders toward mass arrests that generate headlines but do not make Americans safer.

Meanwhile, the department’s attention has drifted from its core mission. Its own threat assessment warns that China, Russia and Iran continue to target our critical infrastructure. The intelligence community has warned that ISIS is attempting high-profile attacks in the West. These threats have not gone away just because we have chosen to focus elsewhere.

The other institution born from Sept. 11 — the Director of National Intelligence — faces a parallel crisis. Tulsi Gabbard was apparently excluded from planning the operation that removed Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro. Her appearance this week at an FBI raid on a Georgia elections office raised serious questions about how the nation’s “Joint Commander” over 16 intelligence agencies is spending her time. The solution to both crises is the same: restore bipartisan consensus and apolitical leadership.

Two things must happen. First, the department needs new leadership committed to professional standards and public trust. Second, Congress must come together on reforms. To move past the current funding impasse, Democrats have proposed reasonable steps: body cameras, visible identification, clear rules on the use of force, independent investigations, and reporting requirements for how the agency spends public money. These reforms matter. But the most important thing the department can do to restore trust is to get out of politics.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Restoring DHS: Bipartisan roots and public trust

House report accuses Trump administration of cover-up in Good, Pretti killings – MS NOW

News

House report accuses Trump administration of cover-up in Good, Pretti killings

Both Minneapolis residents’ shooting deaths were the “direct result of the rapid and intentional escalation of violence” by DHS officers in service of Trump’s mass deportation plans, the report says.

By Clarissa-Jan Lim, Feb. 3, 2026, 2:41 PM EST

House Oversight Committee Democrats released a report on Tuesday blaming the Trump administration’s “extreme” law enforcement for the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and accusing the federal government of a “cover-up” by obstructing impartial investigations into their deaths.

The report, released by Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the highest-ranking Democrat on the panel, said that the administration’s “extreme policies, violent tactics, and culture of impunity” led to the fatal shooting of the two Minneapolis residents by Department of Homeland Security officers last month.

Editor’s Note: Report embedded below. –DrWeb

“The fatal shootings of Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti were not isolated incidents,” the report said. “They are the direct result of the rapid and intentional escalation of violence by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in its ongoing efforts to carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, and to suppress dissent with no regard for Americans’ constitutional rights.”

The report specifically points to efforts to obscure the identities of Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and agents, including wearing masks, which administration officials have said is necessary to protect their safety.

“Let’s be clear: the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti could have been prevented, and they should both still be alive,” Garcia said in a press release announcing the findings of the report. “President Trump, Kristi Noem, and DHS have lied over and over again and are now trying to cover up the truth. The Trump Administration needs to be held accountable.”

Trump’s ICE enforcement ‘backfiring,’ spurring protests and organizing nationwide, February 3, 2026.

The report also calls out Vice President JD Vance and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who “have incorrectly assured agents that they have ‘absolute immunity’ from criminal prosecution.” Vance has since walked back his claim, saying officers would be disciplined for violating policies.

The administration, the report said, is trying to cover up misconduct by “impeding thorough and impartial investigations into the shootings.”

The Justice Department last week announced it is pursuing a civil rights probe into Pretti’s killing on Jan. 24 by Border Patrol officers, after initially leaving it up to DHS to conduct its own investigations, as MS NOW reported.

The DOJ has maintained that it will not do the same for Good’s death. Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot and killed by an ICE officer on Jan. 7.

The reversal is one of several changes that the Trump administration has made in its hardline approach to immigration enforcement after the fatal shootings of Pretti and Good, which sparked nationwide protests.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also said Monday that all officers will be outfitted with body cameras in Minneapolis, and as funding allows, nationwide.

Recommended

News – DHS reviewing bodycam videos after killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Sydney Carruth

Deadline: Legal Blog – Pretti killing highlights how the Trump administration has lost the legal benefit of the doubt, Jordan Rubin

Noem: DHS agents in Minneapolis to wear body cameras February 3, 2026 / 08:49

Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday dismissed the rollout of body cameras as “damage control” and urged Minnesotans to continue documenting federal officers’ conduct.

“Keep filming. Keep keeping track of this,” he said at a news conference. “Keep accountability.”

Bystander footage of both shootings has been crucial to showing how Good’s and Pretti’s encounters with federal officers ended with their death. Videos of both incidents have also contradicted the Trump administration’s account of events.

Good and Pretti’s families have strongly denounced the federal immigration operation in Minneapolis. Good’s brother, Luke Ganger, told reporters on Tuesday that his family initially “took some consolation thinking that perhaps Renee’s death would bring about change in our country. It has not.”

‘The completely surreal scenes taking place on the streets of Minneapolis are beyond explanation,” he said. “This is not just a bad day or a rough week or isolated incidents. These encounters with federal agents are changing the community and changing many lives — including ours — forever.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

By Clarissa-Jan Lim

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: House report accuses Trump administration of cover-up in Good, Pretti killings

Federal judge again blocks Noem’s attempt to limit Congress’ access to ICE facilities – Democracy Docket

• News
• Trump Accountability

Federal judge again blocks Noem’s attempt to limit Congress’ access to ICE facilities

By Jacob Knutson, February 2, 2026

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Bluesky

A federal judge again blocked Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s efforts to hamstring congressional oversight of federal immigration detention facilities. 

Monday’s ruling marks the second time in as many months that U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb temporarily halted Noem’s attempt to require that members of Congress provide notice seven days before they conduct in-person oversight visits to immigration detention facilities.

Cobb, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, previously ruled in December that Noem couldn’t enforce the Department of Homeland Security’s advanced notice policy because it violated federal appropriations law. 

DHS and its sub-agencies are barred from using funds to deny members of Congress access to “any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens” when they are conducting oversight.

However, Noem responded to the court order with a nearly identical policy, though she ordered agents to carry out the new rule only with funding from President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), which she claimed was not subject to traditional appropriations requirements.

Democratic representatives who sued over Noem’s previous rule asked Cobb last month to also strike down DHS’s new notice policy. They argued that it would be impossible for the Trump administration to enforce the new policy solely with OBBB funds.

In her ruling Monday, Cobb said that the representatives, who are represented by Democracy Forward*, will likely succeed in their argument.

“Today’s decision restores Congress’s ability to expose dangerous detention conditions, protect people – including US citizens – who are in government custody, and enforce the law when the administration refuses to do so,” Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said in a statement.

Noem’s second attempt at requiring advanced notice only came to light after three Minnesota Democrats — Reps. Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig and Kelly Morrison — were denied entry while attempting to conduct oversight on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility outside of Minneapolis. 

The lawmakers attempted to visit the facility after ICE officer Jonathan Ross killed Minneapolis resident Renee Good amid the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement operation in the city.

‘Continue/Read Original Article Here: Federal judge again blocks Noem’s attempt to limit Congress’ access to ICE facilities – Democracy Docket

ICE killing in Minneapolis marks a dangerous new chapter for America – Las Vegas Sun News

January 31, 2026

• News, Business Sports, Politics, Opinion, Entertainment, Calendar, Raiders, Podcasts, Las Vegas Weekly, Subscribe

EDITORIAL:

ICE killing in Minneapolis marks a dangerous new chapter for America

Friday, Jan. 30, 2026 | 2 a.m.

View more of the Sun’s opinion section

• Editorials – the Sun’s viewpoint
• Columnists – local and syndicated writers
• Letters to the editor – readers’ views
• Write a letter to the editor

The killing of Alex Pretti on a Minneapolis street over the weekend should end any remaining illusions about where Donald Trump’s second-term presidency is headed. This was not an isolated tragedy, not a “confusing situation,” not the regrettable outcome of a tense encounter. The killings of Renee Nicole Good and Pretti in Minneapolis are an inflection point — the moment when the authoritarian impulses Trump has long telegraphed crossed fully from rhetoric into bloodshed.

Pretti was a 37-year-old ICU nurse who cared for veterans at the VA, and a concealed-carry license holder. He was standing in the street, exercising his constitutional rights to speak and assemble freely as part of a peaceful protest. He attempted to help a female protester get to her feet after she was thrown to the ground by federal agents.Within seconds, he was shot dead from behind, killed by his own government even though he posed no threat and was defenseless at the time.

Almost immediately, Trump administration officials rushed to the microphones to smear Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” and “would-be assassin.” But video evidence and even Customs and Border Protection’s own preliminary review reveal the lie being spread by Trump’s minions to manipulate the American people, distort the truth and consolidate power in Trump.

This pattern should be chillingly familiar. During his first campaign, Trump demonstrated that he was willing to violate the law and lie repeatedly to manipulate the public about his business acumen, his wealth and his relationships with everyone from Russian oligarchs to an adult film star.

Now, in his second term, the message is unmistakable: Laws, court orders, constitutional rights and even the lives of the American people, are expendable if they interfere with his pursuit of power and impunity.

Pretti’s killing did not happen in a vacuum. In January alone, at least eight people have died in encounters with federal immigration officials or while in ICE custody. In several of those cases, eyewitness accounts and recordings directly contradict the official narratives issued by the administration. At least two of the dead were U.S. citizens who asked only to exercise their constitutional rights to move, assemble and speak freely; to lawfully carry a firearm; and, if accused of wrongdoing, to receive due process.

Instead, they were met with what can only be described as summary executions by a federal force that increasingly resembles a private army loyal to Trump alone.

Moreover, the Trump administration has shown an alarming comfort with lying about the circumstances surrounding the death of Americans at the hands of ICE.

Consider the facts in Pretti’s case. The Department of Homeland Security initially claimed he “approached officers with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun,” neglecting to mention that the weapon was holstered and he never reached for it. The government’s own preliminary review concedes there was no brandishing — only a refusal to move while filming agents, followed by an attempt to help a woman up, then being swarmed by federal agents and then gunfire. In fact, it was federal agents who removed Pretti’s gun from its holster prior to shooting the unarmed and incapacitated man multiple times in the back, ending his life.

The same script played out earlier this month with the killing of Good, a Minneapolis mother of three shot in her car by a federal agent. Her last words to the man who killed her as she tried to drive away from the scene: “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” Hardly the sentiments of a terrorist.

She, too, was instantly labeled a “violent rioter” and “domestic terrorist.” Trump himself claimed she ran over an officer. Video evidence shows that she had the wheels of her car turned away from the federal agent who shot her, undermining the administration’s certainty and raising profound questions about the use of lethal force.

And then there is the death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, a Cuban immigrant who died in ICE custody in El Paso, Texas. ICE claimed suicide. A witness described a chokehold. An autopsy found injuries consistent with a chokehold and potentially with homicide. Once again, the official story collapses under scrutiny.

Trump administration officials have suggested that because Pretti carried a holstered weapon and filmed agents, that his killing was “legally justified.” By this standard, law enforcement should have opened fire on the thousands of Jan. 6 attackers who killed and maimed Capitol police, or Kyle Rittenhouse, or the armed militiamen who invaded the Michigan statehouse, or the armed demonstrators intimidating voters in Arizona.

For those who voted for Trump, take note. The danger that was once reserved for immigrants, people of color or LGBTQ Americans is now at your doorstep. This is not Barack Obama or Joe Biden ordering masked federal agents into the streets without training. It is not a Democratic administration asserting that it is “legally justified” for the federal government to shoot anyone who lawfully carries a gun near a protest. It is Donald Trump and the Republican Party, which controls every branch of the federal government.

Nor should we forget that as Trump proclaims support for the protesters in Iran and says the state shouldn’t kill them, his administration is killing protesters in the U.S. because they oppose his policies.

Worse still, as conservative commentator Joe Rogan pointed out last week, it appears that one of Trump’s primary motivations for sending ICE into the streets is simply to distract from an even larger national scandal: the Epstein files.

Despite a federal law mandating the release of the files by Dec. 19, Trump’s Justice Department has released only about 1% of the files thus far. At its current pace, the department won’t release all the files until 2030.

Last week, Rogan implied that ICE’s massive ongoing operations are designed to distract from Trump’s potential involvement in a child-sex trafficking ring. It’s an immigration crackdown weaponized to divert attention from one of the few scandals that could stand in the way of Trump’s authoritarian ambitions.

We don’t know if Rogan is correct or not, because like everyone else, we haven’t seen the files. What we do know is that regardless of the motivation, Trump and his minions are trashing the Constitution and killing American citizens with no cause or legitimate justification.

Authoritarianism does not arrive all at once. It advances in steps, each normalized by fear, propaganda and the vilification of the dead. The killings in Minneapolis mark the moment when the line was crossed, when the erosion of rights turned unmistakably lethal. If Americans do not recognize them as such, the next inflection point may come even closer to home.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: ICE killing in Minneapolis marks a dangerous new chapter for America – Las Vegas Sun News

Americans flex democratic muscles to show that, together, they’re stronger than Trump- The Rachel Maddow Show

MaddowBlog

From the Rachel Maddow Show

• The Rachel Maddow Show
• Full Episodes
• Podcasts
• Rachel on Bluesky

Maddow: Americans flexing democratic muscles are stronger than Trump January 26, 2026 / 08:49

Americans flex democratic muscles to show that, together, they’re stronger than Trump

The administration’s threats appear to have had the opposite of their intended effect: People are turning up with more resolve and more emotion.

Jan. 27, 2026, 3:49 PM EST

By  Rachel Maddow

This is an adapted excerpt from the Jan. 26 episode of “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

Editor’s Note: Great introduction to one of her finest, well-done, show. I’ve posted the Spotify audio podcast below for you. –DrWeb

Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol commander who has led Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, is out of his post in Minneapolis and will return to his previous job as sector chief in El Centro, California, a senior administration official told MS NOW.

Two officials briefed on the matter also told MS NOW that there will be a reduction of Homeland Security Department officers in Minnesota.

We do not know if this is the end of what the administration has called Operation Metro Surge, the sustained, large-scale paramilitary attack on the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, but we know it’s the end of something.

We don’t yet know whose heads will roll — that, we shall see — but we do know this: The administration appears to be in retreat.

Bovino’s sudden demotion is the clearest sign yet that the Trump administration is reconsidering its most aggressive tactics after the Saturday killing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by Border Patrol officers under Bovino’s command.

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin responded to reports of Bovino’s departure, writing on social media that he had “NOT been relieved of his duties,” which may be true, but it doesn’t exactly answer the questions about his future.

On Monday, The Atlantic’s Nick Miroff further reported that “Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her close adviser Corey Lewandowski, who were Bovino’s biggest backers at DHS, are also at risk of losing their jobs.” 

So we don’t yet know whose heads will roll — that, we shall see — but we do know this: The administration appears to be in retreat.

On Monday, Trump held conciliatory phone calls with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. Both of those elected officials have been demonized by the president and his administration. Once Trump started criticizing both men, his Justice Department naturally put them both under federal investigation.

Even so, the personal threats against Minnesota’s elected leaders seemed to have the opposite of the intended effect, causing them to dig in and fight harder, and increasing their political support both in their state and around the country.

The federal government’s threats to the people of Minneapolis, federal agents’ increasingly unhinged and explosive violence toward the people of that city, and their killing of people who were protesting as well as observing and filming federal agents there, also seem to have had the opposite of the intended effect.

Those factors have caused the people of Minneapolis to recommit to being in the streets, to come out in larger numbers, with more resolve and more emotion.

It’s also sent support for them soaring all around the country. From Davenport, Iowa, to Green Bay, Wisconsin, to Twin Falls, Idaho, to Traverse City, Michigan, to New York City — protests in support of the people of Minneapolis could be seen in cities big and small, blue and red.

Maddow: Trump in retreat as disastrous anti-immigrant campaign becomes political catastrophe January 26, 2026 / 08:49

At every protest I’ve ever been to, at every protest I’ve ever covered, somebody at some point starts up the chant “This is what democracy looks like.” We’ve all heard that so much that it has become kind of protest wallpaper. It feels like a generic sentiment, but it’s literally true.

The unromantic, strong, simple truth of the matter is that in our country right now, every democratic muscle that we have is flexing, and, it turns out, that is way stronger than Trump.

In the wake of Pretti’s death and the massive protests that have followed, Republicans in the Minnesota state legislature have called for de-escalation and a pause in Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.

On Monday, Chris Madel, a leading Republican candidate for governor in the state, dropped out of that race, saying he cannot support his national party’s “stated retribution on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so.”

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Americans flex democratic muscles to show that, together, they’re stronger than Trump

AFGE – AFGE Demands Resignation or Termination of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller for Smearing Slain AFGE Member Alex Pretti as “Domestic Terrorist”

 AFGE Demands Resignation or Termination of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller for Smearing Slain AFGE Member Alex Pretti as “Domestic Terrorist”

Largest federal employee union calls for independent third-party investigation and bipartisan congressional oversight to uncover the truth

WASHINGTON – Following the killing of AFGE Member Alex Pretti and the subsequent slanderous rhetoric that followed from top Trump administration officials, AFGE National President Everett Kelley issued the following statement:

“Yesterday, AFGE brought together labor and faith leaders from Minneapolis and across the nation to mourn our fallen brother from Local 3669, Alex Pretti. We honored his life and legacy and lifted up his family, his friends, his union, Minneapolis, and our nation in prayer.

“Today, we demand accountability.

“In the immediate aftermath of Alex’s killing, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem betrayed the public trust by slandering the good name of our union brother and calling him a “domestic terrorist.” Alex Pretti was a patriotic ICU nurse at a VA hospital who devoted his life to serving America’s veterans. That claim was reckless, defamatory, and unsupported by the facts. Noem was preceded in this false statement by Stephen Miller, Deputy White House Chief of Staff, who is also the architect of the chaotic and failed immigration policy in Minnesota. 

“Our demand is clear: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was responsible for carrying out the policy that led to Alex’s needless killing, and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the architect of that policy, must resign immediately. If they refuse, President Trump must dismiss them. 

“Public reporting has established that Mr. Miller is the driving force behind the administration’s harsh immigration agenda. He personally directed its implementation and used high-pressure tactics to force compliance across the federal government. These were not abstract policy choices. They were imposed from the top and enforced without regard for the consequences.

“Secretary Noem willingly carried out this agenda. Secretary Noem made deliberate choices that reshaped the Department of Homeland Security and enabled this tragedy. Over the past year, she removed senior leaders, consolidated authority, and enforced aggressive immigration tactics that prioritized political objectives over professional judgment and public/officer safety. Those choices created the conditions that led directly to this tragedy.

“This conduct is consistent with Secretary Noem’s broader record at DHS. Under her leadership, TSA workers have faced sustained attacks on collective bargaining rights and union representation. At FEMA her actions have weakened frontline workers, undermined labor protections, and eroded accountability within the agency that is so critical to disaster preparedness and response. Over the past year, she removed senior leaders within the Department of Homeland Security and reshaped the agency’s command structure to ensure adherence to Mr. Miller’s aggressive immigration strategies. Those decisions escalated tensions, undermined professional judgment, and put lives at risk.

“Taken together, the actions of Miller and Noem, both before and after Alex’s killing, make clear they are unfit to serve in their current positions, or any position requiring the public trust. 

“AFGE calls for a full and transparent investigation into Alex’s killing led by an independent third party. We also call for bipartisan congressional oversight to uncover the truth, ensure accountability, and begin repairing the damage to public trust.” 

###The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 820,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: AFGE | AFGE Demands Resignation or Termination of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller for Smearing Slain AFGE Member Alex Pretti as “Domestic Terrorist”

Kristi Noem said most immigrants in ICE detention are violent criminals. The data says otherwise. – Poynter

DONATE

• News
• Training
• Ethics & Leadership
• Fact-Checking
• Media Literacy
• Events
• Contest
• About Us
• Fact-Checking

Kristi Noem said most immigrants in ICE detention are violent criminals. The data says otherwise.

ICE’s own data shows about half of detainees have criminal records. Independent analysis suggests roughly 5% were convicted of violent crimes.

By: Maria Ramirez Uribe

January 26, 2026

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the majority of immigrants in federal immigration detention have a criminal history.

She made the statement during a lengthy and somewhat confusing back-and-forth with CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan Jan. 18 on “Face the Nation“:

Brennan: What’s the breakdown of the percentage of those you have in custody who have actually committed a criminal offense versus just the civil infraction?

Noem: Every single individual has committed a crime, but 70% of them have committed or have charges against them on violent crimes, and crimes that they are charged with or have been convicted of, that have come from other countries that are here illegally, first of all. And then they have committed a criminal act while they’ve been here or in their home countries as well.

Brennan: It’s not 70%.

Noem: Yes, it is. It absolutely is, Margaret. You guys keep changing your percentage, you pick and choose what numbers you think work, but that is the facts, is that 70% of the people that we have detained have charges against them or have been convicted of charges.

Brennan: OK, well, our reporting is that 47% — based on your agency’s own numbers — 47% have criminal convictions against them.

Noem’s comments could be taken a number of ways. At first, Noem’s wording made it sound like she was referencing people with violent criminal convictions or charges. But she also talked about pending charges. And Brennan asked Noem about people currently in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, but Noem’s wording made it sound like she was describing detention more broadly under Trump’s entire first year in office.

Analysis of government data shows most people the government has detained have not committed violent crimes. And people who are facing criminal charges aren’t necessarily accused of a violent crime, and they could be acquitted.

While campaigning in 2024, President Donald Trump promised to prioritize deporting violent criminals, and he has since tried to assure Americans that’s what his administration is doing.

“We’re looking to get the criminals out right now, the criminals,” Trump said at a Jan. 20 press conference marking the one-year anniversary of his second term in office. “We’re focused on the murderers, the drug dealers.”

Entering the U.S. illegally is generally a misdemeanor and being in the U.S. illegally is generally a civil offense.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Kristi Noem said most immigrants in ICE detention are violent criminals. The data says otherwise. – Poynter

America’s Largest Labor Movement Calls for ICE to Leave Minnesota – Business Insider

Subscribe Newsletters

Economy

America’s largest labor movement calls for ICE to leave Minnesota before ‘anyone else is hurt or killed’

By Lauren Edmonds

Jan 25, 2026, 12:19 PM PT

• The AFL-CIO called on ICE to leave Minnesota before “anyone else is hurt or killed.”
• A federal agent shot and killed Alex Pretti, 37, on Saturday in Minneapolis.
• A local labor union representing Pretti blamed Trump’s immigration policies for the death.

America’s largest network of labor unions has condemned ICE after a federal agent on Saturday shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident.

The AFL-CIO, which represents nearly 15 million workers, called Pretti’s death “senseless.”

“As tens of thousands of Minnesotans made clear peacefully and powerfully yesterday, the Trump administration’s horrific operation — and their actions aimed at stoking violence and chaos — must end,” the labor group said in a statement.

“America’s unions join the call for ICE to immediately leave Minnesota before anyone else is hurt or killed. We demand local authorities conduct a full, transparent investigation that will lead to accountability for this tragic and violent act, and for Congress to use its power to hold ICE accountable.”

A federal agent fatally shot Pretti in Minneapolis, where he worked as an ICU nurse at a US Department of Veterans Affairs hospital. Minneapolis police confirmed on Saturday that Pretti is a US citizen. He had been filming the agents when the confrontation began.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Border Patrol and ICE, said Pretti was carrying a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and “approached” agents at the scene. The department said officers tried to disarm Pretti, but he resisted. In multiple videos of the incident, however, Pretti is never seen threatening agents and is disarmed and subdued before he is shot. Minneapolis police said Pretti had a permit to carry the weapon.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: America’s Largest Labor Movement Calls for ICE to Leave Minnesota – Business Insider

The Trump administration’s false claims and shifting rhetoric about the killing of Alex Pretti – CNN Politics

Politics 5 min read

The Trump administration’s false claims and shifting rhetoric about the killing of Alex Pretti

By Daniel Dale, Updated 47 min ago

Top officials in President Donald Trump’s administration have responded to the killing of Alex Pretti by the Border Patrol in Minneapolis on Saturday with a torrent of claims that are either contradicted by video footage or unsupported by any evidence presented so far.

• Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed Pretti “attacked” officers, an assertion echoed by FBI Director Kash Patel, but no footage available as of Sunday afternoon shows Pretti committing any attack.
• Noem claimed Pretti was “brandishing” a gun, but no available footage shows Pretti even holding a weapon in his hand at the scene; a concealed gun appeared to be taken from his waistband area by a federal agent moments before he was shot.
• White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller referred to Pretti as “an assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents,” Vice President JD Vance reposted this claim, and Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino (and the Department of Homeland Security in a social media post) said it “looks like” Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” But nobody has shown any evidence that Pretti sought to kill anyone, let alone perpetrate a massacre.
• Patel suggested that Pretti broke the law by carrying a concealed gun at a protest, but the Minneapolis police chief said Pretti had a permit to carry the gun and was allowed to have it on him as he was protesting in a public place.

Pretti’s parents issued a statement on Saturday saying, “The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting.” And in television interviews on Sunday, the administration declined to repeat some of its most incendiary allegations from Saturday about Pretti, who was a registered nurse in an intensive care unit at a Veterans Affairs facility.

Here is a look at how the Trump team’s shifting rhetoric squares with what is known about Pretti and the circumstances around his death.

The administration claimed that Pretti ‘attacked’ officers. But videos don’t show Pretti committing any attack

Noem told reporters Saturday: “This individual impeded the law enforcement officers and attacked them,” repeating the phrase “attacked them” moments later for emphasis. When Patel was asked about the shooting in a Sunday interview on Fox News, he responded, “You do not get to attack law enforcement officials in this country without any repercussions.”

No video of the incident available as of Sunday afternoon showed Pretti attacking officers.

Various footage shows him directing traffic at the site of an immigration enforcement operation, yelling at a federal agent who was interacting with other bystanders to “not push them into the traffic,” holding up a cell phone appearing to record agents, and stepping in front of an agent to intervene as the agent shoved a woman to the ground; Pretti appeared to make momentary contact with the agent with his right arm and left hand.

The agent then sprayed him with a chemical irritant and dragged him to the ground; other officers joined in the confrontation as Pretti appeared to resist, and one agent appeared to strike him repeatedly as he was on the ground.

In a Sunday interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Bovino claimed Pretti “assaulted federal officers.” But when Bash pressed Bovino to explain what moment in the video showed Pretti committing such an assault, Bovino would not provide any specifics.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: The Trump administration’s false claims and shifting rhetoric about the killing of Alex Pretti | CNN Politics

Man Killed by Federal Agents in Minneapolis Was Holding a Phone, Not a Gun – The New York Times

Unrest in Minneapolis

Share Link: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/us/minneapolis-shooting-ice/authorities-in-minneapolis-respond-to-reports-of-shooting-involving-federal-agents?smid=url-share

• live Updates
• Shooting of Alex Jeffrey Pretti
• Who Was Pretti?
• Timeline
• Video Analysis
• Trump’s Response
• Shooting of Renee Good

Man Killed by Federal Agents in Minneapolis Was Holding a Phone, Not a Gun

Videos analyzed by The New York Times appear to contradict federal accounts of the shooting. The man, an I.C.U. nurse, was an American citizen with no criminal record, the city police chief said.

Published Jan. 24, 2026, Updated Jan. 25, 2026, 12:11 p.m. ET

VIDEO ANALYSIS & Video verified by The New York Times shows the fatal shooting of a man by federal agents in Minneapolis ›

Pinned

By Ernesto Londoño, Devon Lum, Hamed Aleaziz, and Mitch Smith – Ernesto Londoño reported from the scene in Minneapolis.

Here’s the latest.

Federal officials sought to portray a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident killed by Border Patrol agents on Saturday as a domestic terrorist, saying he wanted to “massacre” law enforcement, even as videos emerged that appeared to directly contradict their account.

The man, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, was an intensive-care nurse described by the Minneapolis police chief as a U.S. citizen with no criminal record. Federal officials said he was armed, but there is no sign in videos analyzed by The New York Times that he pulled his weapon, or that agents even knew he had one until he was already pinned on the sidewalk.

An agent had already removed Mr. Pretti’s gun when two other agents opened fire, shooting him in the back and as he lay on the ground. At least 10 shots were fired, killing him. Mr. Pretti had a legal permit to carry a firearm, said the police chief, Brian O’Hara.

The shooting on a frigid morning in Minneapolis’s Whittier neighborhood renewed protests and clashes with law enforcement in a city where tensions have reached a breaking point after weeks of aggressive federal immigration action. Federal agents deployed tear gas and flash bangs to drive demonstrators away from the shooting scene as they demanded that local police officers arrest the agents who killed Mr. Pretti.

Officials said protests in Minneapolis had remained mostly peaceful, with a few exceptions. But as dusk fell, officials deployed the National Guard to ensure that demonstrations did not turn violent. At least 1,000 people turned out for a vigil for Mr. Pretti in Whittier Park on Saturday night, despite subzero temperatures.

A colleague of Mr. Pretti, Dimitri Drekonja, said he had worked as a nurse at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis. “He was a really great colleague and a really great friend,” Mr. Drekonja said. “The default look on his face was a smile.”

Here’s what we’re covering:

• Video analysis: Video footage posted to social media and verified by The Times shows Mr. Pretti stepping between a woman and an agent who is pepper spraying her. Other agents then pepper spray Mr. Pretti, who is holding a phone in one hand and nothing in the other. His weapon remains concealed until federal agents find and take it from him. Concealed or open carry is legal for permit holders in Minnesota. Read more ›
• Federal claims: President Trump and administration officials declared without evidence that Mr. Pretti intended to attack federal agents. Gregory Bovino, the official in charge of the president’s Border Patrol operations, said that Mr. Pretti was intent on a “massacre.” Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, said, “This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage.” Their accounts directly contradict video evidence of the encounter. Read more ›
• Investigators blocked: Drew Evans, who heads the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said federal agents had initially barred state investigators from the scene of Saturday’s shooting. Mr. Evans said his agency took the rare step of obtaining a search warrant for access to a public sidewalk, but were still stymied. Federal officials eventually left the scene after clashing with protesters, but the demonstrations had grown large enough by that point to prevent state agents from investigating.
• Self-investigation: Federal authorities said the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE and Border Patrol, would lead the federal shooting investigation, with assistance from the F.B.I. But senior Homeland Security and Justice Department officials said it was already clear that Mr. Pretti and local officials were to blame.
• Minneapolis outrage: Mayor Jacob Frey accused the Trump administration of terrorizing his city. “How many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?” he asked. At least two other people have been shot there by federal agents this month, including Renee Good, 37, who was killed on Jan. 7. Read more ›
• “Force of good”: Accolades poured in for Mr. Pretti from those who knew him. Ruth Anway, another nurse who worked with him, described Mr. Pretti as a passionate colleague and kind friend with a sharp sense of humor. “He wanted to be helpful, to help humanity, and have a career that was a force of good in the world,” she said. Read more ›

Jan. 25, 2026, 12:12 a.m. ET, Jan. 25, 2026, By Mitch Smith, Midwest reporter

Lawyers for the state of Minnesota, as well as the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, renewed their calls on Saturday night for a federal judge to temporarily block the surge in immigration enforcement. A hearing on that case is scheduled for Monday.

“The need for emergency relief is urgent and undeniable,” the lawyers said in a letter.

Jan. 24, 2026, 11:51 p.m. ET Jan. 24, 2026

Shawn Hubler

Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles said the city had filed an amicus brief in a federal lawsuit calling for a halt to the Trump administration’s deployment of federal agents in Minneapolis and St. Paul. “This violence has to stop and the President must remove these armed, federal forces from Minneapolis and other American cities,” she said in a statement.

Read Bondi’s Letter to Minnesota’s Governor

Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota on Saturday that blamed him and other Democratic officials for allowing “lawlessness” in the state. It was not immediately clear if the letter had been sent before or after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti.

Jan. 24, 2026, 11:40 p.m. ET Jan. 24, 2026

Mitch Smith, Midwest reporter

Witnesses describe the fatal shooting in court filings.

A doctor who lives near the scene where Alex Jeffrey Pretti was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday described in a sworn court filing how agents initially hesitated and asked for proof of a medical license when the doctor tried to approach and render aid. And a person who said they were standing near Mr. Pretti disputed the Department of Homeland Security’s account of that incident in another sworn court filing.

The shooting of Mr. Pretti, 37, renewed protests and clashes with law enforcement in a city where tensions over aggressive federal immigration action are high. Video footage of the encounter appeared to contradict parts of the federal government’s narrative of what happened, and the latest court filings raised further questions.

The doctor, whose name was redacted from the publicly available version of the court filing, described themselves as a pediatrician and said they had witnessed parts of the encounter from a nearby apartment. Though their view was from a distance, they described seeing a man being shoved to the ground and then shot several times. After the gunfire, they described going outside, telling an agent that they were a physician and asking to check the person who had been shot.

The doctor said they were initially turned down, but eventually allowed to go to the person after being patted down.

“Normally, I would not have been so persistent,” the doctor said in their statement, “but as a physician, I felt a professional and moral obligation to help this man, especially since none of the agents were helping him.”

The doctor described checking for a pulse, finding none, and then beginning C.P.R. The man appeared to have been shot several times, the doctor said. Shortly after he started C.P.R., emergency medical personnel arrived and took over, the doctor said.\

Read a Witness Statement on the Pretti Shooting

A doctor described in a sworn court filing how agents initially hesitated when the doctor tried to approach and render aid to Alex Jeffrey Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday. Read Document

After the shooting, the doctor described returning home as protests intensified.

“I was sobbing and shaking uncontrollably,” they said in the statement.

Once tear gas began seeping into their apartment from the street below, they said they got in a car and drove to a friend’s home.

“I am not sure when I will return to my apartment,” the doctor wrote. “I do not feel safe in my city.”

Almost immediately after agents shot Mr. Pretti on Saturday morning, federal officials claimed that he had endangered agents with a gun he was carrying, and some later accused him of “domestic terrorism.”

But videos on social media that were verified by The New York Times appear to contradict portions of the Department of Homeland Security’s account of the shooting, and the Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, said that Mr. Pretti was believed to be licensed to legally carry a gun.

Another person who said they witnessed the shooting also submitted a sworn statement in court on Saturday. Like the doctor’s statement, it was filed as part of a lawsuit challenging federal agents’ interactions with protesters.

“I have read the statement from D.H.S. about what happened and it is wrong,” said that person, who described themselves as a children’s entertainer specializing in face painting. “The man did not approach the agents with a gun. He approached them with a camera. He was just trying to help a woman get up and they took him to the ground.

That witness described hearing whistles — which Minneapolis residents have used to alert people to the presence of immigration agents — and going toward the noise to observe and record on Saturday morning.

The person said they walked toward an area where someone was being thrown to the ground and then started filming. When an agent asked them to move back, the witness said, they slowly did so. Another man who was in the street and who was also recording remained there and continued filming, the witness said.

“The man stayed in the street, filming as the other observers I mentioned earlier were being forced backward by another ICE agent threatening them with pepper spray,” the witness statement said. “The man went closer to support them as they got threatened, just with his camera out. I didn’t see him reach for or hold a gun.”

One person was thrown to the ground by an agent, the witness said, and pepper spray was used. The man who had been filming — almost certainly Mr. Pretti, though no name was used in the court filing — tried to help the person who had fallen, the statement said.

Read a Witness Statement on the Pretti Shooting

A person who described themselves as a children’s entertainer said they witnessed the shooting of Alex Jeffrey Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday. Read Document

“The agents pulled the man on the ground,” the statement said, adding that the witness was perhaps five feet away. “I didn’t see him touch any of them — he wasn’t even turned toward them. It didn’t look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up. I didn’t see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times.”

The court filing said that a video taken by the witness was also filed with the court, but that footage was not immediately accessible through an online court records system.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the witness statements.

Those sworn statements were filed as part of a lawsuit backed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota that accused federal agents of repeatedly violating protesters’ rights during a recent surge of immigration enforcement. The federal judge hearing that case issued an injunction earlier this month that imposed restrictions on agents. The Trump administration appealed, and an appellate court issued an administrative stay this week that blocked the injunction.

On Saturday, lawyers for the protesters filed an emergency motion that asked the appellate court to allow the injunction to go back into effect.

Jan. 24, 2026, 11:38 p.m. ET Jan. 24, 2026

Orlando Mayorquin

In California, thousands of protesters gathered for anti-ICE demonstrations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland, among other cities. Protesters in downtown L.A. blew whistles in solidarity with immigrant neighborhoods across the country, where people have begun using the sound to signal ICE sightings. One man carried the state flags of California and Minnesota, tied together.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Man Killed by Federal Agents in Minneapolis Was Holding a Phone, Not a Gun – The New York Times

On the Front Line of Minnesota’s Fight With ICE – The New York Times

For weeks, protests around Minneapolis have caught nationwide attention as the city shows open defiance to a federal immigration crackdown.

But behind the scenes, a quieter organized resistance has taken shape.

Anna Foley and Michael Simon Johnson, producers for “The “Daily,” go on the ground in Minneapolis to capture that effort, and Charles Homans, a New York Times reporter, explains why the city has become ground zero in the fight over the government’s deportation strategy. Guest: Charles Homans, a reporter for The New York Times and The Times Magazine, covering national politics.Background reading: In Minneapolis, an intense cat-and-mouse game is putting enraged residents face to face with heavily armed federal agents.

President Trump’s fight with Minnesota is about more than immigration.

Editor’s Note: This episode below is embedded from Spotify. –DrWeb

Photo: Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.  Read original article: Read More

Can ICE Do That? – The New York Times

Newsletter The Morning

Can ICE Do That?

Times reporters answer readers’ questions about immigration and deportation.

By Adam B. Kushner

I am the editor of this newsletter; Jan. 18, 2026, 8:04 a.m. ET

You’re reading The Morning newsletter.  Your daily guide to understanding what’s happening — and why it matters. Hosted by Sam Sifton, for readers in the U.S. and Canada.

Whom can Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest, and when? How many people are agents deporting? How do ICE agents feel? We asked readers for their questions about immigration and deportation. Today, The Times’s expert beat reporters answer.

Civil rights

How are the rules for ICE and Border Patrol officers different from those for local police? | Mike Bowman | Blue Bell, Pennsylvania

Shaila Dewan, who covers policing, writes:

Federal officers enforce federal laws, and local police officers enforce state and local laws. Federal officers may perform local law enforcement functions like traffic and crowd control only if state laws grant them that power (in Minnesota, for instance, they may do so only by request, and the state is not asking). But federal officers may take action against people who interfere with their operations or assault an officer. While the Border Patrol is chiefly responsible for borders and ports of entry, ICE officers enforce civil immigration laws within the country.

They don’t need warrants to apprehend people for violating those laws if they have probable cause to believe that the person is both deportable and a flight risk. They cannot enter a private space like a home without warrants but can and do go in with local officers who have them. They do not have to advise immigration detainees of their rights. Local police, on the other hand, may arrest someone on the spot if a crime has just occurred, but otherwise they need a warrant, granted by a court, to put someone in custody.

Does the law allow agents to detain observers who are filming them without impeding their operations? | David McKenna | Little Canada, Minnesota

Shaila continues:

The short answer is no. Though the specifics of state laws vary, filming public law enforcement activities is broadly recognized as a First Amendment right, as long as observers do not interfere. That said, it may be a right without a remedy. The Supreme Court has not squarely addressed the issue, and officers who detain someone in violation of a right that has not been “clearly established” may be immune from being sued. Meanwhile, a federal judge told agents on Friday not to retaliate against “peaceful and unobstructive” protesters and not to stop drivers who are not “forcibly obstructing” officers.

Deportation

How many people have been deported under Trump, and how does this number compare with past administrations? | Michael Frick | Palm Springs, California

Albert Sun, a graphics editor who has tracked deportations, writes:

I published an article today about this. Our best analysis is that since Jan. 20, the Trump administration has deported about 540,000 people. This is fewer than in either of the last two years of the Biden administration. But Biden-era deportations mostly came at the border, where migration has nearly stopped. Trump’s arrests target people already inside the country. The administration has removed about 230,000 of them, already more than the Biden administration did in four years.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Can ICE Do That? – The New York Times

Civil Discourse – Don’t Take the Bait – Joyce Vance

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

Don’t Take the Bait

By Joyce Vance, Jan 15, 2026

In the time of Trump, “Don’t take the bait” is a rule that’s almost as important as “Do not obey in advance.”

Following the shooting death of Renee Good and other incidents where agents played fast and loose with the rights of both American citizens and immigrants, ICE seems to be doing everything it can to be an accelerant to the tensions. Wednesday evening, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said that federal agents were trying to arrest a man from Venezuela who was in the country illegally, when he fled from agents. She said he “began to resist and violently assault the officer,” and was joined by two other men who attacked the agent with a snow shovel and broom handle. McLaughlin said the agent feared for his life and shot the man they’d been trying to arrest in the leg.

There are obviously questions about this scenario, including how an agent ended up alone and whether a reasonable agent would have thought his life was at risk. As The New York Times put it, “The federal government’s narrative could not immediately be verified.” A crowd of about 200 people gathered after the shooting, and according to the police chief, engaged in illegal acts, including throwing fireworks at police. After agents from ICE’s sister agency, CBP, showed up in what the Times called a large, military-style vehicle, protesters “swarmed the vehicle and yelled and threw snowballs at agents.” Retreating agents fired tear gas-type canisters, and agents who arrived subsequently sprayed chemical agents against the protestors who moved toward them. A protester lobbed fireworks toward the agents as they left.

Agents could have de-escalated the tension at any point in these developments, but did not. That forces us to ask why—is there a deliberate effort to provoke protestors into acts of violence? We don’t know the answer to that question for certain, but a social media post by the president this morning gave some hint.

Trump threatened to use the “INSURRECTION ACT” due to attacks on “the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job.”

No surprise. We’ve always known he was looking for an excuse to do this. We’ve discussed insurrection act here before. I wrote to you about it back in April, in a piece that also discusses the importance and effectiveness of peaceful protest. “Trump might try to take advantage of minor incidents, or even plants who engage in violence, to impose the Insurrection Act and use the military to put a halt to Americans who are out on the streets exercising their First Amendment rights.”

So as difficult as it may become to show restraint, it’s essential that we don’t take Trump’s bait as we protest. If he’s going to impose the Insurrection Act, as he likely will at some point, we don’t want to give him any cover for it. Each of us can help by sharing this message with those around us and making sure they share it forward.

Here’s what you need to know about the Insurrection Act:

• Normally, the Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. It explicitly outlaws using the armed forces to enforce the law within our borders, unless that action is expressly authorized by the Constitution or an act of Congress.
• Enter the Insurrection Act, which permits a president to deploy the military in American cities and on our streets in very narrow circumstances involving insurrection, rebellion, or extreme civil unrest.
• Even in those circumstances, the military can only be used for “emergency needs” towards the goal of reestablishing civilian control as quickly as possible. This is where lawsuits may come in, especially since governors and local leaders are not only not asking for federal intervention, but in the case of Minnesota, explicitly asking the feds to leave.
• Typically, the Act is only used at a Governor and/or local officials’ request. The exceptions to that are 60 years ago and come from the heart of the civil rights era, when presidents sent troops to states like Mississippi and Alabama to protect people’s lives and liberty, like college students integrating state universities, not sending troops in to traumatize a civilian population trying to peacefully exercise its First Amendment rights.
• But the Act’s language is broad and gives presidents plenty of discretion to, for instance, use the military to arrest American citizens engaged in protest, if a president calls what’s going on an insurrection, rebellion, or civil unrest. And in an 1827 case, Martin v. Mott, the Supreme Court ruled that it is up to the president to decide whether the Insurrection Act should be invoked and that the courts may not review his decision. Although more recently, courts have intimated that a president’s assessment needs to pass the smell test, we should still expect to see them give broad deference to his decisions.

There are reports that federal agents are unrepentant following Good’s death at the hands of one of their number. Minnesotan Patty O’Keefe, an American citizen, was arrested and detained by ICE. While they were transporting her, she says one of the agents said to her, “You’ve gotta stop obstructing us. That’s why that lesbian bitch is dead.”

NBC is reporting that in its rush to hire, ICE is deploying new agents to the field without adequate training. An AI program they were using flagged new hires with no law enforcement experience as trained agents and surged them out to offices. The article says this was the case with “many” of them. The president directed ICE to hire 10,000 new officers by the end of 2025 and offered new recruits $50,000 signing bonuses using money allocated to the agency by Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” DHS says those agents have been identified and are receiving training in the field.

It’s not just Minnesota. Geraldo Lunas Campos died at an ICE detention center in El Paso, Texas, on January 3. The Washington Post reports it has listened to a recording of a call between a staffer in the coroner’s office and Mr. Campos’ daughter, where she is told that pending the results of a toxicology report, “our doctor is believing that we’re going to be listing the manner of death as homicide.” At the time of his death, the agency said “staff observed him in distress,” but did not offer a cause of death. The Post reports that “a fellow detainee says he witnessed … Campos being choked to death by guards.” The El Paso facility is described as “a colossal makeshift tent encampment on the Mexican border.” Not only have the people being housed there reported “substandard conditions and physical abuse,” ICE inspectors found over 60 violations of federal standards for detaining migrants in just 50 days dating back to last September.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Don’t Take the Bait – Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

ICE Agents Speak About Shooting in Minneapolis – TIME

Jan 14, 2026 6:03 AM PT

‘I’m Embarrassed’: ICE Agents Speak About the Shooting in Minneapolis

• Politics
• police

By Philip Wang

In the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis last week, Trump Administration officials jumped into a whole-hearted defense of the ICE agent responsible.

The Department of Homeland Security maintained that Agent Jonathan Ross “dutifully acted in self-defense,” and promised to send hundreds more agents into the city despite widespread protests against the agency’s operations.

But behind the scenes, current and former ICE agents have expressed concerns about the agent’s conduct, about the agency’s operations in Minneapolis, and about a broader push by the Trump administration to aggressively recruit more agents.

Read more: Fatal ICE Shooting Sparks Scrutiny of Killings in Trump’s Immigration Crackdown

“I’m embarrassed,” one former ICE agent with more than 25 years of experience told TIME. “The majority of my colleagues feel the same way. It’s an insult to us, because we did it the right way to see what they’re doing now.”

‘Problematic’

When asked about the deadly shooting that sparked mass protests in Minneapolis and across the country, both the current and the former ICE agent expressed their reservations about Agent Ross opening fire three times. 

“If you fear for your life and you’re in imminent danger, policy says you could fire at that vehicle if there’s no other recourse,” said a current ICE agent with more than 20 years of experience in the agency.

“If someone is able to make the argument that she was trying to hit him, he feared for his life, and all he could do was shoot…then sure, he can justify it that way. 
But I think when you look at it a little bit more, it’s … very problematic for him,” the agent said. 

The current and former agents spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on the record on behalf of the agency.

The DHS told TIME that Good had “weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them—an act of domestic terrorism.”

But videos of the incident contradict that account. They appear to show Ross positioned to the side of Good’s vehicle when he fired three shots that killed her, with her wheels turned away from him.

Editor’s Note: The TIME video would not post; I am using the same item from ABC News, via YouTube. –DrWeb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frGrqOra8lM

Mayor of Minneapolis Demands ICE Leave the City After Agent Fatally Shoots Woman

Both the former agent and the current agent also questioned why Ross was assigned to this operation in the first place, given a previous injury involving a driver at the wheel of a vehicle just a few months before the confrontation with Good.

“That, to me, has red flags all over it,” the former ICE agent said.

“So when this person took off, I’m sure that prior incident came to mind, because he’s an experienced officer. And then he just reacted, in my opinion, not in the correct way,” the former agent added. 

Last Monday, the Trump administration deployed roughly 2,000 agents from ICE to the Twin Cities area amid a growing fraud scandal at day care centers run by Somali residents. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on social media that the agents are there to conduct “ a massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud.”

The current ICE agent pointed out that while the pretense of the immigration operation in Minneapolis is to investigate welfare fraud, neither border patrol officers nor ICE agents in charge of deportation, also known as Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers, are trained to investigate financial fraud. 

“None of those skills were asked for when they sought out volunteers, or when they pulled people, it was just… we just need people to go out there and flood the area,” the current ICE agent said.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: ICE Agents Speak About Shooting in Minneapolis | TIME

March in Minneapolis calling for ICE to leave Minnesota draws thousands – KSTP.com 5 Eyewitness News

March in Minneapolis calling for ICE to leave Minnesota draws thousands

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3jK1tHlehQ

Thousands march in Minneapolis calling for ICE to leave Minnesota

Protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis continued Saturday, with thousands taking to the streets calling for ICE to leave.

Saturday afternoon saw what looked to be thousands gather at Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis, where a march was set to take place, with protestors calling for ICE to leave the state.

Organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), the group spoke out against ICE, as well as its recent announcement that 2,000 more agents would be sent to Minnesota to assist with operations in the state.

The protest is just one of many the city has seen in recent days after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent on Wednesday.

READ MORE:

• Protests and vigils call for action, some support for federal agents
• Hundreds protest ICE in downtown Minneapolis; at least 29 people detained
• New video appears to show ICE agent’s cell phone video of fatal Minneapolis shooting
• DHS Secretary Kristi Noem speaks on fatal shooting of woman by ICE agent in Minneapolis
• Frey calls for ICE to ‘get the f*** out of Minneapolis,’ says DHS narrative of shooting is ‘bulls***’

The Department of Homeland Security has stood by the ICE agent, stating Good attempted to run the agent over in her vehicle, and he fired in self-defense.

Others have pushed back against the self-defense narrative, arguing that Good was not trying to hit the agent, including Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: March in Minneapolis calling for ICE to leave Minnesota draws thousands – KSTP.com 5 Eyewitness News

Airports across Texas are among a growing list of airports nationwide that won't show a video of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blaming Democrats for flight delays due to the ongoing government shutdown.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/transportation/airports/2025/10/15/533409/texas-airports-among-those-that-wont-show-video-blaming-democrats-for-government-shutdown/

#Airports #Houston #Local #News #Politics #Texas #Transportation #BushIntercontinentalAirport #GovernmentShutdown #HobbyAirport #HoustonAirportSystem #TransportationAviation #USDepartmentOfHomelandSecurity

After a youth baseball coach was struck by an apparent stray bullet near Houston, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security characterized the incident as an “act of terror.” But local authorities have not indicated the shooting was targeted. 

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/crime/2025/09/30/532249/three-suspects-identified-charged-in-katy-baseball-field-shooting/

#Court #Crime #LawEnforcement #Local #News #DeadlyConductCharge #FormerPresidentJoeBiden #TheRacBaseballField #USDepartmentOfHomelandSecurity #WallerCountySheriffSOffice

A Houston attorney has filed a lawsuit against several federal departments and officials in response to a mandate requiring some immigrants to register with the government, arguing the mandate violates Fifth Amendment protections.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/immigration/2025/08/08/528239/houston-based-attorney-sues-homeland-security-over-trump-immigration-mandate/

#Court #Houston #Immigration #Local #News #FederalLawsuit #HomelandSecuritySecretaryKristiNoem #PresidentDonaldTrump #USDepartmentOfHomelandSecurity #USSouthernDistrictCourtOfTexas

President Donald Trump’s budget reconciliation package includes roughly $13 billion to reimburse states for border security spending during Joe Biden’s presidency. Gov. Greg Abbott is hoping to secure the lion’s share of that funding for Texas.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/border/2025/07/10/526090/texas-will-seek-11-billion-in-reimbursement-from-trump-administration-for-border-security-expenditures/

#Border #Immigration #National #News #Politics #Texas #BigBeautifulBill #OperationLoneStar #PresidentJoeBiden #TexasGovernorGregAbbott #USDepartmentOfHomelandSecurity #USPresidentDonaldTrump

The Trump administration gave notice in the Federal Register on Wednesday that it is withdrawing Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Cameroonians in the United States, effective Aug. 4. That could mean deportation for thousands of Texas residents.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/immigration/2025/06/04/523145/trump-administration-moves-to-strip-cameroonians-of-temporary-protected-status-effective-august-4/

#Immigration #International #National #News #Politics #SupremeCourt #Texas #Afghanistan #Cameroon #PresidentDonaldTrump #TemporaryProtectedStatus #USDepartmentOfHomelandSecurity #Venezuela

The United States government on Thursday called on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in challenging a federal judge's order to track down a Venezuelan man deported from Houston.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/immigration/2025/05/22/522061/u-s-government-appeals-judges-order-to-locate-venezuelan-man-deported-from-houston/

#Houston #Immigration #International #Local #National #News #CECOT #Deportation #FifthCircuitCourtOfAppeals #TrumpImmigrationPolicy #USDepartmentOfHomelandSecurity #USDistrictJudgeKeithEllison #Venezuela

More than 60 immigrants “self-deported” from Houston on Monday as part of the Trump administration’s latest immigration enforcement program, which offers free flights to undocumented immigrants and a $1,000 stipend, according to DHS.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/immigration/2025/05/20/521827/trump-administrations-first-self-deportation-flight-takes-off-from-houston/

#Houston #Immigration #International #Local #National #News #Politics #CBPHome #Deportations #SelfDeportation #TrumpImmigrationPolicy #USDepartmentOfHomelandSecurity