President Trump’s top lieutenants Sunday joined him in blaming Minnesota Dems for “inciting” the anti-ICE chaos that has led to two protesters’ deaths at the hands of federal agents — claiming immigration authorities have battled unprecedented obstacles since arriving in the state to address widespread fraud accusations.
“We saw a resistance in Minneapolis like we haven’t seen anywhere else in this country,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News — as the feds and local law enforcement began squabbling about the investigative jurisdiction of the latest shooting scene involving Saturday’s killing of protester Alex Pretti’s
AP
Noem said the Minnesota immigration crackdown was sparked by an alleged multibillion-dollar benefits scam largely carried out by local immigrant communities – but that Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey encouraged” radicals to “take to the streets and to resist law enforcement” during the feds’ effort.
“It really is [an] irresponsibility that we haven’t seen out of someone in any other state,” she said, repeating a sentiment Trump first levied Saturday after the 37-year-old Pretti was killed by Border Patrol agents who found a gun on him at a Minneapolis protest.
Pretti – an ICU nurse for a veterans hospital – put himself between a woman who had been pepper-sprayed by federal agents. He was then tackled and found to have a gun, which was legally registered to him.
The agents appeared to have removed the handgun from him before a hail of about 10 shots was fired by Border Patrol and Pretti was killed, video showed.
But some footage may also show Pretti’s handgun accidentally discharging after an agent had taken it, suggesting the authorities who fatally fired on him may have been responding to that.
President Trump quickly kicked off laying the blame on Frey and Walz soon after the smoke settled.
“The Mayor and the Governor are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric!” Trump fumed on Truth Social on Saturday. “These sanctimonious political fools should be looking for the Billions of Dollars that [have] been stolen from the people of Minnesota, and the United States.”
Trump administration officials took up the call soon after – including Noem and Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino, who called his agents “the victims” and speculated that Pretti had answered Democrats’ supposed calls and taken to the streets to resist ICE.
“Was he there for a reason? Did he fall victim to that violent and heated rhetoric by Mayor Frey and Gov. Walz?” Bovino said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
An investigation into the shooting is under way, according to Noem and Bovino, though neither clarified whether Pretti was armed with another weapon as he was pinned down and had his 9mm pistol removed.
The DHS began its investigation with the help of the FBI. A Minnesota Judge quickly stepped in and slapped a temporary restraining order barring federal officials from destroying or altering any evidence connected to the case.
The order was requested by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which alleged federal agents blocked its investigators from accessing the shooting scene in spite of a judge-signed warrant allowing access.
“We’re in uncharted territory here,” BCA Superintendent Drew Evans told reporters at a Saturday press conference.
“It’s been a long-standing understanding, both within our state and across the country, that entities like the BCA that conduct 80-plus percent of officer-involved shootings across the United States are asked to do these investigations of federal agents involved in officer-involved shootings,” he said.
The restraining order will be reviewed at a hearing Monday afternoon.
Pretti was declared dead at the scene.
He was among numerous protesters blowing whistles and dogging immigration agents who were in the area to detain an illegal immigrant accused of domestic abuse and other charges.
“For months, radical progressive politicians like Tim Walz have incited violence against law enforcement officers who are simply trying to do their jobs. Unsurprisingly, these calls to dangerously interject oneself into legitimate law-enforcement activities have ended in…
— NRA (@NRA) January 25, 2026
Democrats – and even some Republicans – quickly began sounding off against the shooting, which was the second fatal incident involving an American and federal agents in Minneapolis since protester Renee Good was gunned down while accelerating her car towards an ICE agent earlier in January.
Democratic former President Obama was among the critics who chimed in Saturday with a rare outright rebuke of Trump – who he accused of being “eager to escalate” the tensions that have gripped the Twin Cities this month.
“The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy,” Obama wrote Sunday in a statement posted to X.
“People across the country have been rightly outraged by the spectacle of masked ICE recruits and other federal agents acting with impunity and engaging in tactics that seem designed to intimidate, harass, and provoke and endanger the residents of a major American city,” Obama said.
Gov. Walz called the DHS officers “untrained agents” who need to leave the state “before they kill another American in the street.”