ICE in Minnesota: Latest stories and updates

By this point, you’ve probably seen the videos — or at least heard about what’s in them. They show a man named Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse who is filming ICE activity in Minneapolis, intervening when federal agents assault a woman. In response, the agents grab Pretti, force him to the ground, beat him, and ultimately shoot the defenseless man repeatedly. Pretti was pronounced dead on the scene.

The footage of Pretti’s killing, shot from different angles by different bystanders, looks disturbingly similar to scenes in places like Syria and Iran — where people rising up against authoritarian regimes were silenced by baton and bullet. The resonance is especially chilling given the Trump administration’s response.

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On Saturday, a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis shot and killed Alex Jeffrey Pretti at close range after Pretti had been pepper-sprayed, beaten, and forced onto his knees by other agents.

Pretti, 37, was a US citizen and reportedly in the area to observe agents’ actions. He was also a registered nurse and a legal gun owner with a permit to carry a weapon — one that he was no longer in possession of when he was shot to death.

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Editor’s note, January 24, 12 pm ET: Federal agents shot a person in Minneapolis on Saturday morning, according to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The shooting appeared to be captured on video, which shows federal agents wrestling someone to the ground and shooting them multiple times. This story was originally published on January 24 at 8 am.

Today, Explained will now be publishing video episodes every Saturday in audio and video, featuring compelling interviews with key figures in politics and culture — subscribe to Vox’s YouTube channel to get them or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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Editor’s note, January 24, 12 pm ET: Federal agents shot a person in Minneapolis on Saturday morning, according to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The shooting appeared to be captured on video, which shows federal agents wrestling someone to the ground and shooting them multiple times. The story below was originally published on January 23.

America’s immigration debate has often centered on the morality of mass deportation. Progressives have argued that exiling law-abiding families is inherently wrong — no matter their immigration status. Conservatives have insisted that vigorous internal enforcement is necessary for deterring chaotic inflows of migrants, upholding America’s laws, and preserving our nation’s culture.

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This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.

Welcome to The Logoff: Over the past few weeks, ICE’s actions have gotten a lot of attention — and if you step back, a disturbing picture is starting to emerge.

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This story appeared in Today, Explained, a daily newsletter that helps you understand the most compelling news and stories of the day. Subscribe here.

When I hear the word “insurrection,” I still think about January 6. It’s a strange twist of history — and also, probably, etymology — that this particular term is now finding new purchase in Minneapolis.

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This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.

Welcome to The Logoff: Tensions are rising in Minneapolis as the Trump administration continues its crackdown.

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In the hours and days after news and videos spread of the ICE shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis last week, a small army of right-wing, pro-Trump creators, journalists, and influencers descended on the city and flooded social media.

They filmed protests; rode along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection; documented — and at times seemingly instigated — confrontations with protesters; and worked a competing, ICE- and Trump-friendly narrative out of what was happening in Minneapolis. From the ground, they churned out content painting protesters as lawless, demonstrations as riots, and anti-ICE activists as extremists or criminals. Outside of the state, right-wing influencers and large social media accounts amplified these videos, posts, and descriptions to reach much wider audiences.

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The Twin Cities, and much of the nation, are still reeling from ICE agent Jonathan Ross shooting and killing Renee Good last week. The local resistance to the federal immigration forces deployed in and around Minneapolis has grown, and the Trump administration’s rhetoric against Good and the protesters around Minneapolis has heated up. On Thursday, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and send the US military to the cities to crush the activists.

Meanwhile, a question still hangs over the crisis: Will Ross face any legal accountability for killing Good? Vice President JD Vance insists that Ross has “absolute immunity” for his actions, and the Justice Department is declining to investigate him. But others wonder if the state of Minnesota can prosecute Ross for the killing. The short answer, at the moment, is maybe.

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When Renee Good was shot by an ICE officer last week in Minnesota, it brought attention to the robust effort to combat US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Twin Cities. Residents of Minneapolis and the surrounding areas are joining decentralized networks of activists who are committed to alerting their neighbors to ICE presence on their blocks.

Madison McVan, a reporter for the Minnesota Reformer, rode along with some of those activists to observe their tactics. The activists patrol their neighborhoods looking for ICE officers. When they find them, they alert their networks and tail the officers so their neighbors know where ICE is in the city. These patrols have led to tense standoffs with ICE officers and have drawn accusations of “domestic terrorism” from the Trump administration.

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Editor’s note, January 24, 12 pm ET: Federal agents shot a person in Minneapolis on Saturday morning, according to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The shooting appeared to be captured on video, which shows federal agents wrestling someone to the ground and shooting them multiple times. This story was originally published on January 12.

As competing narratives and interpretations of viral videos muddy the investigations of the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis last week, there’s at least one thing that can’t be denied: The Department of Homeland Security’s operations in American cities are a sharp departure from how its agencies operated anytime before the second Trump administration.

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This story appeared in Today, Explained, a daily newsletter that helps you understand the most compelling news and stories of the day. Subscribe here.

The video opens with a question and a slamming door. Nick Shirley, the 23-year-old right-wing content creator who rose to sudden infamy and influence last week, confronts two Somali women as the camera rolls.

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Renee Nicole Good sat idling in her car Wednesday, observing an ongoing ICE operation. The 37-year-old then attempted to drive away. In response, another ICE officer shot her to death.

It is possible that we still lack some significant context for Good’s killing. But her final moments were recorded by multiple bystanders. And the footage shows that her tires were pointing away from the agent who shot her — and that her vehicle did not run over any part of his body. By all appearances, she posed no significant physical threat to the officer, let alone a mortal one. Yet her life is now over and her 6-year-old child is an orphan.

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The events that led to a federal officer in Minneapolis killing Renee Nicole Good have not been universally interpreted. On a visit to Texas on Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described the incident as an “act of domestic terrorism.” She said Good was attacking ICE officers and that she “attempted to run them over and rammed them with her vehicle.”

“Our officer followed his training, did exactly what he’s been taught to do in that situation,” Noem said later in the day at a press conference in Minneapolis.

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A woman was fatally shot by federal officers in Minneapolis on Wednesday, just days after the Trump administration deployed thousands of new immigration agents to the city.

What happened? This is a breaking news story, and more details will almost certainly continue to emerge. What we do know is based on local reporting collecting video and eyewitness accounts from the scene, including multiple angles of the shooting:

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