Alex Pretti's death at the hands of US border patrol enrages Americans
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Another American citizen has been shot and killed by immigration officers in Minneapolis as protests against immigration enforcement intensify across the nation. 37-year-old Alex Prette was an ICU nurse who treated veterans. Meanwhile, in Washington, Democrats are threatening to pull out of the funding deal reached last week because of the money being provided for immigration enforcement. If they do so, that would trigger another government shutdown.
What happened in Minneapolis regarding Alex Pretti's death?
Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Tuesday, January 27th, 2026. Here to help us understand this inflection point and how the country is responding to immigration enforcement is USA Today breaking news reporter Christopher Kahn. Christopher, thank you so much for making the time to come back on the show.
Thanks for having me.
Let's start with the news out of Minneapolis over the weekend, the killing of Alex Preddy. What happened there?
So on Saturday morning, Alex Preddy, as you mentioned, an ICU nurse who worked at a VA hospital in Minneapolis, he was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents. He was one of several people who were filming agents at the time while they were conducting enforcement operations. That's become a very common practice in Minneapolis in recent weeks. The videos quickly were shared online about the shooting and show Pretty holding up his phone and recording agents. At one point, one of them pushes a woman who was standing near Pretty to the ground. Pretty could be seen then trying to help her and lead her away when he's pepper sprayed and taken to the ground. He's surrounded by Border Patrol agents and then one of them eventually opens fire, killing him.
Now, local and federal officials both say that Preddy had a gun on him while he was filming federal agents that morning. Brian O'Hara, the police chief in Minneapolis, said he has a concealed carry permit. No videos show him pulling out a gun before he was tackled to the ground, and it appears his gun was removed before officers began firing. Now, Preddy's death, of course, comes less than three weeks after An ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good in her car, and it reignited protests in Minneapolis, as well as renewed calls for immigration agents to leave the city and the Trump administration to end the deployment there.
Border Patrol leadership presented a very different narrative of events. What were they saying and have they made any attempt to reconcile their version with what we've all seen with our own eyes?
Border Patrol leadership, as well as top Trump administration officials to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others quickly labeled Freddie a domestic terrorist. They said that he had brought a gun to the protests to kill and even massacre law enforcement. Videos, of course, contradict these statements. And again, there's no evidence that he took out his gun or reached for it before it was taken away. Freddie also has no criminal history. But in the last 24 hours, federal officials have continued to defend the agents involved. but have also said that they've wanted an investigation before reaching conclusions, not being as declarative in their statements. So over the weekend, when pressed on the administration's earlier statements, Kash Patel and Pam Bonney, for example, they had seemed to suggest that just having a gun at a protest, even if it's concealed and you have a permit, is dangerous and an indication of possibly malintent.
Now, these statements very quickly drew the ire and backlash of many Second Amendment groups, including the NRA.
Federal judge heard arguments contesting the legality of ongoing immigration enforcement in Minnesota yesterday. This hearing was the result of a suit filed against Homeland Security by Minneapolis and the Twin Cities earlier in the month, alleging that the surge of 3,000 more agents amounted to a, quote, federal invasion," end quote, and violated the state's sovereignty. What did Homeland Security argue and when will the judge issue their ruling?
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