SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Council on American-Islamic Relations of Sacramento Valley/Central California released a statement standing in solidarity with CAIR-Minnesota and calling for a local law enforcement investigation into the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by an ICE agent, while also demanding the complete removal of ICE from Minnesota.
The statement followed the deadly shooting of Pretti on Saturday, with CAIR citing video footage that it said shows multiple officers wrestling with Pretti, with one officer firing a number of shots into his motionless body after he had already been shot.
PBS reported that leading up to the shooting, “at one point, at least one agent is heard saying Pretti has a gun. Soon after, an officer appears to remove a gun from a holster on Pretti.”
As CAIR emphasized, “this is the second fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis this month, following the earlier killing of Renee Good.”
PBS reported that the Department of Homeland Security said the ICE agent in Pretti’s case was “acting in self-defense, [and] fired his weapon after an ‘armed struggle’ with a man who ‘approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun.’ The officers tried to disarm the man, but he ‘violently resisted.’”
PBS noted that, as with the deadly shooting of Renee Good, “eyewitnesses and video evidence contradicted the Trump administration’s narrative. According to bystander accounts and videos, Pretti was documenting the scene with a phone before agents tussled with him. He wasn’t seen reaching for his licensed handgun.”
PBS also reported that Pretti, “the second U.S. citizen to be killed by federal forces in Minnesota this month,” intensified public outrage over tactics used by immigration agents in the state and united unlikely allies in calling for a full investigation.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, as reported by PBS, addressed the shooting at a news conference just hours later, asking “how many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end? … How many more lives need to be lost before this administration realizes that a political and partisan narrative is not as important as American values?”
CAIR-SV/CC Executive Director Reshad Noorzay said “what is happening in Minneapolis should alarm every American who cares about civil rights and the rule of law… When federal officers can repeatedly shoot and kill American citizens on city streets—citizens who were lawfully carrying firearms, citizens who were simply observing—and face no accountability, we are watching our constitutional protections crumble in real time.”
The Department of Homeland Security said that because Pretti had two magazines and no identification on him, “this looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” According to PBS, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem “described Pretti’s actions as ‘domestic terrorism.’”
Jaylani Hussein, CAIR-Minnesota’s executive director, said “these repeated shootings represent a dangerous pattern that has deeply shaken public trust. When lethal force is used again and again in our neighborhoods, the investigation cannot be left solely to the same federal system that carried out the operation.”
The shooting prompted “hundreds of protesters” to flock to the site, according to PBS.
CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell called on Frey to “order the Minneapolis Police Department to take control of the scene, launch an independent criminal probe, and protect peaceful protesters from ICE violence.”
PBS reported that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called on Trump to remove federal agents from the state, saying they were “sowing chaos and violence,” and adding that “we’ve seen deadly violence from federal agents again and again and again.”
Mitchell said that simply “calling for ICE to leave is not enough. This shooting happened on a city street in the jurisdiction of Minneapolis law enforcement, and they must lead an independent investigation into what appears to be another horrific, unnecessary execution of a Minneapolis resident.”
Mitchell added that “ICE should immediately end its deadly and disastrous siege of Minnesota and turn over all evidence and information about this shooting and the prior shooting of Rene Good to local authorities.”
PBS highlighted Walz’s remarks urging Americans to “trust their own eyes,” saying, “you know what you saw… and then you heard the most powerful people in the world, certainly in this country — the president, vice president, Greg Bovino, Kristi Noem — narrate to you what you were looking at that this was a domestic terrorist, crazed, running at law enforcement with the intent to kill massive numbers of them, sullying his name within minutes of this event happening.”
CAIR-SV/CC cited Noorzay’s statement that “Sacramento has witnessed ICE’s ruthless tactics firsthand… At least 10 members of our Afghan community have been detained using deceptive appointment schemes. We have seen families torn apart, children terrified to go to school, and entire communities living in fear.”
Noorzay said “what is happening in Minneapolis is the logical extension of giving ICE unchecked power—and now American citizens are being killed in the streets.”
CAIR-SV/CC said it stands “in full solidarity with CAIR-Minnesota, the families and neighbors impacted by these shootings, and all communities resisting ICE violence and demanding accountability.”
The organization called on “Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to order local police to take control of the investigation, Minnesota state officials to demand removal of ICE forces from the state, California’s congressional delegation to investigate ICE’s use of deadly force nationwide, the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General to launch an independent investigation, [and] all Americans to demand accountability for ICE violence.”
CAIR-SV/CC concluded its statement by saying, “this is not just a Minneapolis problem. This is not just an immigrant community problem. When ICE can kill American citizens with impunity, no one is safe… We stand with Minnesota. We will continue to fight for justice, transparency, and the protection of civil rights for all people.”
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