Monday, January 26, 2026

Parents of slain Minneapolis ICU nurse call out Trump admin's 'sickening lies'

Robert Davis
January 25, 2026 
RAW STORY


The moment that the firearm of a man identified as Alex Pretti is retrieved from a waistband holster by a federal officer (in light grey jacket, crouched) as another officer (in green) draws his weapon, before Pretti was fatally shot in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 24, 2026 is seen in a still image of a video obtained by Reuters. 
Reuters was able to verify the location and date of the videos from original file metadata. Buildings, road layout, trees and utility poles which matched file and satellite imagery of the place. The Department of Homeland Security said one of his agents fired shots in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Saturday (January 24). Minnesota Governor Tim Walz confirmed a shooting by federal agents took place on Saturday (January 24).

The parents of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse killed by Customs and Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis on Saturday, called out the "sickening lies" President Donald Trump's administration is telling about their late son.

Michael and Susan Pretti shared a statement on Sunday, about 24 hours after their son was shot and killed by CBP agents at a protest against the Trump administration's immigration tactics. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) shared the statement on social media.

"We are heartbroken but also very angry," Michael and Susan Pretti's statement reads in part.

"Alex wanted to make a difference in this world," it continued. "Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact."

The Trump administration surged immigration agents into Minneapolis last month following reports of public benefits fraud committed by Somali community members. The operation has been met with fierce pushback from the community, and confrontations have led to multiple shootings, including the death of another 37-year-old community member, Renee Good.

Good's death sparked nationwide protests and renewed calls for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to be impeached. Those calls have grown louder since Pretti died on Saturday, with Democrats saying they will shut down the government unless Trump's immigration regime changes its tactics.

Like Good, the Trump administration has claimed Pretti put officers' lives in danger, although that claim appears to be contradicted by available video evidence. Administration officials have also described Pretti as a "domestic terrorist," a claim that Pretti's parents forcefully denied.

"The sickening lies told about our son are reprehensible and disgusting," the statement reads. "Alex is clearly not holding a gun when he is attacked by Trump's murdering and cowardly ICE thugs."

"Please get the truth out about our son," it added. "He was a good man."




‘Please Get the Truth Out,’ Alex Pretti’s Parents Plead as Trump Officials Baselessly Smear Shooting Victim

“Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly thugs,” said Michael and Susan Pretti.



Mourners gather at a makeshift memorial in the area where Alex Pretti was shot dead a day earlier by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 25, 2026.
(Photo by Octavio Jones/AFP via Getty Images)

Julia Conley
Jan 25, 2026
COMMON DREAMS

Michael and Susan Pretti urged the press and the public to counter the Trump administration’s baseless claims about their son, Alex Pretti, after he was fatally shot by US Border Patrol agents on a street in Minneapolis and immediately—with no evidence—declared a “domestic terrorist” by top White House officials.

Pretti’s parents expressed heartbreak as well as anger over their son’s killing, which no federal officials contacted the family about, leaving them to learn he had been fatally shot from an Associated Press reporter who reached out to them.



‘What the F*ck Did You Do?!’ Video Contradicts DHS Claims About Killing of Alex Pretti



‘Sick, Malicious Lie’: Trump Caught Pushing ‘Alternate Reality’ Version of Minneapolis ICE Shooting

“Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital,” said the Pretti family. “Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact.”




They emphasized that Pretti acted as a “hero” in his final moments, moving to help a woman who had just been forcefully pushed to the ground by a federal agent.

“His last thought and act was to protect a woman,” they said before directly disputing claims by officials including White House Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who have made claims that are contradicted by multiple videos of the shooting.

In addition to labeling Pretti a “domestic terrorist”—a claim likely stemming from a memo signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, which claims that acts of domestic terrorism include “impeding” or “doxing” law enforcement officers even though filming federal agents is a constitutional right—officials have claimed he “approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun” and wanted to inflict “maximum damage” on the agents.

Bovino on Saturday refused to answer a direct question about when Pretti approached the officers with a weapon; videos show him holding a phone, not the firearm he was legally permitted to carry in a holster, and approaching the woman who was pushed to the ground. The agents then pushed him to ground and surrounded him before one reached into the fray and took Pretti’s gun just before at least one officer fired roughly 10 shots, killing him. Despite the fact that Pretti had just been disarmed and was on the ground, officials have called the shooting “defensive.”

“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting,” said Michael and Susan Pretti. “Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by [President Donald] Trump’s murdering and cowardly thugs. He had his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE pushed down, all while being pepper sprayed.”

“Please get the truth out about our son,” the Pretti family concluded. “He was a good man.”

Pretti had no criminal record. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology, society, and the environment from University of Minnesota in 2011 and worked as a research scientist before going back to school to become a registered nurse.

Pretti’s father added in comments to the AP that his son “was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset,” and had exercised his First Amendment right to demonstrate against the Trump administration’s mass deportation and detention campaign and an ICE agent’s killing of Renee Good earlier this month.

“He thought it was terrible, you know, kidnapping children, just grabbing people off the street,” said his father. “He cared about those people, and he knew it was wrong, so he did participate in protests.”

After the fatal shooting, the son of a deceased veteran whom Pretti had cared for at the VA hospital posted a video of him reading a “final salute” for his father.

“My father’s final words to me were, ‘Continue to fight the good fight,” wrote the man. “He would be honored in Alex’s sacrifice, and ashamed of this current administration. In my dad’s words I encourage you all to continue to ‘fight the good fight.’”

The AP reported that as of Saturday night, Pretti’s family still had not heard from federal officials about their son’s killing.


Trump demands Democrats 'cooperate' with ICE in dark screed to deport 'illegal criminals'

Robert Davis
January 25, 2026 
RAW STORY


U.S. President Donald Trump visits a Ford production center in Dearborn, Michigan, U.S., January 13, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

President Donald Trump issued a dark, winding screed on Sunday evening following the latest incident where an immigration agent shot and killed a U.S. citizen.

On Saturday, immigration agents shot and killed 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti at a protest against Trump's immigration tactics in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Pretti's killing had several eerie similarities to another high-profile killing in Minneapolis, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good.

Trump blamed Democrats for the "chaos" in Minneapolis in his post on Truth Social on Sunday. He also called on Democratic lawmakers in the state to "cooperate" with federal efforts to deport all "illegal criminals," a label that appears to include American citizens as well

"I am hereby calling on Governor Walz, Mayor Frey, and EVERY Democrat Governor and Mayor in the United States of America to formally cooperate with the Trump Administration to enforce our Nation’s Laws, rather than resist and stoke the flames of Division, Chaos, and Violence," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

In the screed, Trump ran through the usual suspects that he blames for America's ills: former President Joe Biden, Democrats, and illegal immigrants. He called on law enforcement to start cooperating with federal officers, which would violate several states' laws.

"All of these requests are rooted in COMMON SENSE, and will provide the best possible circumstances to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" the post continued. "The Trump Administration is standing by, and waiting for ANY Democrat to do the right thing, and work with us on these important matters of MAKING AMERICA SAFE like it is in all sections of our Country where we are, together with Local Leadership, participating and involved."



Trump just lit a 'green light' after another American killed in Minneapolis: legal expert

Robert Davis
January 25, 2026 
RAW STORY


The scene of a shooting involving federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 24, 2026. REUTERS/Tim Evans

A legal expert issued a dire warning about how President Donald Trump's immigration officers are going to conduct themselves going forward after another American was killed while protesting in Minneapolis.

On Saturday, 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti was gunned down by a swarm of immigration officers. The Trump administration claimed Pretti presented a threat to the officer's lives and called him a "domestic terrorist." The administration also claimed Pretti brandished a weapon at officers, even though video from the scene clearly contradicts that claim.

Pretti's killing happened about three weeks after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross gunned down Renee Good in Minneapolis while she was leaving the scene of an immigration raid in her car. Good's killing sparked nationwide protests and calls for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to be impeached.

Legal expert Ryan Goodman discussed Pretti's killing with former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann in a new YouTube video on Sunday.

"The response to the Alex Pretti incident is a green light," Goodman said. "It's a permission structure going forward, because we have the Secretary of Homeland Security calling Alex Pretti a domestic terrorist in her press conference, and it's the Department of Homeland Security's initial statement ... making these very false accusations against Pretti."



GOP governor calls new DHS shooting a 'murder' in passionate plea: 'Courts must step up'

David McAfee
January 25, 2026 
RAW STORY


FILE PHOTO: A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer holds a weapon during a protest outside an ICE facility, weeks after President Donald Trump ordered increased federal law enforcement presence and stepped-up immigration enforcement actions by the Department of Homeland Security, in Broadview, Illinois, U.S., September 12, 2025. REUTERS/Octavio Jones/File Photo

A Republican governor joined the chorus of voices against Trump's aggressive immigration tactics in Minneapolis, calling a recent killing of an ICU nurse potentially "murder."

The death of Alex Pretti, who worked for the VA as a nurse before he was killed by federal immigration agents in a widely recorded moment, sparked outrage from observers across the political spectrum. Already at least one GOP senator and one GOP congressman have called for full investigations into the public shooting.

Enter Phil Scott, the Republican governor of Vermont, who issued a statement declaring that "enough is enough."

"Enough... it's not acceptable for American citizens to be killed by federal agents for exercising their God-given and constitutional rights to protest their government," he wrote. "At best, these federal immigration operations are a complete failure of coordination of acceptable public safety and law enforcement practices, training, and leadership."

"At worst," he added, "it's a deliberate federal intimidation and incitement of American citizens that's resulting in the murder of Americans. Again, enough is enough."

He concluded suggesting that Trump "should pause these operations, de-escalate the situation, and reset the federal government's focus on truly criminal illegal immigrants."

"In the absence of presidential action, Congress and the courts must step up to restore constitutionality."



'You are a tyrant!' JD Vance sparks outrage for defending 'open killing' of Americans

Robert Davis
January 25, 2026 
RAW STORY


U.S. Vice President JD Vance waves as he attends the annual "March for Life" in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 23, 2026. REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz

Vice President JD Vance generated outrage on Sunday when he made a social media post that analysts said seemed to justify the killing of two Americans in Minneapolis by federal officers.

Vance posted a story on X about two Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who were at a restaurant eating when the business was mobbed by protesters. Vance alleged that the officers were locked inside the restaurant until backup arrived. Vance said the officers told him about the affair when he visited Minneapolis last week.

"This is just a taste of what's happening in Minneapolis because state and local officials refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement," Vance's post reads in part. "They have created the chaos so they can have moments like yesterday, where someone tragically dies, and politicians get to grandstand about the evils of enforcing the border."

Vance's statement comes at a time when tensions between the Minneapolis community and federal immigration officers are at an all-time high. On Saturday, immigration agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, 3, a local ICU nurse, who attended a protest against Trump's immigration regime. Pretti's killing happened about three weeks after Renee Good was killed by an ICE agent named Jonathan Ross in the city.

Analysts panned Vance for his statement on social media.

"Your 'solution' is to tell Americans to obey the invasion of our communities by masked government agents as they abduct people and execute Americans in the street or else we will also get executed," Democratic activist David Hogg posted on X. "That's not a solution. It’s a violation of our rights. You are a tyrant!"

"You are defending the open killing of everyday Americans for exercising their Constitutional rights," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) posted on X. "First, the mother of a 6-year-old child. Now, an ICU nurse to veterans. Both shot at nearly point-blank range. All without reflection or remorse. People will not forget this."

"Do you hear yourself??" Jon Favreau, former Obama White House speechwriter, posted on X. "Your federal agents shot a man ten times and you’re complaining about their f------ lunch being interrupted?? What the f--- is wrong with you??"


Fox News host 'outwardly skeptical' as she presses Kash Patel on DHS killing claim


FBI Director Kash Patel announces the apprehension of Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitive list, during a press conference in Ontario, California, U.S., January 23, 2026. REUTERS/Mike Blake

David McAfee
January 25, 2026 
RAW STORY

In an uncharacteristic moment on Sunday, Fox News host Maria Bartiromo appeared "outwardly skeptical" of FBI Director Kash Patel as she pressed him on the latest DHS killing.

In the interview, Bartiromo touches on the DHS killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The host asks the head of the FBI, "But how was he threatening Border Patrol? How was he using a gun to threaten?" She then added, "He was filming it."

Patel didn't answer, instead saying, "That's something I'll let DHS because they are investigating that case." But that didn't stop people from noticing Bartiromo's delivery.

Independent journalist Aaron Rupar shared the video, exclaiming, "Notable that even Bartiromo seems to be bothered by this!"

Legal expert Ryan Goodman seconded that, saying, "Even Maria Bartiromo is outwardly skeptical of these B.S. lines from the administration."

"We all know what we saw," he added on Sunday.



Republicans hammer Kash Patel over defense of DHS shooting

Alexander Willis
January 25, 2026
RAW STORY

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) went on the offensive Sunday and attacked FBI Director Kash Patel, who hours earlier defended the Border Patrol officers who killed Minnesota resident Alex Pretti.

Appearing on Fox News earlier on Sunday, Patel criticized Pretti, who was legally carrying a concealed firearm before he was pepper-sprayed, beaten, and shot by Border Patrol officers.

“No one who wants to be peaceful shows up at a protest with a firearm that is loaded with two full magazines,” Patel said to Fox News' Maria Bartiromo. “That is not a peaceful protest!”

Massie, a staunch Libertarian, took issue with Patel’s grievances and argued that the FBI director had inadvertently come out against the 2nd Amendment.

“Can the FBI just enforce the law without adopting every leftist gun banner talking point?” Massie asked in a social media post on X on Sunday. “Carrying a gun = bad intentions. Loaded guns = bad guns. Spare magazines = extra bad. More than 10 rounds = bad.”

Massie was joined by Greene, who suggested Patel’s complaints were also counter to the 2nd Amendment, which enshrines every American's right to bear arms.

“I agree,” Greene wrote in a social media post on X. “I support the 2nd amendment. Under all administrations.”



Greg Bovino stuns with 'one of the most Orwellian' Sunday interviews

Robert Davis
January 25, 2026 
RAW STORY


Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino looks on at a gas station, as immigration enforcement continues after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good on January 7, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Customs and Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino stunned an analyst on Sunday after what the analyst described as "one of the most Orwellian" Sunday morning interviews in recent memory.

Bovino joined CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union" on Sunday morning, where the two discussed the recent killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, who was shot by CBP agents in Minneapolis on Saturday. During the interview, Bovino said the CBP agents were the real victims in the affair, and told a narrative about the event that Sam Stein, managing editor for The Bulwark, found completely unbelievable given the evidence available in the public domain.

Stein responded to Bovio's CNN interview in a new video on The Bulwark's YouTube channel.

"This morning, Bovino went on CNN with Dana Bash to talk about the incident, and it was honestly one of the more Orwellian interviews I've seen in a long time on a Sunday show," Stein said. "Basically, he asked you to just ignore your own eyes."

Pretti attended a protest against President Donald Trump's immigration agents in Minneapolis on Saturday, when he was gunned down. The Department of Homeland Security has said Pretti "approached" officers with a loaded handgun, although that explanation seems to be contradicted by available video evidence from witnesses.

"He basically defied fact and truth and presented a narrative around the shooting that you would more or less have to have never seen the video and have no functioning ... ability for rational thought, an independent rational thought at that, to understand or to believe what Bovino was saying," Stein said.



CNN host puts Greg Bovino on the spot over why 'an unarmed man' was shot by agents


Alexander Willis
January 25, 2026 
RAW STORY


Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino (bottom left) appears on CNN, Jan. 25, 2026. (Screengrab / CNN)

Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino refused to answer CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday after being pressed about a key detail in Saturday’s deadly federal immigration shooting.

Saturday morning, 37-year-old Minnesota resident Alex Pretti was beaten and fatally shot by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis. Pretti was reportedly conceal carrying a firearm during the incident, which was captured on video and appears to show a federal immigration officer removing Pretti’s firearm before he was shot.

“When the agent took the gun away, that happened before Pretti was shot,” Bash said. “Why was an unarmed man shot multiple times by law enforcement, by your Border Patrol agents?”

Bovino, who on Saturday had already concluded, without evidence, that Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement,” disputed Bash’s assertion that Pretti was disarmed.

“Dana, you don't know he was unarmed, I don't know he was unarmed, that's freeze-frame adjudication of a crime scene via a photo,” Bovino said.

“That's why we have investigators, that's why we have an investigation that is going to answer these questions: how many shots were fired, who fired shots, where were the guns located? All those questions are going to be answered.”

Bash didn’t let up, however, and directed Bovino’s attention to the video that appears to show Pretti being disarmed by a federal immigration officer.

“We're not going to adjudicate that here on TV in one freeze frame!” Bovino fired back.

Bash continued, first by correcting Bovino that a video was “not a freeze frame,” and second by asking that he watch the video in question again.

“We don't know that agent was taking any gun away!” Bovino insisted. “That could have been the agent's because we don't know that! The facts are going to come to light.”



CNN host flinches as Greg Bovino claims 'the victims are the agents!' in DHS incident

Alexander Willis
January 25, 2026 
RAW STORY


Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino looks on at a gas station, as immigration enforcement continues after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good on January 7, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino made CNN’s Dana Bash flinch on Sunday after insisting that the Border Patrol agents who fatally shot a Minnesota nurse Saturday were the “victims” in the incident, and not the 37-year-old who was pepper sprayed, beaten and shot ten times while on the ground.

“What our officers are faced with here in Minneapolis are chaotic, very difficult and violent situations,” Bovino said.

“The situations are chaotic and ever changing – follow directions of law enforcement, don't inject yourself into a law enforcement situation!”

Border Patrol officers shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti Saturday morning in Minneapolis, Minnesota in an incident that has sparked outrage across the nation. Video of the incident showed Pretti attempting to help a woman who had been shoved by a Border Patrol officer, prompting one of the officers to pepper spray Pretti.

Pretti, who reportedly was legally carrying a concealed firearm, was then shoved to the ground, physically struck with what appears to be a handgun, and ultimately shot, and after being disarmed, according to reports.

Bovino’s warning against Americans interfering with immigration operations, Bash argued, appeared as though he was “blaming the victim.” Bovino hit Bash with a stunning remark about who he believed that victim to be.

“The victims are the Border Patrol agents, I'm not blaming the Border Patrol agents!” Bovino said on Sunday. “The victims are the Border Patrol agents. The suspect put himself in that situation, the victims are the Border Patrol agents there.”


Greg Bovino brutally fact checked on DHS shooting claim by Minnesota prison officials

Alexander Willis
January 25, 2026 
RAW STORY


Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino speaks during a press conference at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good on January 7 during an immigration raid, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 20, 2026. REUTERS/Leah Millis

Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino has made several startling statements in the wake of the deadly Border Patrol shooting of Alex Pretti Saturday, though one in particular was singled over the weekend by the Minnesota Department of Corrections as being blatantly untrue.

Speaking to NewsNation, Bovino said that ahead of the fatal shooting of Pretti – who was pepper sprayed, beaten and shot several times – Border Patrol officers were conducting an operation to arrest Jose Huerta-Chuma, who Bovino said had a criminal history including domestic assault, The Hill reported Sunday.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections, however, soon released a statement refuting Bovino’s claim, citing its own records that showed Huerta-Chuma had no criminal history in the state. Furthermore, the agency revealed that Huerta-Chuma had been apprehended by federal immigration officials during President Donald Trump’s first administration, and was subsequently released.

“DOC records further indicate that an individual by this name was previously held in federal immigration custody in a local Minnesota jail in 2018, during President Trump’s first administration,” the agency said in a statement, The Hill reported.

“Any decisions regarding release from federal custody at that time would have been made by federal authorities. DOC has no information explaining why this individual was released.”

Other notable remarks made by Bovino in the wake of Pretti’s killing include his assertion – made without providing evidence – that Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement,” and that the actual “victims” of the altercation were the Border Patrol agents who killed Pretti.

Federal immigration officials continue to swarm Minneapolis, Minnesota by the thousands, and are being met with fierce opposition from locals, some of whom have clashed with law enforcement.

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