Governor Tim Walz has begged President Donald Trump to pull federal agents out of Minnesota after a second immigration protester was shot dead by officers this month.
‘What is the plan, Donald? What do we need to do to get these federal agents out of our state?’ Walz pleaded Sunday in wake of the death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti.
Pretti was shot dead by a Border Patrol agent in broad daylight in Minneapolis on Saturday during a targeted immigration enforcement operation.
‘President Trump, you can end this today. Pull these folks back, do humane, focused, effective immigration control — you’ve got the support of all of us to do that,’ Walz begged. ‘Show some decency. Pull these folks out.’
He also addressed the American public directly, urging them to denounce Trump’s immigration crackdown and the killing of civilians by federal officers.
‘What side do you want to be on?’ Walz asked. ‘The side of an all powerful federal government that can kill, injure, menace and kidnap its citizens off the streets or on the side of a nurse at the VA who died bearing witness to such government.’
The governor’s plea comes amid a war with Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who in a letter Saturday set conditions that must be met before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will be withdrawn from Minnesota.
Governor Tim Walz has begged President Donald Trump to pull federal agents out of Minnesota after intensive care nurse Alex Pretti was shot dead by a Border Patrol agent
Alex Pretti, 37, was shot dead by a Border Patrol agent in broad daylight in Minneapolis on Saturday during a targeted immigration enforcement operation
Footage captured by bystanders appeared to show Pretti disarmed before being shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis
Walz spoke directly to Trump during his public address Sunday, blasting the administration’s continued presence in Minnesota.
‘You thought fear, violence and chaos is what you wanted from us, and you clearly underestimated the people of this state and nation,’ he said.
‘We are tired, but we’re resolved. We’re peaceful, but we’ll never forget,’ he continued. ‘We’re angry, but we won’t give up hope, and above all else, we are clearly unified.’
He suggested Trump was trying to ‘make an example of Minnesota’ but said he was proud of his state for standing up to the administration.
‘We believe in law and order in this state. In this state, we believe in peace, and we believe that Donald Trump needs to pull these 3,000 untrained agents out of Minnesota before they kill another person.’
During the press conference, Walz compared America’s immigration laws to Nazi Germany, saying: ‘Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody’s going to write that children’s story about Minnesota.’
Trump seemingly replied to the plea but doubling down on his claim that Somali immigrants in Minneapolis have been committing major fraud.
‘Minnesota is a Criminal COVER UP of the massive Financial Fraud that has gone on!’ he posted on his Truth Social platform as Walz’s press conference was underway.
Trump deployed thousands of federal immigration agents to heavily Democratic Minneapolis for weeks, after conservative media reported on the alleged fraud.
Minneapolis has one of the country’s highest concentrations of Somali immigrants.
Walz’s plea comes just one day after Attorney General Pam Bondi sent him a letter urging the Minnesota government to ‘cooperate fully’ with Immigration and Customs Enforcement
The governor’s plea comes just one day after Bondi sent him a letter urging the Minnesota government to ‘cooperate fully’ with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In a three-page letter to Walz, she accused state officials of ‘anti-law enforcement rhetoric’ and ‘putting federal agents in danger’.
She called on the governor to ‘repeal sanctuary policies’ in Minnesota and asked that ‘all detention facilities’ in the state ‘cooperate fully with ICE’ and ‘honor detention retainers’.
Bondi further requested that Minnesota give Department of Justice (DOJ) access to its voter rolls to ‘confirm that Minnesota’s voter registration practices comply with federal law’.
‘I am confident that these simple steps will help bring back law and order to Minnesota and improve the lives of Americans,’ Bondi added.
Walz, during his Sunday press conference, hit back at the allegations in Bondi’s letter, calling them ‘a red herring’ and ‘untrue’. He also implied the ICE had overstepped its authority in Minnesota.
‘It’s their job to do Immigrations and Customs Enforcement,’ the governor said. ‘It’s law enforcement’s job to do law enforcement in Minnesota.’
He added: ‘We’re not going to do your job for you. We have other things we need to do.’
Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, could be seen on the street filming with his phone while a small group confronts a federal agent. His other hand appeared to be empty
Pretti can be seen holding a bright, shiny object during a struggle with federal agents
Officers are seen kneeling next to Pretti after being shot moments earlier
Federal authorities claim the intensive care unit nurse was carrying this loaded Sig Sauer P320 9mm pistol
He also accused the Trump administration of launching a smear campaign against Pretti, whom federal officials have said wanted to ‘massacre law enforcement’.
‘You know what you saw,’ Walz said, before going on to accuse Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other top officials of ‘sullying his name within minutes of this event happening’.
‘This is an inflection point, America. If we cannot all agree that the smearing of an American citizen and besmirching everything they stood for and asking us not to believe what we saw, I don’t know what else to tell you,’ Walz said.
Walz revealed that he has spoken with Pretti’s heartbroken family and alleged that they want Americans to keep fighting for him.
‘The heartache in the hours after your son is murdered in front of the world is one thing, but what stood out to me was a parent’s desire and their passion to make sure that the story of Alex was told,’ Walz said of Pretti’s parents.
He claimed the nurse’s father Michael told him: ‘Don’t let them forget Alex’s story.’
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Pretti was shot after he ‘approached’ Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem claimed that officers ‘clearly feared for their lives’ and fired defensive shots at Pretti after he ‘violently’ resisted federal agents.
Federal authorities claimed the intensive care unit nurse was carrying a loaded Sig Sauer P320 9mm pistol, but video captured at the scene appears to show officers disarming him before shots rang out.
Minneapolis police say Pretti had no serious criminal history and was a lawful gun owner with a valid permit.
Walz also revealed that he spoke with Alex Pretti’s heartbroken family, who allegedly want Americans to keep fighting for him
After Pretti was disarmed, videos do not clearly show where the first shot came from but one gun expert has said he believes Pretti’s Sig Sauer P320 went off in the hands of an agent, prompting another agent to open fire.
‘I believe it’s highly likely the first shot was a negligent discharge from the agent in the grey jacket after he removed the Sig P320 from Pretti’s holster while exiting the scene,’ Rob Dobar, a lawyer for the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, wrote on X.
Multiple bystander videos show a Border Patrol agent shooting and killing Pretti after a roughly 30-second scuffle around 9am Saturday.
The videos appear to contradict statements by DHS, which said the shots were fired ‘defensively’ against Pretti as he ‘approached’ them with a gun.
In the videos, Pretti is seen with only a phone in his hand. None of the footage appears to show him with a weapon.
During the scuffle, agents discovered that he was carrying a 9mm semiautomatic handgun, and they opened fire with several shots.
Federal officials have not released the agent’s identity, but did confirm the officer who shot Pretti is an eight-year Border Patrol veteran.
Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who has led the administration’s big-city immigration campaign, said the officer who shot Pretti had extensive training as a range safety officer and in using less-lethal force.
A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order banning the Trump administration from ‘destroying or altering evidence’ related to the death of Pretti.
It has not been confirmed whether Pretti’s gun fired any shots.
