Minneapolis protesters march against ICE as governor urges Trump to remove agents

Protests continued on Sunday in Minneapolis and other US cities after 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed by immigration officers in Minneapolis on Saturday.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said America was at a “turning point” and repeated his call for US President Donald Trump to remove federal immigration agents from the city.

Trump, meanwhile, called on the governor to “turn over for deportation all Illegal Criminal Aliens” incarcerated in state prisons.

Meanwhile, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told the BBC that state officers were prevented from accessing the scene of the attack by federal agents, despite a search warrant being issued.

He added that all law enforcement agencies in Minnesota have been working with federal law enforcement for “several years,” and that the situation that has emerged in Minnesota has hindered the agencies’ ability to continue such investigations.

Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino accused O’Hara and Frey of trying to derail federal law enforcement operations.

Trump signaled in an interview published Sunday in the Wall Street Journal that he might eventually be willing to withdraw ICE agents from the Minneapolis area, but did not offer a timeframe.

He told the press: “We will leave at some point. We did it, they did a phenomenal job.”

In the interview, the president said his administration was “reviewing everything” regarding Pretti’s death and that it would “come to light with determination.”

Lawmakers remain divided over Pretti’s shooting and the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti was shot because he was “brandishing” a gun. Local authorities said the gun was legally registered, the man did not brandish the gun, and was shot after the gun was removed.

The Trump administration has described Pretti as a “domestic terrorist.”

Pretti’s family released a statement in response to the comment, saying “the sickening lies told by the administration about our son are reprehensible and disgusting.”

family said had no interaction with law enforcement other than a handful of traffic tickets. Court records show he has no criminal record, according to the AP.

His family said in a statement: “Please reveal the truth about our son. He was a good man.” he said.

Reactions to the Trump administration’s pressures are increasing, including reactions from within the Republican Party.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt told CNN that people are watching their fellow Americans being shot on television and that “federal tactics and accountability” are becoming a growing concern for voters.

Asked whether ICE should be removed from Minnesota, Stitt said the president should answer that question but said he’s “receiving bad advice right now.”

Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy said the Minneapolis shooting was “incredibly disturbing” and that “the credibility of ICE and DHS is at stake.”

Democrats responded by threatening to block a major government funding package if it included funding for the Department of Homeland Security, of which ICE is a part, raising the possibility of another government shutdown.

Few Minnesotans the BBC spoke to said they supported ICE operations, but various polls show that about half of voters nationwide support President Trump’s efforts to deport those living in the US illegally.

Other polls show voters are divided on how Trump is cracking down on undocumented immigrants. A survey conducted by Politico this month, shortly after Renee Good’s death, suggested that nearly half of Americans think the mass deportation campaign is too aggressive.

Meanwhile, on Sunday evening, Trump demanded in a post on Truth Social that Walz and Frey, as well as “EVERY Democrat Governor and Mayor in the United States,” “must formally cooperate with the Trump Administration to enforce our Nation’s Laws, rather than resisting and fanning the flames of Division, Chaos, and Violence.”

He outlined a series of demands that he said were “based on common sense”; the most important of which was a petition to the US Congress to end sanctuary cities, which he claimed were the cause of “all these problems”.

The term ‘sanctuary city’ is widely used in the US to describe places that limit their assistance to federal immigration authorities.

Trump’s posts followed remarks by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in which she condemned Walz for wanting chaos and encouraged “leftist agitators to follow and record federal officers in the midst of lawful operations.”

Sunday saw hundreds of protesters brave freezing temperatures to protest the shooting in Minneapolis, where armed and masked agents used tear gas and stun grenades against them.

Protests spread to other US cities; People were seen holding signs saying “Justice for Alex” and “Abolish ICE” in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Chief executives of more than 60 Minnesota-based businesses, including 3M, Best Buy, Target and UnitedHealth Group, also signed an open letter calling for “an immediate de-escalation” and for local and federal officials to “work together to find real solutions.”

Federal agents shot and killed Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday, and videos have since emerged showing a fight between Border Patrol agents and Pretti just before the shooting.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said agents opened fire in self-defense after Pretti, who they said had a gun, resisted attempts to disarm him.

Eyewitnesses, local officials and the victim’s family disputed this statement, stating that he was holding a phone, not a gun.

O’Hara, the Minneapolis police chief, told the BBC that Pretti was a legal gun owner with no criminal record other than traffic violations.

In Minnesota, it is legal to carry a handgun in public if you have a permit.

The National Rifle Association (NRA), typically aligned with Trump, joined other US gun lobby groups in calling for a “full investigation” into Pretti’s killing.

The statement said: “Responsible public voices should await a thorough investigation and not make generalizations and demonize law-abiding citizens.”

Bovino has previously said 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 includes domestic assault, intentional bodily harm and disorderly conduct.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) has since refuted those claims, saying Huerta was never under Minnesota DOC custody and that public records only reflect misdemeanor-level traffic offenses from more than a decade ago.

The latest shooting comes after weeks of tensions between Minnesota authorities, federal agents and protesters who took to the streets to observe agents during anti-immigrant raids.

Earlier this month, an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident who was taking part in one such observation.

In a statement to CBS News, Good’s family law firm, Romanucci & Blandin, the BBC’s US media partner, urged all Americans to “trust their own eyes when interpreting the horrific video” of Pretti’s shooting.

Their statement continued: “It’s time for a hard reset. ICE agents can leave Minneapolis. Minnesota residents cannot. We call for a complete and immediate end to the ICE occupation of this great American city.”

Trump’s crackdown in Minneapolis was launched in December after some Somali immigrants were convicted of massive fraud in government welfare programs. The state is home to the largest community of Somali immigrants in the United States.

ICE agents have the authority to stop, detain, and arrest anyone they suspect is in the United States illegally.