I’ve watched the video of Alex Pretti being shot by federal agents in Minneapolis multiple times now, and I keep coming back to the same question: What kind of man does that?
Not the shooting itself – though we’ll get to that. I’m talking about what happened before the shooting. What kind of man two-hand shoves a woman into a snowbank because she’s yelling at him? What kind of man pepper sprays another man who steps between them with an open palm, trying to shield that woman from attack?
The answer: The kind of man we’re giving a badge, a gun, and the authority to operate on American streets with near-total impunity.
What I Saw in the Video
The scene: Federal agents conducting an immigration operation in Minneapolis. Community members observing and documenting, as is their constitutional right. Some of them yelling at the agents – verbal confrontation, criticism, heated words.
An ICE agent starts shoving people, trying to push them back. Then he two-hand shoves a woman – hard – sending her backward into a snowbank.
Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who saves lives for a living, steps between them. His left hand is raised, palm open. His right hand is holding his phone, still recording. He’s not threatening. He’s not attacking. He’s positioning himself between the agent and the woman the agent just assaulted.
The agent pepper sprays him directly in the face.
Then multiple agents pile on him. The video shows them on the ground, several agents punching him, trying to restrain him. And then they shoot him. Multiple times. He dies at the scene.
Alex Pretti was a U.S. citizen with no criminal record. He had a permit to carry a firearm – which is legal in Minnesota – though witnesses say he never brandished it, never drew it, never threatened anyone with it. Two sworn witness statements filed in federal court say the same thing: he never pulled a gun.
But even if he had been armed, even if he had his weapon visible on his hip as Minnesota law allows, that doesn’t justify what happened. Because what happened started when an ICE agent shoved a woman for yelling at him, and escalated when Alex tried to protect her.
The Code I Was Raised With
When I was growing up, I was taught a simple rule: you never hit a woman. Period. It didn’t matter if she was yelling at you, criticizing you, calling you names. You don’t put your hands on her. You don’t shove her. You don’t use your physical strength against someone who’s weaker than you.
That wasn’t just my family. That was the code. It’s what separated decent men from bullies and cowards.
And if you saw a man attacking a woman? You stepped in. You didn’t have to throw a punch – in fact, you shouldn’t. But you put yourself between them. You used your presence to de-escalate. You protected the person being attacked.
That’s what Alex Pretti did. He saw a federal agent assault a woman for verbal criticism, and he stepped between them with an open palm. He did exactly what decent men are supposed to do.
And they killed him for it.
What Kind of Men Do This?
So let me ask again: What kind of man shoves a woman into a snowbank because she’s yelling at him?
A man who can’t handle criticism. A man who sees words as threats. A man who mistakes verbal challenge for physical danger. A man who uses violence to silence dissent.
What kind of man pepper sprays someone who’s trying to shield that woman – someone whose hands are visible, one holding a phone, the other open and raised?
A man who sees any interference with his authority as an attack. A man who can’t de-escalate. A man who would rather assault someone than step back. A man who mistakes protection for aggression.
What kind of man shoots someone they’ve already pepper sprayed, someone on the ground surrounded by multiple agents?
A man who shouldn’t have a badge. A man who shouldn’t have a gun. A man who shouldn’t have the authority to operate on American streets.
And yet that’s exactly who we’re empowering. That’s who we’re sending into communities to enforce immigration law with daily quotas and minimal oversight.
We Chose This
Here’s something important to remember: ICE didn’t even exist 25 years ago.
The agency was created in 2003, in the aftermath of 9/11, when we were scared and willing to trade liberty for the promise of safety. We created a new federal agency, gave it sweeping powers, and turned it loose on American communities.
Before ICE, immigration enforcement existed, but it looked different. It was part of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which was itself part of the Department of Justice. The focus was different. The tactics were different. The culture was different.
After 9/11, we reorganized everything under the Department of Homeland Security. We militarized immigration enforcement. We created agencies with military-style tactics, military-style equipment, and military-style thinking about civilians.
And now, 23 years later, we have federal agents shoving women into snowbanks and shooting citizens who try to protect them.
We chose this. We created these agencies. We gave them this power. We hired these men.
The Franklin Principle
Benjamin Franklin said it best: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
We gave up liberty. We accepted the premise that we needed a massive new federal enforcement apparatus to keep us safe. We accepted papers-please checkpoints. We accepted warrantless arrests. We accepted federal agents operating with minimal oversight on American streets.
And what safety did we purchase with that liberty?
We got Renee Good shot and killed in her car on January 7th.
We got Alex Pretti shot and killed on a residential street on January 24th.
We got federal agents blocking state investigators from crime scenes. We got agents trying to detain 30 bystanders after shooting someone. We got a culture of impunity where agents can shove women, pepper spray citizens, shoot people on camera, and face no immediate consequences.
That’s not safety. That’s tyranny dressed up in tactical gear.
What This Says About Us
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: The kind of men willing to do this work – willing to shove women for verbal criticism, willing to shoot citizens for protecting others – those men didn’t appear out of nowhere.
They’ve always existed. Every society has them. The question is what we do with them.
Do we give them badges and guns and tell them to meet daily arrest quotas? Do we create agencies with minimal oversight and militarized tactics and turn them loose on residential streets? Do we defend them when they kill citizens, claim the victims were terrorists, and block investigations into what happened?
Or do we recognize that some men shouldn’t have that kind of power? That some personalities are incompatible with law enforcement? That giving a badge and a gun to someone who can’t handle verbal criticism without violence is a recipe for exactly what we’re seeing in Minneapolis?
We chose. We keep choosing. Every day we allow this to continue, we’re choosing.
Where Do We Go From Here?
I don’t have easy answers. I’m not going to pretend that immigration enforcement doesn’t need to exist, or that every ICE agent is a bad person, or that communities have no responsibility to work with law enforcement.
But I know this: An agency that employs men who will shove women and shoot citizens for trying to protect them is an agency that has lost its way. An agency that blocks state investigators from crime scenes and tries to detain witnesses is an agency operating outside the bounds of American law and values.
And a society that tolerates this – that makes excuses for it, that calls the victims terrorists, that values “getting tough” on immigration over basic human decency – that’s a society that has forgotten who we’re supposed to be.
Alex Pretti was an ICU nurse. He saved lives. When he saw someone being attacked, he stepped between them with an open hand. He did what decent people do.
And federal agents killed him for it.
If that doesn’t make you question what we’ve become and who we’re empowering to act in our name, I don’t know what will.