Excessive Force

Jacob Sullum | 1.27.2026 4:35 PM

During the encounter that culminated in Minneapolis protester Renee Good's death on January 7, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents senselessly escalated a situation that could have been resolved peacefully. Something similar happened on Saturday morning, when U.S. Border Patrol agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, another Minneapolis protester.

According to a statement that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued that morning, those agents were arresting "an illegal alien wanted for violent assault" when Pretti "approached" them "with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun." The officers "attempted to disarm" him, according to DHS, "but the armed suspect violently resisted." DHS described "a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement."

That gloss was contradicted by bystander videos of the incident, which show that Pretti, who had a carry permit, never drew his pistol, which the agents did not see until after they had tackled him. He was holding a cellphone in one hand, while his other hand was empty. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem nevertheless falsely claimed that Pretti was "brandishing" the gun, which she said showed he was "wishing to inflict harm on these officers."

Since Pretti did not actually threaten the Border Patrol agents with a gun, what prompted them to grab and restrain him? The videos show that Pretti initially was standing in the middle of the street, directing traffic while holding his cellphone to record an interaction between the agents and a few protesters. After an agent pepper-sprayed protesters and pushed a woman to the ground, Pretti stepped between the agent and the woman, "briefly putting his hand on the agent's waist," as The New York........

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