The federal agents who shot and killed Alex Pretti—a 37-year-old ICU nurse—while he was pinned to the ground and disarmed are already back on the job. Just not in Minneapolis.
Now-former Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino confirmed at a press conference Sunday that all agents involved in Pretti’s killing are “working, not in Minneapolis, but in other locations.”
His justification? “There’s this thing called doxing. And the safety of our employees is very important to us.”
That’s right: accountability is now “doxing” in the eyes of federal law enforcement.
By the way, the identity of law enforcement has always been public record. We don’t have secret police in this country. At least, we’re not supposed to.
WHAT’S GOING ON: Video analysis of Saturday’s shooting shows Pretti, who was legally armed and filming ICE activity during a protest, being tackled by multiple federal agents after he approached a protester who’d been pepper-sprayed. While at least seven officers pinned him to the ground, they removed his gun from its holster—and then shot him roughly 10 times anyway.
Federal agents have since blocked local investigators from accessing the scene, forcing Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to seek a court order preventing the feds from “destroying or altering” evidence. A federal judge granted that request.
BUT BUT BUT: The Trump administration isn’t backing down. It’s escalating. Trump announced Monday he’s sending border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota, making no mention of Pretti’s death while attacking Representative Ilhan Omar and repeating debunked claims about welfare fraud.
Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance is out here claiming the “craziest” thing he heard during his Minneapolis visit wasn’t anything about ICE violence—it was that some off-duty agents got “mobbed” at a restaurant. “This is just a taste of what’s happening in Minneapolis because state and local officials refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement,” Vance posted on X. “They have created the chaos so they can have moments like yesterday.”
The chaos, to be clear, that involves federal agents shooting a nurse who was already disarmed and on the ground.
OF COURSE: The right-wing media ecosystem is spinning hard. Steve Bannon declared on his podcast that Minneapolis is “one of the festering sores of this country” and called for the government to “lance the boil.” His co-host Jack Posobiec—without evidence—claimed “Soros buses” are bringing “insurgents” into the city.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called Pretti a domestic terrorist. CBP chief Bovino told CNN the “victims are the Border Patrol agents”—not the man they killed in broad daylight.
WHY IT MATTERS: Even some Republicans are breaking ranks. Minnesota GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Madel dropped out of the race Monday, saying he could not support “the stated retribution on the citizens of our state.” He noted that “driving while Hispanic is not a crime. Neither is driving while Asian.”
Inside DHS, Fox News reports “extreme frustration” among officials over the administration’s response. Sources called it “a case study on how not to do crisis P.R.” One said they’re so “fed up” they wish they could retire.
Senate Democrats are now threatening to block funding for DHS entirely. “What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling—and unacceptable in any American city,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
The agents who killed Alex Pretti faced no administrative leave, no suspension, no investigation that would keep them off the streets. They got reassigned to a new city—where, presumably, they’ll continue doing exactly what they were doing in Minneapolis.