Sixth Fatality in US Immigration Crackdown: Minnesota Nurse Shot by Border Patrol
A Minnesota nurse has become the sixth person to die during the Trump administration's intense immigration enforcement campaign in the United States. Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, was shot by a masked Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis on January 24, 2026.
Contradictory Accounts of the Shooting
Federal authorities immediately described Pretti as an armed agitator who posed a threat to immigration officers. However, video evidence from the incident appears to contradict this official narrative. The footage shows Pretti's hands were holding only a mobile phone when the officer opened fire.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz denounced the federal officials' comments about Pretti as "despicable." Pretti, who worked as a nurse, was legally permitted to possess a handgun in Minnesota. In the video, an officer appears to pull a gun from Pretti's waist and step away before the first shot is fired, followed by several more rounds. Pretti was on the ground when he was killed.
Pattern of Fatalities During Immigration Operations
Pretti's death represents the second fatal shooting by immigration authorities in Minneapolis during January alone. Earlier in the month, on January 7, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer Jonathan Ross repeatedly shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, as she was turning her Honda Pilot away from him. Trump administration officials have repeatedly defended Ross, claiming his life was at risk.
The broader pattern of fatalities during immigration enforcement operations extends beyond Minnesota:
- In September, ICE agents fatally shot Silverio Villegas González during a traffic stop in suburban Chicago. The 38-year-old line cook from Mexico had dropped off a child at daycare that morning.
- In July, 57-year-old farmworker Jaime Alanis fell from a greenhouse roof and broke his neck during an ICE raid at Glass House Farms in southern California.
- In August, 52-year-old Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez from Guatemala was hit by an SUV while trying to cross a freeway after fleeing immigration officers outside a Home Depot in southern California.
- In October, 24-year-old Josué Castro Rivera from Honduras was fatally struck by a pickup truck on a Virginia interstate as he tried to escape authorities during a traffic stop.
Official Responses and Investigations
No officers have been charged in any of these deaths. The U.S. Justice Department has refused to share information about the Good shooting with state authorities, prompting state and local officials to sue to try to stop the immigration sweeps.
In response to growing protests, federal officers have deployed tear gas and other chemical irritants against demonstrators who have trailed them with whistles. The Department of Homeland Security has stated that several of these cases remain under investigation, though no charges have been filed against any officers involved.
These incidents highlight the increasing tensions and human costs associated with the Trump administration's immigration enforcement campaign, which has involved thousands of federal officers conducting operations across multiple states.
