‘You don't get to intimidate us’: Minneapolis digs in against ICE as two ex-presidents condemn killings

Minneapolis was already a city living in fear, first terrorised by masked immigration agents grabbing people off the streets, and then stunned by the killing of a mother of three on a quiet residential street as she went to the aid of her neighbours.

Now, with the death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti – shot several times by United States Border Patrol agents during an altercation after he filmed them – the mood is one of intense foreboding, with fears of further violence.

“It feels like we're on the precipice of something right now, and I don't know what's on the other side,” said Megan Newcomb, 33, a member of the Sunrise Movement Twin Cities, which has been organising protests outside hotels where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents stay.

“I'm optimistic that on the other side is ICE leaving the Twin Cities," she said. "But I also think that on the other side of that precipice is Trump invoking the Insurrection Act.”

That would allow him to deploy active duty troops to US cities.

Another young man involved in protests against ICE, who gave his name as Alex, said he just felt dread: “I expect more civilian residents to be murdered within the next week.”

The Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE chief Greg Bovino have claimed that Pretti approached the team of ICE agents with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun with the intention of harming the officers. Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s most senior advisor, has branded the intensive care nurse an “assassin”.

But videos taken by several bystanders tell a very different story.

They show Pretti in the middle of a street, one hand outstretched as he holds his phone to film ICE agents speaking to a woman, the other hand directing traffic.

When an ICE agent shoves the woman to the ground, he tries to get between her and the agent, who then sprays a chemical agent in his face.

Pretti falls to the floor and is struggling as six ICE agents pile on top of him. One ICE agent appears to remove a gun from near Pretti’s waist and walks away with it. Moments later, shots ring out, and the screaming from bystanders starts.

The Department of Homeland Security has released a photo of the gun they say Pretti intended to use against ICE agents. Minneapolis police however have said that Pretti was a licensed firearms owner with a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

Newcomb said she was glad so many people were filming at the time so that everyone could see he didn’t reach for the gun.

“We cannot rely on the administration to tell us what's going on,” she told The Observer.

“The video makes it so clear that they are not harming people who are true threats," she said, "they are out there power hungry and trigger happy and murdering people.”

On Sunday former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton both called for a full investigation into Pretti’s killing.

“The people in charge have lied to us,” Clinton said, “told us not to believe what we’ve seen with our own eyes.” Obama called the killing a “heartbreaking tragedy” and called on people to support protests that have taken place across the country.

The killing of Pretti came two weeks after the killing of 37-year-old Renee Good by ICE agents, another case where the White House narrative was clearly disproved by video evidence.

Since more than 2,000 ICE agents and other federal officials descended on Minnesota on December 1 to enforce Trump’s harsh migration policies, residents have been training as legal observers, deploying themselves on the street to document ICE actions.

Even people who are not trained by or affiliated to the formal observation groups have joined this form of resistance, with whistles blowing, car horns honking, and camera shutters clicking whenever ICE agents attempt to question or detain someone.

But their work has become increasingly dangerous, with several videos showing ICE agents intimidating and threatening the observers. The Department of Homeland Security has said the observers are obstructing law enforcement activities and accuse local officials of encouraging it.

President Donald Trump on Saturday reacted to Pretti’s shooting by blaming Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz – both Democrats – for “inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric”.

Now everyone is worried about what comes next. Frey and Walz have demanded ICE leaves the state, with Walz also putting the National Guard on standby.

But they did the same after Good’s killing, and instead the Department of Homeland Security sent more agents to Minnesota.

Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act unless there is more cooperation from local authorities, which would allow him to deploy active-duty military to Minneapolis.

There are signs, however, that some Republicans are unnerved by the killing of US citizens on the streets. Some lawmakers have called for an independent investigation, while Marjorie Taylor Greene – a former Trump ally – warned both Democrats and Republicans to “take off their political blinders”.

“You are all being incited into civil war,” she wrote on X.

As politicians battle over the rhetoric, the tensions on the street rise. After Pretti was killed, protesters barricaded the street where he was killed. Throughout the evening, people held peaceful candlelit vigils on street corners, even in minus 22C temperatures.

“The streets of Minneapolis were glowing. There were thousands and thousands of people who are like – ‘No, you don't get to intimidate us’,” said Kristen Melby, an elementary school teacher who helps organise humanitarian assistance for migrant communities.

“Fear is a rational reaction, and yet people are still finding ways to resist and come out,” Melby told The Observer. “It's not like we're going to stop – we're just going to adjust.”

Photograph by Richard Tsong-Taatarii/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images