Former US President Joe Biden has condemned the fatal shooting of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, calling it a betrayal of American values. In a statement, Biden said: 'We are not a nation that guns down our citizens in the street. We are not a nation that allows our citizens to be brutalized for exercising their constitutional rights.'
Without naming President Donald Trump directly, Biden criticised the administration's federal immigration enforcement tactics, stating: 'Minnesotans have suffered enough at the hands of this administration. Violence and terror have no place in the United States of America, especially when it’s our own government targeting American citizens.'
Biden called for 'full, fair and transparent' investigations into the deaths of Pretti and Renee Good, who was shot dead earlier this month while driving away from a federal immigration agent. Both killings have sparked widespread protests and scrutiny.
Biden joins former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton in condemning the incidents. Obama and Clinton have warned that core American values are under threat amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
Biden, who has largely kept a low profile since leaving office while undergoing treatment for prostate cancer, has faced criticism from some Democrats for holding onto the party's presidential nomination late into the 2024 election cycle. He eventually ceded the nomination to Vice-President Kamala Harris, who was defeated by Trump in the general election.
