Videos emerge of previous confrontation between Alex Pretti and federal officers 11 days before he was killed – US politics live | Minneapolis

Videos of an earlier confrontation between Alex Pretti and federal agents, 11 days before the ICU nurse was fatally shot, emerged Wednesday by federal officers in Minneapolis. The nearly two-minute video, published Wednesday by The News Movement, a digital news outlet, shows a Jan. 13 incident in Minneapolis in which officers grabbed Pretti and tackled him to the ground during intense social protests against the federal crackdown in the city.

Sahan Journal, a nonprofit news site that reports on immigrants and communities of color in Minnesota, reported that dozens of residents showed up that day to protest and observe federal immigration sweeps in the area. That same morning, just two blocks away, a young woman named Aliya Rahman was violently pulled from her car as she attempted to pass a federal immigration office and subjected to rough treatment, an image that sparked widespread outrage.

Steve Schleicher“A week before Alex was shot in the street – even though he posed no threat to anyone – he was violently attacked by a group of ICE agents. Nothing that happened exactly a week ago could have justified Alex’s murder,” the attorney representing Pretti’s family said in a statement.

In other news:

• White House Border czar Tom Homan expected to speak to press in Minneapolis After being sent to take the reins of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota.. ICE officers in the state were instructed to avoid contact with “agitators” and target only “aliens with criminal backgrounds,” according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters.

• Senate Democrats have threatened to block legislation that would fund the Department of Homeland Security and several other agencies. If Republicans and the White House don’t agree to new restrictions on President Donald Trump’s surge in immigration enforcement, it could potentially push the government one step closer to a partial shutdown. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer He said Wednesday that Democrats won’t provide the necessary votes until U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is “reined in and overhauled.” Schumer also turns up pressure on DHS secretary in posts on X Kristi Noem and Trump’s top aide Stephen Miller leaving and repeated calls for the president to withdraw ICE agents from Minnesota.

• A federal judge in Minnesota blocked the Trump administration from arresting and detaining 5,600 refugees living in the state. In a decision issued on Wednesday, US district judge John R Tunheim granted a temporary restraining order against Human Rights Defenders, which represents midwesterners seeking asylum, blocking Operation Reaffirmation and Integrity of Post-Admission Refugees (“Operation Parris”). He also directed the Department of Homeland Security to release everyone already detained by the administration as part of the operation and return them to Minnesota.

• Alexi Pretti’s parents hired a former federal prosecutor who helped the Minnesota attorney general convict police officer Derek Chauvin of George Floyd’s murder. Pretti’s family retained Steve Schleicher, a partner at the Minneapolis firm Maslon, who served as special prosecutor in the 2021 trial of Floyd’s murder. Schleicher took on the case pro bono, PBS News reported. Earlier this month, the family of Renee Good, who was killed by an ICE agent also in Minneapolis, has retained another attorney handling the George Floyd case, the Chicago-based firm Romanucci & Blandin, which is representing Floyd’s family.

• Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed that the two officers involved in the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti on Saturday have been placed on administrative leave. It is “standard protocol”. However, it is currently unclear exactly when they were furloughed. Federal law enforcement officers involved in a shooting are typically placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

  The confirmation also directly contradicts the border patrol commander’s statement. Greg Bovino he said after the shooting. He said at a press conference on Sunday: “All the agents involved in that incident are working elsewhere and not in Minneapolis, this is for their safety.”