Growing Protests Over Minnesota Deaths
Fresh protests are taking place in the US city of Minneapolis days after immigration agents shot a second US-born citizen to death. The facts of the case are in dispute, and the shooting now has the Minnesota state government facing off against the Trump administration over whether the deployment of immigration agents to Minneapolis should be allowed to go on.
Anger in Minneapolis After Immigration Operation Turns Deadly
REPORTER:
Anger spills into the streets of Minneapolis, Minnesota once again, driven by an immigration crackdown in the city that’s seen federal agents shoot two locals to death — first, a US military veteran and mother, Renee Good, earlier in the month, and then intensive care nurse Alex Pretti on Saturday. In the Trump administration’s effort to enforce immigration law called “Operation Metro Surge,” two US-born citizens are dead.
REPORTER:
The facts of Pretti’s death are being hotly contested. US President Donald Trump has called the deaths tragic — while blaming Democratic Party rivals for creating chaos, with Trump officials saying Pretti was a threat who intended to commit “mass casualties.”
Kristi Noem:
An individual approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9-millimeter, semi-automatic handgun. The officers attempted to disarm this individual, but the armed suspect reacted violently. Fearing for his life and for the lives of his fellow officers around him, an agent fired defensive shots.
REPORTER:
But video of the incident seems to contradict this. Footage from bystanders shows only a phone in Pretti’s hands before agents tackle and shoot him ten times in the back.
REPORTER:
At a makeshift memorial, Minneapolis residents reflect on the violence and anger of the past few weeks.
Resident:
I'm not scared to continue to fight and stand for what's right, even when it puts my physical safety at risk, even if it puts, if it puts myself at risk. Because if we were to leave and not stand as Alex did, as Renee did, just because things got scary, then that would not be love.
Resident:
If they come for you and they come for them and you don't show up, there's nobody there to come for you. So we've got to band together as a community and society and oppose this all.
REPORTER:
And banding together is what many have done in Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul. The Twin Cities have a diverse population, including a sizable Asian-American community. When immigration kicked down the door of ChongLy Thao, an elderly Hmong-American, and dragged him into the snow in just a robe last week, neighbors honked their car horns and jeered at the officers in protest. The man — a US citizen for decades — was later released without charges and without apology. For some Asian-Americans, including Taiwanese-Americans, his example has not eased anxieties.
Taiwanese-American Resident:
We as Taiwanese, with our own history of martial law, with our current geopolitical isolation, we especially should recognize and name these clear patterns of political dishonesty, of so much violence clearly being done by perpetrators who will claim immunity and are never held to account for the harm they have done. We as Taiwanese-Americans are also an immigrant community. We do not have more protections than everybody else.
REPORTER:
The shootings have opened a rift between state and federal governments. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has mobilized the state’s national guard. And he’s also called for the withdrawal of federal immigration officers.
REPORTER:
Walz is no Trump fan — having run for vice president on the Kamala Harris ticket in 2024. And he says opposition to the operation doesn’t need to be a partisan issue, even for those who want stricter immigration enforcement.
REPORTER:
The state’s attorney general is heading to federal court to call for a restraining order on the whole operation, while Trump administration officials say what they see as legitimate law enforcement is not going anywhere, leaving the city open to more turmoil as the United States' deep divides play out in Minnesota.
