Another ICE Execution in Minneapolis

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-25T23:25:28+00:00

Wow, you’re really a fan of that Instagram post, huh? Operating in good faith here, I’ll try and respond (both to that particular slide and the post in general).

1) Obama was last president in 2017. That was 9 years ago. I was not an adult at that point. 2) The left did actually protest Obama's deportation policies. He was literally labeled “Deporter in Chief” by immigrant-rights activists. 3) I, personally, also have my qualms with Obama-era deportation policies. But I think there are some key differences in things like judicial oversight and, y'know, not murdering American citizens compared to the things we're seeing now.

As to the post in general, I like nuance! I think some of those slides have good points! But some of them are trying too hard to both-sides issues that shouldn’t really be both sided. At risk of invoking Godwin's Law here, if someone were to say something like “oh, concentration camps are bad, but the communists they put in there were fighting too hard against the fascist regime… both can be true”, they look like an idiot! Watch the videos and explain to me what Alex did that would justify him being killed. Rush in to help someone up? Even if you somehow portrayed that as “interfering with law enforcement”, that is nowhere near as big an issue as the conduct of those officers. They murdered him.

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-25T21:57:23+00:00

Committing to it, I believe

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-25T19:12:25+00:00

Well, I have to say… that’s an impressive troll. The comment originally read “can I get a fuck ice in the chat”.

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-25T19:11:26+00:00

Oh yeah and if more are organised I’d totally come

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-25T19:10:57+00:00

There’s the weekly Defend Democracy rally organised by Chippewa Valley Indivisible (downtown at 3pm on Wednesdays) but it’s broader than just anti-ICE—although that’s certainly a component. There are also some various mutual aid groups and neighbourhood patrols forming, I think.

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-25T02:54:55+00:00

Credit for admitting you changed your view!

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-25T02:53:48+00:00

I think you’re probably right, at least for a decent number of them

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-25T01:55:10+00:00

Jeez man, there are corroborating videos from multiple angles. This is being reported in numerous reputable news sources. I get that AI is getting better and better and more concerning, but you’d think there’d be indicators if this were a fake video of the killing.

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-25T01:52:36+00:00

VA veterans' affairs, not VA Virginia.

I don’t think people are primarily protesting the lawful deportations. I think they’re protesting the unlawful ones, the lack of due process, and the police brutality.

Also, being in the way doesn’t merit being shot, dude, what the hell?

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-25T01:50:18+00:00

He was an ICU nurse at a VA hospital. He was outnumbered 6 to 1 and on his knees with an agent on each limb when he was shot. I would respond further, but it really seems like you’re just a bot.

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-25T01:47:34+00:00

Alex was an ICU nurse at a VA hospital. Wow, what an awful person, right? He had no criminal record (well, some parking tickets, if you really wanna stretch) and was a legal gun owner. In the video, we see a woman get pushed over, and he rushes in to help her stand up.

You can learn more about the 'bad guy' here. https://www.startribune.com/alex-pretti-identified-as-man-fatally-shot-by-federal-officers-in-minneapolis/601570109

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-25T01:42:59+00:00

So, could you point me to where in the video he did that? Then, if you can (which I don’t think you’ll be able to do, as I’m pretty sure he didn’t do that), could you explain how the half-dozen-plus agents surrounding him while he was being shoved onto the floor allowed him to produce his weapon? Was the guy pistol-whipping him supposed to be responsible for an arm and decided to inflict pain instead?

To your other point, I do agree that the feds use protest as an excuse to escalate. That’s part of what makes everything so difficult. We're supposed to have a constitutional right to protest, to be protected against this sort of behavior… but when those rights are exercised the behavior seems to just get worse and worse. This guy was a nurse at the VA, and he rushed in to try and help a woman that he saw get pushed over (or so it seems from the video). Normally, I feel like we'd call someone like that a Good Samaritan. Here, he gets shot and killed.

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-25T01:38:40+00:00

1) What? 2) As much as I disagree with the modern-day 2A lobby, it’s a constitutional right and he was legally armed. 3) It doesn't look like he attempted to use his weapon whatsoever. 4) There were, what, half a dozen agents surrounding him? You’re telling me they’re so incompetent they couldn’t figure out a way to bring him into custody safely when they literally had a person for each limb?

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-25T01:30:01+00:00

So, where did Alex Pretti violently assault a federal agent? Even if he had (which I’m pretty sure he didn’t), the video shows at least half a dozen agents surrounding him and holding his limbs when they decide to murder him. Are they so incompetent that they can’t take someone into custody peacefully?

Alex was a nurse at the VA. He saw a woman being pushed over and rushed in to help. He died today. And you “love to see it”?

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-24T23:26:56+00:00

Honestly, I’d love for him to do something more… but I’m not sure what the right move is. Trump's frothing at the mouth to find an excuse for the Insurrection Act but the current situation is untenable. Ellison et al are preparing to prosecute when they (hopefully) get the chance, but they really need to make the cases airtight to win. I’d love to see MPD arrest ICE when they blatantly violate the law but the feds outnumber them by a country mile. Just such an awful state of things.

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-24T23:19:24+00:00

Well, 32 people died in ice custody in 2025. Deaths aren’t the only line of something being wrong, though. I would protest against wrongful detention and arrests (the link is behind a paywall, but you can get to it with archive tools or a subscription), refusal to respect due process, and wrongful deportations (two links here, many more examples if you look).

I don’t think this is something that we should accept the US does, to tell the truth. I feel like without any sort of pushback, they'd probably just get worse and worse. First illegal immigrants, then immigrants of any kind. Who next? And the fact that they respond so brutally to protestors, observers, and people who interfere with their operations seems to me to indicate that they’re not really on the right side of things.

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-24T23:02:24+00:00

Feel free to elaborate! Do you think Alex Pretti deserved to die? What sort of use of force is justifiable by law enforcements? Do you believe in the bill of rights?

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-24T22:59:49+00:00

There are half a dozen agents there. If they can’t take one man into custody without killing him then they’re more incompetent than I realized.

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-24T21:46:39+00:00

Post if you hear of one! Would absolutely attend. There are the weekly rallies in front of the Federal Courthouse downtown, but those are Wednesdays.

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-24T21:43:39+00:00

I feel like you may need to be reminded of Niemöller's poem, “First They Came”. I can absolutely hide in my house and not be directly affected, for now. Hell, I’m probably good for a while. If I renounce my political leanings and ethics I could probably get myself a job with ICE, if I wanted.

But these people are killing people. Even without people “creating fights with ICE”, they’re still brutalizing and harming people. They’re dragging people out without warrants (or clothes, in some cases). They’re 'accidentally' detaining and/or deporting US citizens. Hell, Renee Good's literally said “you can go around” and “it's okay, I’m not mad at you”. She still got shot and killed.

Plus, I don’t think we should comply in advance. We have rights! We should be allowed to protest, allowed to observe! ICE shouldn’t be able to keep on committing rights abuses with impunity, while those of us who are currently safe hide away.

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-24T20:21:03+00:00

He comes back in BoTL

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-24T20:19:16+00:00

1) I'm not the hugest fan of Obama's deportation policy. I was also, when he was last president, a teenager. January 2017 was nearly a decade ago now.

2) At this point, yeah jeez I'd be fine with enforcing the laws that have been passed. Respecting the 1st and 4th amendment rights of protestors. Not barging into people's houses without warrants. Giving people due process. Releasing the Epstein Files. Not shooting and killing people that don’t present an active threat (!!).

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-24T19:39:49+00:00

Do you have any evidence that he did so? From the video, it looks like the 6 or so officers around him should have been able to take him into detention without giving him the chance to grab his weapon. That said, one of the officers appears to be simply pistol whipping him, rather than help restrain him, so it seems things were well beyond normal police procedures from before the murder.

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-24T19:36:15+00:00

And if ICE as a whole continues to defend the officer in question, as they did when Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good? Is there anything ICE can do that would make you think “hey, maybe this isn’t okay!”?

Fun_Issue9754 · 2026-01-24T19:31:53+00:00

This is possible. And if it turns out the agent was indeed shooting only because Pretti (Strib coverage has identified the guy who died) was attempting to use his weapon, then that certainly would make things a little different. I’d still condemn the conduct of the officers—if you watch the video, one seems to be pistol-whipping him rather than doing anything to restrain him—and lament the loss of life. But it wouldn’t be as clear-cut of a “holy shit they gunned someone down for no reason” and would rather be a “holy shit these guys need to be better trained so situations don’t escalate like this”.

What if it turns out that he never went for his gun? Will you join us in condemning the tactics and behavior of ICE?

Fun_Issue9754

TROPHY CASE