Two agents have been placed on administrative leave as outrage continues over the fatal shooting of intensive care nurse Alex Pretty during an immigration raid.
Two United States federal agents involved in the fatal shooting of intensive care nurse Alex Pretty during an immigration raid in Minneapolis have been placed on administrative leave, the most recent fallout. Murder of an American citizen The outrage continues.
The two officials have been on leave since Saturday, US officials said Wednesday as “standard protocol.” Preeti was shot several times Ji was quickly killed and captured on video after she was forced to the ground by masked immigration officers in a scuffle.
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“The two officers involved are on administrative leave and have been since Saturday,” Al Jazeera’s Manuel Rapallo said Wednesday, reading from a statement by a Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) spokesman.
Rapallo, reporting from Minneapolis, said it was “unclear whether the Department of Homeland Security has taken any additional action against the other officers involved in that fatal shooting”.
“The officers seen in the multiple videos are helping to restrain Alex Pretty moments before the fatal shooting,” he said.
US media, citing preliminary investigations sent to members of US Congress, report that a US Border Patrol agent initially opened fire on Pretty while she was on the ground, followed by a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer.
Pretty’s killing was widely condemned across the political aisle, despite initial efforts by Trump administration officials to justify the killing and convict the victim.
Pretty’s shooting followed the January 7 shooting of Minneapolis resident Renee Good, a mother of three, by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer.
US President Donald Trump has replaced the leadership of immigration agents stationed in Minneapolis in a bid to stem the political and public backlash over violence by federal officials in Minnesota.
He replaces Greg Bovino, whose Border Patrol agent Aggressive tactics in Minnesota His policy-focused border has drawn widespread criticism, including from immigration chief Tom Homan.
But Trump’s signals are mixed Regarding ongoing immigration raids in Minneapolis.
After saying on Tuesday that he wanted to “de-escalate” the growing crisis in the state, Trump warned Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Wednesday that he was “playing with fire” after Frey reiterated that his city would not help federal agents enforce immigration laws.
Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social: “Can someone in his inner sanctum please explain that this statement is a very serious violation of the law and that he is playing with fire!”
Responding to the president, Frey wrote on social media, “The job of our police is to keep people safe, not enforce federal immigration laws.”
Amid Trump’s mixed messages, tensions remain on the streets of Minneapolis, where observers said immigration raids had not slowed but appeared to be more targeted.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, a top member of Trump’s administration, was in Minneapolis on Wednesday, where she announced the arrest of 16 Minnesota “rioters” for assaulting federal law enforcement.
Trump has sent thousands of federal officials to the city of Minneapolis and the surrounding state of Minnesota as part of the president’s aggressive deportation policy.
“ICE’s occupation of our city makes community members afraid to go out,” said Ilhan Omar, US Congresswoman from Minnesota.
“Not only is federal business hurting businesses, but the president’s defamatory rhetoric has led right-wing people to show up here to terrorize our community. It’s inexcusable,” she said, warning that “constitutional rights are becoming ineffective” because “fear is being weaponized.”
Pretty’s parents have retained a former federal prosecutor who helped Minnesota’s attorney general convict a police officer of manslaughter for kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, an African American man, and the 2020 killing of white officer Derek Chauvin that sparked global Black Lives Matter protests.
Steve Schleicher is representing Michael and Susan Pretty pro bono, according to a family spokesman.
Renee Goode’s family has hired the Chicago-based firm Romanucci & Blandin, which previously represented George Floyd’s family.