Getty ImagesProtests continued in Minneapolis and other US cities on Sunday, as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said America was at an “inflection point” and repeated his calls for US President Donald Trump to remove federal immigration agents from the city.
The American president also called on the governor to “turn over all illegal aliens” incarcerated in state prisons for deportation.
He also demanded that Walz, alongside Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, “formally cooperate” with his administration.
Lawmakers continue to be divided over the fatal shooting by immigration agents of 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday, as well as his Second Amendment right to bear arms.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti was shot because he was “brandishing” a gun. Local authorities say the gun was legally registered, he was not brandishing it, and he was shot after the gun was taken from him.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told the BBC that federal agents blocked state troopers from accessing the scene of the shooting, despite obtaining a search warrant.
He added that all levels of law enforcement in Minnesota have been working with federal law enforcement “for several years” and that the situation unfolding in Minnesota was hampering the agencies’ ability to pursue such investigations.
U.S. Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino yesterday accused O’Hara and Frey of trying to derail federal law enforcement operations.
The U.S. Department of Justice subpoenaed Frey, Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison last week, saying they alleged that they conspired to prevent federal immigration agents from traveling to the statefollowing the January 7 fatal shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.
Trump indicated in a Wall Street Journal interview published Sunday that he might eventually remove ICE agents from the Minneapolis area, but did not provide a timeline.
He told the outlet: “At some point we will leave. We did it, they did a phenomenal job.”
In the interview, the president added that his administration was “reviewing everything” regarding Pretti’s death and said it “will be determined.”
The Trump administration has labeled Pretti a “domestic terrorist.”
Sunday night on Truth Social, Trump demanded that Walz and Frey, as well as “ALL Democratic governors and mayors in the United States” must “formally cooperate with the Trump administration to uphold our nation’s laws, rather than resist and fan the flames of division, chaos and violence.”
He listed a series of demands that he said were “rooted in common sense,” including asking the U.S. Congress to end sanctuary cities, which he said were the cause of “all these problems.”
The term “sanctuary city” is commonly used to describe places in the United States that limit their assistance to federal immigration authorities.
Trump’s messages followed remarks from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in which she condemned Walz as wanting chaos and encouraging “left-wing agitators to track down and record federal officers in the midst of lawful operations.”
Negative reactions against the repression carried out by the Trump administration are increasing, including within the Republican Party.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt told CNN that people were watching their fellow Americans get shot on television and that “federal tactics and accountability” had become a growing concern for voters.
When asked whether ICE should be removed from Minnesota, Stitt said the president needs to answer that question, but that he’s “getting bad advice right now.”
Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy said the Minneapolis shootings were “incredibly disturbing” and “the credibility of ICE and DHS is at stake.”
Democrats responded by threatening to block a key government funding program if it contained funds for the Department of Homeland Security, of which ICE is a part, raising the prospect of another government shutdown.
Few Minnesotans the BBC spoke with said they supported ICE’s operations.but several polls suggest that about half of the nation’s voters support President Trump’s efforts to deport people living in the United States illegally.
Other polls indicate voters are divided on how Trump is handling this crackdown on undocumented immigrants. A study conducted by Politico shortly after Renee Good’s death this month suggested that about half of Americans felt the mass deportation campaign was too aggressive.
On Sunday, hundreds of demonstrators in Minneapolis braved freezing conditions to protest the shooting, while armed and masked officers used tear gas and stun grenades against them.
The protests spread to other US cities, with people holding signs saying “Justice for Alex” and “abolish ICE” in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Executives from more than 60 Minnesota-based companies, including 3M, Best Buy, Target and UnitedHealth Group, also signed an open letter calling for “an immediate de-escalation of tensions” and for local and federal officials “to work together to find real solutions.”
Federal agents fatally shot Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday, and videos have since been released showing a scuffle between Border Patrol agents and Pretti just before the shooting.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the agents fired in self-defense after Pretti, who they said had a handgun, resisted their attempts to disarm him.
Eyewitnesses, local officials and the victim’s family disputed this version, pointing out that he had a phone in his hand and not a weapon. His parents accused the administration of spreading “sickening lies” about what happened.
O’Hara, the Minneapolis police chief, told the BBC that Pretti was a legal gun owner with no criminal record other than traffic violations.
It is legal in Minnesota to carry a handgun in public if you have a permit.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) – which is generally aligned with Trump – joined other US gun lobby groups in calling for a “thorough investigation” into Pretti’s killing.
In a statement, he said: “Responsible public voices should wait for a full investigation, without making generalizations or demonizing law-abiding citizens. »
Bovino said earlier that at the time of the shooting, ICE agents were searching for Jose Huerta Chuma during a “targeted” operation, and that Chuma’s criminal history included domestic assault, intentional wounding and disorderly conduct.
The Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) has since refuted these claims and stated that Huerta was never in the custody of the Minnesota DOC and that public records only reflect traffic offenses committed more than a decade ago.
The latest shooting follows weeks of tension between Minnesota authorities, federal agents and protesters who took to the streets to watch agents during their anti-immigration raids.
Earlier this month, an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident who was participating in one such sighting.
In a statement to CBS News, the BBC’s US media partner, family law firm Romanucci & Blandin, urged all Americans to “trust their own eyes when interpreting the horrific video” of the Pretti shooting.
Their statement continued: “It is time for a hard reset. ICE agents can leave Minneapolis. Minnesotans cannot. We are calling for a complete and immediate end to ICE’s invasion of this great American city.”
Trump’s crackdown in Minneapolis was launched in December after some Somali immigrants were convicted of massive fraud on state welfare programs. The state is home to the largest Somali immigrant community in the United States.
ICE agents have the authority to arrest, detain, and arrest people they suspect are in the United States illegally.
