The Department of Homeland Security has sidelined two federal immigration officers from field duty after a fatal encounter in Minneapolis intensified scrutiny of the Biden administrations handling of border enforcement far from the southern frontier.
According to WND, two Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have been placed on administrative leave following a deadly incident in Minnesota involving 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti, who allegedly interfered with an ongoing federal immigration operation. A CBP spokesperson confirmed the move to the Daily Caller News Foundation, stating, The two officers involved are on administrative leave. This is standard protocol, underscoring that the step is routine while investigations proceed.
Authorities say Pretti, armed with a semi-automatic pistol, confronted Border Patrol agents as they attempted to carry out an enforcement action in Minneapolis, a confrontation that escalated into a lethal struggle. The case is the second fatal shooting in the city involving federal immigration personnel this month, after Renee Good was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in January when her car into the agent.
Initially, some officials reportedly described Pretti as a domestic terrorist who posed a grave threat to law enforcement, language that has since been quietly softened as political pressure mounted. Border Patrol Commander at Large Gregory Bovino, who oversaw the immigration enforcement surge across Minnesota, has reportedly been demoted and ordered to leave the state, signaling internal fallout as well.
The twin shootings have triggered a fierce backlash from the left, with Democrats in Congress threatening a government shutdown unless major reforms are enacted to rein in federal immigration enforcement. A growing bloc of liberal lawmakers is also demanding that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem be impeached for the shootings, a move conservatives view as a partisan attempt to criminalize law-and-order policing.
President Donald Trump has dispatched Tom Homan, the hardline architect of his deportation agenda, to Minnesota to restore order and reinforce support for front-line agents under siege. The president also said he had a constructive phone conversation with Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz about coordinating efforts in the state, suggesting at least a temporary truce in the partisan crossfire.
It was a very good call, and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength, Trump posted Monday on Truth Social. I told Governor Walz that I would have Tom Homan call him, and that what we are looking for are any and all Criminals that they have in their possession. The Governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future.
As investigations unfold, conservatives argue that the focus should remain on backing agents tasked with enforcing federal law, not on appeasing activists who seek to dismantle immigration enforcement altogether.
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