ICE Claims "Self Defense" Again In Latest Shooting Just days after ICE agents shot and killed an unarmed mother of three in her car in Minneapolis, the agency has done it again. Brian Tyler Cohen Jan 25 Just days after ICE agents shot and killed an unarmed mother of three in her car in Minneapolis, the administration’s secret police force has done it again. Federal immigration agents have now killed another Minneapolis resident and U.S. citizen, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who worked at the VA. Per usual, the facts are being aggressively distorted by the administration in real time, as they fire up the propaganda machine. Here’s What Happened According to early reporting and video footage from the scene, approximately six ICE agents confronted a single protester, Pretti, who was not posing a threat to officers and appeared to be filming ICE activity in the street. Despite the overwhelming numerical advantage, ICE agents responded by shoving him, tackling him to the ground, and shooting him multiple times, killing a man whose job was literally to save lives. This is now the second fatal ICE shooting of an American citizen in Minneapolis in just weeks. This Substack is reader-supported. Paid subscribers make it possible to document government disinformation in real time, especially now, when it matters most. Here’s What DHS Claimed Almost immediately, the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement attempting to justify the killing. DHS wrote: At 9:05 AM CT, as DHS law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault, an individual approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted. Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. This is a lie. And it’s straight out of the same playbook they used after ICE killed Renée Good less than three weeks ago. After the January 7 shooting of Good, another unarmed American in Minneapolis, the administration rushed out a self-defense narrative that video and eyewitness evidence contradicted, defended it publicly, and then watched right-wing media amplify it without scrutiny. What we’re seeing with Alex Pretti is the exact same sequence, replayed in double time. In reality, this is the “firearm” that administration' officials claim he was brandishing: If you can’t tell the difference between a gun and a phone, frankly, you should not have access to a firearm of your own. What the Video Shows We have video footage of the beginning of the encounter, and it directly contradicts DHS’s claims. In the video, you can plainly see that: Pretti is not approaching officers He is not brandishing a firearm He is holding a phone, apparently recording ICE activity A reminder: It is completely legal to record law enforcement in public. There is no expectation of privacy on a public street. If DHS’s justification hinges on the claim that Pretti “approached officers with a handgun,” then DHS has no justification at all, because that did not happen. They’re manufacturing a reality to justify the unjustifiable. This is exactly the kind of story where the truth disappears fast. If you want reporting that tracks the truth, not what the administration claims happened, subscribe here. That’s how this work stays independent. Trump Escalates, Loses the Plot Entirely Donald Trump of course responded on Truth Social with a rambling, incoherent post: This is the gunman’s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!) and ready to go - What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers? Why does Ilhan Omar have $34 million dollars in her account? And where are the tens of billions of dollars that have been stolen from the once great State of Minnesota? As usual, Trump veers from guns to Ilhan Omar to imaginary fraud in a matter of sentences. This isn’t analysis. It’s conservative mad-libs. He’s just throwing out buzzwords in the hope that something sticks and justifies yet another killing by a rogue agency. The Administration Closes Ranks It should come as no surprise, but other members of the administration lined up and spit out boilerplate party propaganda. Stephen Miller followed up with: A domestic terrorist tried to assassinate federal law enforcement and this is your response? You and the state’s entire Democrat leadership team have been flaming the flames of insurrection for the singular purpose of stopping the deportation of illegals who invaded the country. This is straight out of the same playbook they used after the killing of Renée Good: Label the victim a “terrorist” Pre-clear the agent Declare the execution justified Only now they’re refining it. Last time, it took longer to get their stories straight. This time, Administration officials are locked and loaded with the lies ready to go. Another administration official, a US Attorney added: If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you. Once again: the victim did not approach law enforcement, and he was holding a phone, not a gun, when agents initiated contact. At a press conference, Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino spent six minutes repeating the administration’s claims. He said Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” No evidence there. That Pretti “approached US Border Patrol agents with a 9 millimeter semi-automatic handgun.” With no clarity on when agents found the gun or if it was even out. And then the kicker: “The agents attempted to disarm the individual, but he violently resisted. Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, a border patrol agent fired defensive shots.” Nearly word-for-word, exactly the same thing they said about the agent who killed Renee Good, yet again setting the stage to claim absolute immunity. What This Pattern Reveals The goal here is already obvious. The White House is wasting zero time vilifying the victim and pre-clearing ICE, banking on the assumption that their supporters will ignore video evidence and swallow whole whatever explanation they’re given. They believe their audience will accept any narrative, no matter how disconnected from reality, as long as it protects power. Once again, that’s not persuasion. That’s contempt. The Real Danger Donald Trump and his administration have one job: to keep Americans safe. They are doing the opposite. Trump claims to stand for “law and order.” But an unaccountable secret police force is anything but lawful or orderly. They are incompetent, dangerous, and trigger happy. By unleashing a militarized immigration force and then lying to justify its actions, they are unilaterally inciting violence, not preventing it. One Final Ask I urge everyone, regardless of party, to watch the video for yourself. Do not allow this administration to rewrite history in real time. This is how police states form: Through normalization. Through lies. Through silence. If you want coverage that follows evidence instead of propaganda, subscribe. I will keep documenting what they don’t want you to see.