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Protesters across the state gathered Sunday to speak out against the fatal shooting of a former Wisconsin man by federal immigration officials in Minneapolis.

Alex Pretti, 37, was an ICU nurse at a Veterans Administration hospital. He was killed as he protested the presence of thousands of agents with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol in the Twin Cities. His death Saturday morning came just weeks after federal agents shot and killed Renee Macklin Good.

Pretti was a graduate of Preble High School in Green Bay. At a rally on the steps of the state Capitol on Sunday, Pepe Barros of Madison told the crowd of about 400 people that he had been on a bicycle racing team with Pretti.

“Until yesterday, I was choosing to think that what ICE and the current administration was incorrect, but I was … thinking that was not my problem,” Barros said. “Until it became my problem. Until it was so close that I couldn’t dodge it anymore.” 

In addition to direct ties to Pretti, many in Wisconsin have close ties to neighboring Minnesota. Libby Meister of Madison said she attended the protest to show support for loved ones.

“I have friends and family that live there,” she said. “I’m scared. I’m scared for them and for me.”

Amanda Husk of Madison carried a sign that read “Nurses against ICE.” For her, the fact that Pretti was also a nurse made his death resonate.

“As nurses we do everything we can to care for our patients and Alex was absolutely out there caring for the woman that fell,” she said. “He was trying to care for her and his life was taken in a very criminal and inhumane way.”

In videos that circulated on social media, federal agents surrounded Pretti after he checked on a woman who had been pushed to the ground by an agent. Pretti was legally carrying a handgun, which an agent appeared to take from him before two other agents shot Pretti while he was facedown on the ground.

Trump administration officials said agents acted in self-defense and called Pretti a “domestic terrorist” who intended to “massacre” officers. Videos and eyewitness accounts contradict these claims.

For Husk, the goal of the protest is to tell the Trump administration that its approach to immigration enforcement is wrong.

“It is bringing terror; it is harming communities,” she said. “People are being killed. They need to hear that this is not OK, and it has to stop now.” 

In Oshkosh, protesters gathered at the Opera House Square. A woman wearing a pink bikini stood along the street, holding a sign that read “It Was Murder.” Other signs read “No ICE” and “ICE = Murderers.”

Emily Tseffos, chair of the Outagamie County Democratic Party, estimated at least 500 people also turned out to protest in Appleton.

In Superior, around 150 protesters gathered at the Douglas County Courthouse. Cars honked their horns as people rang cowbells and held up signs that read “ICE out of Minneapolis” and “Immigrants Belong.”

Ron Petite, who lives on the south shore of Lake Superior, held a sign that read “In Honor of Pretti and Good, Killed By ICE!” His voice shook as he described his reaction to Saturday’s shooting.

“Pretti … was trying to help a lady, for crying out loud. I don’t understand,” he said. “I’m just very upset that our country has come to this.”

Other protests took place Saturday in Green Bay, La Crosse and West Allis. Wyatt Molling, chair of the La Crosse County Democratic Party, said on social media that what’s happening in Minnesota is scary.

More demonstrations are set to be held this week. Earlier this month, hundreds of Wisconsinites in Madison, Milwaukee, Ashland, Green Bay and La Crosse joined thousands in Minneapolis to protest the fatal shooting of Good.

High school classmates remember Alex Pretti as kind, charismatic

In a statement to CNN, Pretti’s family said they were “heartbroken but also very angry” and called the Trump administration’s statements about Pretti “reprehensible and disgusting.” 

“Please get the truth out about our son,” they wrote. “He was a good man.”

Several people who knew Pretti told WPR on Sunday they remembered him as a kind person who cared about helping others.

Michael Waak, 37, was a year behind Pretti at Preble High School. Waak, a civil engineer who immgrated to Norway in 2018, said he was a lab partner with Pretti in a biology class.

“He was a very charismatic guy, and also just a very genuine and positive person,” Waak said. 

They dissected a frog together and joked around in class. They weren’t close friends, Waak said. But he felt that Pretti, who was older and more popular, showed him kindness in multiple ways — including after Waak came out as gay.

“Alex never changed his behavior to me, he never stopped saying hi, never stopped being friendly,” Waak said. “This popular, well-known person kept on acknowledging me and being friendly to me. It was a small thing, but it’s something that’s always stuck with me.”

This story was originally published by WPR.

‘It has to stop now’: Wisconsin communities protest Border Patrol killing of Alex Pretti is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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People across the state gathered Sunday to protest the fatal shooting of a former Wisconsin man by federal immigration officials in Minneapolis.

The post Gatherings across Wisconsin protest ICE shooting of Alex Pretti appeared first on WPR.

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Dant'e Cottingham , who was formerly incarcerated, brings his perspective on the criminal justice system to students in a UW Law School class. | Photo courtesy UW Law School

A new class at the University of Wisconsin Law School aims to teach students about the perspectives of different people who are part of the criminal justice system, including those who are incarcerated. 

Dant’e Cottingham, one of the course instructors, was himself once locked up inside Wisconsin’s prison system. He said that according to stigma, he’s not supposed to be in the classroom.

“So I’m aware of that, and I carry that,” Cottingham said. “That’s important to me, because I want to make sure that the city, the state, the country knows that we are a lot more than our worst mistake.”

Instructing the class along with Cottingham is Adam Stevenson, a clinical professor and director of the Frank J. Remington Center, which houses the law school’s prison-based clinics as well as the public defender and prosecution externships. While Cottingham has the experience of being incarcerated in the prison system, Stevenson brings to the course the legal expertise of a law professor, and one who has worked with a program focused on legal assistance to incarcerated people. 

The Wednesday class, which has 19 students enrolled this semester,  counts for two credits. It’s titled “Criminal Justice System: A Lived Experience Perspective.” The class, examining how theory, policy and practice line up with reality — or diverge from it, according to the syllabus, may continue in the future depending on how this semester goes. 

In 1996, Cottingham was convicted of being party to a crime for first-degree intentional homicide for an offense that occurred when he was 17. While incarcerated, Cottingham applied to UW Madison’s program for legal assistance for incarcerated people and was assigned two law students who worked to help him win his release, he said. He was paroled in 2022. 

Cottingham served as interim associate director of the group Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing, and spoke publicly about Green Bay Correctional Institution, where he spent some of his imprisonment, and which has been the subject of criticism for inhumane conditions and calls to close the facility. Now 47, Cottingham is the reentry and outreach support specialist for the Remington Center. He said he helps men and women who are transitioning from incarceration.  

“I sit with people, build a rapport, get some insight and understanding to what their needs are,” Cottingham said. A person’s needs might involve housing, employment or medical care. 

Cottingham said that when he gave presentations in classes in the past,  students engaged with his description of his own experience, and he saw a need for the course he’s teaching now.

The experience of re-entering society after prison is one topic on the course schedule Cottingham shared with the Examiner. The arrest process, the trial process, sentencing, systemic inequality in criminal justice, and incarceration, and advocacy for reform and future directions are among the other course topics.

Guest speakers in the class range from Wisconsin Department of Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy, to Wood County District Attorney Jonathan Barnett, to Sharmain Harris, whose book “Rising Above the Odds: My Journey from Pain and Prison to Power and Purpose” is one of the required materials for the course. Requirements include book reports that analyze autobiographies of people who have experienced incarceration. 

Jini Jasti, a spokesperson for University of Wisconsin Law School, said UW Law’s motto is “Law in Action.” She said the school does not only teach the law on the books but also encourages students to see how it works from different perspectives, such as those of prosecutors, defense attorneys, victims, defendants and prisoners.  

“This unique class complements our other offerings, allowing students to hear about our trial, appellate and prison systems from someone who’s lived it,” Jasti said in a statement. 

State Public Defender Jennifer Bias and Robert Taliaferro, who was formerly incarcerated, visited the class on Wednesday. 

Bringing in these different perspectives helps  “tease out topics that we should be discussing when we’re talking about what the law is, how the law should operate etc.,” Stevenson said in a Jan. 16 interview with the Wisconsin Examiner. “One person’s perspective is definitely great in doing that, but having multiple perspectives and the potential disagreement, or the clash, if you will, can also give rise to some really rich conversation.”  

Stevenson said students will be graduating and working with clients as attorneys, and understanding the perspectives of people in the criminal justice system is important. 

Lara Hendrix, a third year law student, is planning to be a public defender after graduation. She said she thought the class would be valuable for her future career. 

Hendrix hopes that eventually people who don’t plan to practice criminal law take the class. 

“These are real people with families, and people that love them, and other people that are affected,” Hendrix said, “and that needs so much more attention than it gets.”

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Hundreds gather around a growing memorial site at 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue, where federal agents shot and killed a 37-year-old Alex Pretti Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026 earlier in the day. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)

The federal killing of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis this month, captured from multiple angles by witnesses recording on their cell phones, kicked off a dizzying day here and in Washington. Democratic politicians and ordinary Americans reacted with a mix of outrage and incredulousness, backfooting the Trump administration as the federal operation Democratic Gov. Tim Walz has called an “occupation” approached its third month.

By late Saturday, a Trump-appointed Minnesota federal judge had ordered the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to refrain from “destroying or altering evidence.” 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said his party would block a must-pass government appropriations package — and partially shut down the government next week — if it contained additional funding for the Homeland Security Department. 

As it did earlier this month after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed 37-year-old Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good, senior Trump administration officials worked swiftly on Saturday to blame the incident on the victim. 

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called Alex Jeffrey Pretti a “domestic terrorist,” echoing language used by Vice President JD Vance to describe Good. Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino said Pretti appeared eager to inflict “maximum damage” on the federal agents assembled near the intersection of Nicollet Avenue and 26th Street Saturday morning. Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s chief domestic policy advisor, called Pretti an “assassin.” 

Videos taken at the scene — as well as what’s known about Pretti’s background — belie the Trump administration’s claims. Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a concealed carry permit and no criminal record, according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara. 

Moments before he was shot, Pretti could be seen on video with his phone — not a gun — recording federal officers, as has become standard practice among anti-ICE activists. 

A cell phone video shows a gaggle of Border Patrol agents wrestling him to the ground and beating him; an agent removes Pretti’s holstered gun, and Pretti appears to pose no threat to the officers surrounding him. Moments later, about 10 shots ring out. 

In a sworn affidavit filed Saturday evening, a physician who lives nearby said Pretti had no pulse when they arrived at the scene. The physician, whose name and identity were not made public, said agents did not appear to be rendering lifesaving aid and initially refused the physician’s offer to help. Pretti was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.

Pretti’s name had emerged in media reports by early afternoon. It’s unclear whether federal, state or local officials attempted to notify his next of kin beforehand. Michael Pretti, his father, said he first learned of the shooting from an Associated Press reporter.

“I can’t get any information from anybody,” Michael Pretti told the AP, detailing a runaround with the Border Patrol, local police and area hospitals. He said the Hennepin County Medical Examiner eventually confirmed they had Alex Pretti’s body.

“We are heartbroken but also very angry,” Pretti’s parents said in a statement released later on Saturday that described Pretti as a “hero” who “wanted to make a difference in this world.”

“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting,” they said. “Please get the truth out about our son.”

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said DHS officials blocked their investigators from the crime scene even after they returned with a judicial warrant. The details of the warrant are unclear, as is the BCA’s recourse if Homeland Security continues to stymie its efforts. Federal officials said Saturday that Homeland Security — not the FBI or the Minnesota BCA — would lead the investigation.

The names of the agents involved in the shooting have not been released. Bovino told CNN on Sunday that he did not know whether more than one agent fired shots.

Minnesota officials questioned Homeland Security’s handling of the shooting’s aftermath and indicated they did not trust the department to conduct a fair investigation. 

The Minnesota Department of Corrections unveiled a new website this weekend to combat “ongoing misinformation” from Homeland Security. In a lengthy statement on Saturday, the department called into question Bovino’s initial explanation for the operation that led to Pretti’s death. The statement said the individual named by Bovino as the target of the operation did not have a significant criminal history, as Bovino alleged, and was previously released from immigration custody in 2018 — during the first Trump administration.

A recent article by Stateline, which is a States Newsroom outlet like the Reformer, found that eyewitness testimony and other evidence often contradicts DHS’ initial description of incidents involving its agents.

On Sunday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he expects Homeland Security to heed Saturday’s court order to preserve evidence to support the state’s own investigation.

“We’ve had to threaten them with contempt a few times, but open defiance of court orders is not something that we’ve experienced,” Ellison told the Star Tribune.

Signs had emerged by Sunday that at least some elected Republicans and gun rights groups were uncomfortable with the official line that Pretti posed a clear and present danger before his death. Few elected Republicans wholeheartedly endorsed the administration’s narrative, and even some right-wing influencers who typically hew to the party line recoiled.

Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who faces a primary challenge from his right this year, called Saturday’s shooting “incredibly disturbing.”

“The credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake,” he said on Sunday. “There must be a full joint federal and state investigation.”

The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus also issued a statement calling for an independent investigation.

“Every peaceable Minnesotan has the right to keep and bear arms — including while attending protests, acting as observers, or exercising their First Amendment rights. These rights do not disappear when someone is lawfully armed, and they must be respected and protected at all times,” the group said.

Kevin Stitt, the outgoing Republican governor of Oklahoma, hinted in a Sunday interview with CNN that the administration should rethink its immigration enforcement efforts.

“And so what’s the goal right now? Is it to deport every single non-U.S. citizen? I don’t think that’s what Americans want,” he said. “We have to stop politicizing this. We need real solutions on immigration reform.”

Dozens of Minnesota business leaders released an open letter that gently called for a change in approach by the federal government, risking the ire of Trump, who is known for his retribution against those who oppose him. 

“With yesterday’s tragic news, we are calling for an immediate deescalation of tensions and for state, local and federal officials to work together to find real solutions,” the CEOs wrote. 

Among them were top officers of Medtronic, 3M, Target and the sports franchises. This is notable because as the Reformer previously reported, the state’s biggest companies had been publicly silent until now. Business leaders, the chamber letter asserts, have been “working behind the scenes” since the federal siege began. 

Some in the Trump administration may be looking for an escape hatch, even if on their terms.  On Saturday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Minnesota could end the federal law enforcement surge if it repealed pro-immigrant “sanctuary” policies and turned over its voter rolls to the federal government. (Minnesota is not a “sanctuary state”; an effort to pass a sanctuary law the last time Democrats controlled the Legislature went nowhere.)

That Bondi made such an offer at all is notable. But it’s unlikely to lead to a resolution. On Sunday, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon brushed off the idea of providing state voter information to the federal government in a caustic statement.

“The answer to Attorney General Bondi’s request is no. Her letter is an outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota into giving the federal government private data on millions of U.S. Citizens in violation of state and federal law,” Simon said.

False claims of voter fraud have become a staple of the Trumpist political movement. A group of right-wing activists led by Mike Lindell — the pillow mogul currently running for governor as a Republican — claimed widespread voter fraud after the 2020 election. But as part of the state’s usual election auditing process, a random group of precincts in every congressional district were chosen for review, totaling roughly 440,000 votes after the 2020 election, spanning more than 200 precincts. The hand tallies were virtually identical to the machine tallies.

A picture sits at a memorial to Alex Pretti on Jan. 25, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Pretti, an ICU nurse at a VA medical center, died on Jan. 24 after being shot multiple times during a brief altercation with border patrol agents in Minneapolis. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

A partial federal government shutdown appeared Sunday to unexpectedly be on the horizon, after another fatal shooting by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis led key U.S. Senate Democrats to say they will oppose a spending package that includes immigration enforcement funds.

Senators have until a Friday deadline to clear a package of six House-passed funding measures, including the $64.4 billion Homeland Security appropriations bill that includes funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol.

Republicans hold a majority in the chamber but would need at least seven Democrats to join them in voting for the package in order to clear the chamber’s 60-vote threshold to advance legislation. 

The agreement had appeared to be on track for easy passage by the Senate by Friday, when a stopgap spending law expires. 

But after Saturday’s killing of 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti, the second by Homeland Security Department officers in Minneapolis this month, key moderate Democrats, appropriators and leaders said they would not support the package if it includes the Homeland Security legislation in its current form. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also said his caucus would not provide the votes needed, citing the killings of Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, and called for the DHS bill to be split from the five spending bills with broad bipartisan support.

“Senate Democrats will not allow the current DHS funding bill to move forward,” Schumer said in a Sunday statement. “The appalling murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis must lead Republicans to join Democrats in overhauling ICE and CBP to protect the public. People should be safe from abuse by their own government.

“Senate Republicans must work with Democrats to advance the other five funding bills while we work to rewrite the DHS bill,” he added. “This is (the) best course of action, and the American people are on our side.”

A complicating factor is the DHS bill also includes funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, even as a major winter storm swept through a large swath of the nation Saturday and Sunday, triggering disaster declarations in multiple states.

President Donald Trump and key administration officials committed to a robust media strategy over the weekend, defending the officers involved and smearing Pretti, despite contradictory evidence in available video.

Some elected Republicans backed the administration’s account, but an unusual number of GOP members of Congress and at least one governor called for accountability.

Latest shooting a turning point

Five of the eight Democrats and independents who voted with Republicans to end a shutdown in November have said they will not support the package if it includes DHS funding.

Maine independent Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that he would vote against the package.

“I hate shutdowns,” King said in a video interview on the Sunday morning show. “I’m one of the people that helped negotiate the solution to the end of the last shutdown, but I can’t vote for a bill that includes ICE funding under these circumstances.”

Nevada Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto, a former federal prosecutor, criticized Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and called for blocking the funding package.

“The Trump administration and Kristi Noem are putting undertrained, combative federal agents on the streets with no accountability,” she said. “They are oppressing Americans and are at odds with local law enforcement. This is clearly not about keeping Americans safe, it’s brutalizing U.S. citizens and law-abiding immigrants. I will not support the current Homeland Security funding bill.”

Cortez Masto called for the DHS bill to be split off from the rest of the package. 

“We have bipartisan agreement on 96% of the budget. We’ve already passed six funding bills,” she said. “Let’s pass the remaining five bipartisan bills and fund essential agencies while we continue to fight for a Department of Homeland Security that respects Americans’ constitutional rights and preserves federal law enforcement’s essential role to keep us safe.” 

Fellow Nevada Democrat Jacky Rosen, who also voted to end the shutdown in November, said “enough is enough” and that she would oppose a funding package that did not “rein in ICE’s out-of-control conduct.”

“As a member of the U.S. Senate, I have the responsibility to hold the Trump Administration accountable when I see abuses of power — like we are seeing from ICE right now,” she said. “That is why I’ll be voting against any government funding package that contains the bill that funds this agency, until we have guardrails in place to curtail these abuses of power and ensure more accountability and transparency.

“My personal guiding principle has always been ‘agree where you can and fight where you must,’” she added. “And I believe this is a time when we must fight back.”

Virginia’s Tim Kaine said in a Friday statement — before Pretti’s killing — that he would oppose the package for several reasons, including as a check on ICE.

“We are not living in normal times,” he said. “The President is acting chaotically and unlawfully and we shouldn’t give his deranged decisions the imprimatur of congressional approval by passing this legislation without significant amendment.”

Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois also said after Pretti’s killing early Saturday — the third shooting by immigration officers in Minneapolis in three weeks — that he would vote against the package. Durbin is a senior member of the Appropriations Committee.

DHS funding

The House last week passed the DHS funding bill, with seven Democrats voting to approve it, and a separate package of three other appropriations bills that passed with broad bipartisan support. House members passed two other funding bills the week before.

The fiscal 2026 Homeland Security spending bill cuts funding for Customs and Border Protection by $1.3 billion, and maintains flat funding for ICE at $10 billion.

The bill attempts to put guardrails around immigration enforcement by allocating $20 million for body cameras for ICE and CBP officers. 

But even if the funding bill doesn’t pass or gets held up, the immigration enforcement agencies are still flush with cash after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Republicans passed last year allocated $190 billion for DHS. ICE is slated to receive about $75 billion over four years, or $18.7 billion a year.

Path forward

Any Senate amendment to the House-passed package would require another House vote. The House is scheduled to be out this week and the chamber, narrowly controlled by Republicans, may be unwilling to cooperate with Senate changes.

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, a Maine Republican up for reelection this year in one of the nation’s most closely watched races, did not dismiss the possibility of changes in the spending bill package, telling The New York Times on Saturday she was “exploring all options” for passage.

The major winter storm also hit Washington, D.C., and could further complicate the Senate vote or potential House consideration. All flights into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were canceled Sunday as snow and sleet covered the region. 

A handful of GOP officials, including Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska called for more scrutiny into Pretti’s killing and ICE’s conduct more generally. 

“There must be a thorough and impartial investigation into yesterday’s Minneapolis shooting, which is the basic standard that law enforcement and the American people expect following any officer-involved shooting,” Tillis said on social media.

“For this specific incident, that requires cooperation and transparency between federal, state, and local law enforcement. Any administration official who rushes to judgment and tries to shut down an investigation before it begins are doing an incredible disservice to the nation and to President Trump’s legacy.”

Cassidy posted on social media: “The events in Minneapolis are incredibly disturbing. The credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake. There must be a full joint federal and state investigation. We can trust the American people with the truth.”

Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who is a former chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said on social media he was “troubled by the events that have unfolded in Minneapolis.”

“As an attorney and former federal prosecutor, I believe a thorough investigation is necessary—both to get to the bottom of these incidents and to maintain Americans’ confidence in our justice system,” he said.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, was among those who said he was troubled by the shooting.

“I think the death of Americans, what we’re seeing on TV, it’s causing deep concerns over federal tactics and accountability,” Stitt said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Americans don’t like what they’re seeing right now.”

Administration, some allies defend shooting 

Many others, including Republican senators and Trump administration officials speaking on Sunday talk shows — Noem, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — defended the agents involved and blamed Pretti and state and local Democrats in Minneapolis. 

“Democrats are now backing out of a bipartisan agreement to fund DHS, which makes sure our border is secure and our immigration laws are enforced,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., wrote on social media.

“This is reckless and quite frankly, very disappointing. It appears that Democrats are so wedded to supporting people carrying guns trying to interfere with a lawful arrest that they will shut down the government.”

Patel, on “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News, said DHS is investigating the shooting but the FBI is processing physical evidence. “No one who wants to be peaceful shows up in a protest with a firearm that is loaded with two full magazines,” Patel said, referring to reports that Pretti was carrying a handgun for which he had a concealed carry license, according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.

Spokespeople for Collins, Schumer and Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota did not return messages seeking comment Sunday. Senate Democrats were set to meet virtually on Sunday night, according to multiple media reports.

A woman kneels and prays as hundreds gather around a growing memorial site at 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue, where federal agents shot and killed a 37-year-old Alex Pretti Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026 earlier in the day. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)

More than 1,000 people gathered for a vigil and rally Saturday night at Whittier Park in Minneapolis to mourn Alex Pretti, the man who was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents. After the vigil, demonstrators marched in subzero temperatures to the site where Pretti was killed on Nicollet Avenue, south of 26th Street.

The site of the shooting has been turned into a makeshift memorial of candles and flowers, less than two miles away from the memorial in the Powderhorn neighborhood made for Renee Good on Jan. 7, the day she was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross.

Since Pretti’s killing, which drew hundreds of protestors in the immediate aftermath, people have built barricades out of dumpsters, trash cans and picnic tables to block off traffic from the surrounding streets. Before a swell of demonstrators arrived from the Whittier Park vigil, the area was mostly quiet, with hundreds huddled around his memorial.

Isabelle Atem, a nurse who drove in from Woodbury, cried as she said: “I thought it was just a dream, but I’m here now. It feels real. It really happened. You know, in a movie, when you shoot people, I know it’s fake. I never knew it (could be) real.”

Atem said she felt bad when she found out Pretti was also a nurse. In a statement to multiple news outlets, Pretti’s parents said he was an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital.

“Nurses are out there to help people. Why are they killing? Why are they shooting?” Atem said.

Atem, an immigrant from Cameroon, said that despite being a U.S. citizen, she has been afraid to go outside amid the surge of over 3,000 federal immigration agents to Minnesota, who have detained residents regardless of their citizenship status.

People were handing out warm drinks and food — fried rice, hummus — from local restaurants at tables at Pretti’s memorial. Glam Doll Donuts, across the street from where the Border Patrol agent shot Pretti, was open after hours and filled with people looking to stay warm.

As demonstrators from the nearby vigil filtered onto Nicollet, chanting, Jake Anderson handed out the last of the three gallons of chicken wild rice soup he had made that day.

Anderson, who lives in the Whittier neighborhood where Pretti was killed, said that he came to support everyone marching “a brutal takeover of our city by totalitarian ICE members and people who don’t actually care about safety in our community.”

“I think there’s a lot of outrage and rage clearly, but there’s also just a sense of community,” he said, as a man complimented his soup.

Some demonstrators banged on dumpsters with hammers and their hands as people chanted: “No Justice, No Peace” and “F*ck ICE.”

The parents of Alex Pretti, Michael and Susan Pretti, released a statement Saturday, castigating the Trump administration for slandering their son with “sickening lies” that they called “reprehensible and disgusting.”

They defended their son’s conduct, saying he was protecting a woman who had been pushed down by federal agents. “Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.”

On this episode, some real hope that a bipartisan solution for state PFAS funding is at hand -- and the industry that is coming in at the last minute to try to kill it.

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Erik Kanter, Government Relations Director, Clean Wisconsin

Resources for You:

Clean Wisconsin Action Network

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Reading Time: 4 minutes

Family members say the man killed by a U.S. Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis on Saturday was an intensive care nurse at a VA hospital who cared deeply about people and was upset by President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in his city.

Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed getting in adventures with Joule, his beloved Catahoula Leopard dog who also recently died. He worked for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and had participated in protests following the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs officer .

“He cared about people deeply and he was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset,” said Michael Pretti, Alex’s father. “He thought it was terrible, you know, kidnapping children, just grabbing people off the street. He cared about those people, and he knew it was wrong, so he did participate in protests.”

Pretti was a U.S. citizen, born in Illinois. Like Good, court records showed he had no criminal record and his family said he had never had any interactions with law enforcement beyond a handful of traffic tickets.

In a recent conversation with their son, his parents, who live in Colorado, told him to be careful when protesting.

“We had this discussion with him two weeks ago or so, you know, that go ahead and protest, but do not engage, do not do anything stupid, basically,” Michael Pretti said. “And he said he knows that. He knew that.”

Family members said Pretti owned a handgun and had a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Minnesota. They said they had never known him to carry it.

Alex Pretti’s family struggles for information about what happened

The family first learned of the shooting when they were called by an Associated Press reporter. They watched the video and said the man killed appeared to be their son. They then tried reaching out to officials in Minnesota.

“I can’t get any information from anybody,” Michael Pretti said Saturday. “The police, they said call Border Patrol, Border Patrol’s closed, the hospitals won’t answer any questions.”

Eventually, the family called the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, who they said confirmed had a body matching the name and description of their son.

As of Saturday evening, the family said they had still not heard from anyone at a federal law enforcement agency about their son’s death.

Alex Pretti grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he played football, baseball and ran track for Preble High School. He was a Boy Scout and sang in the Green Bay Boy Choir.

After graduation, he went to the University of Minnesota, graduating in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, society and the environment, according to the family. He worked as a research scientist before returning to school to become a registered nurse.

Alex Pretti had protested before

Pretti’s ex-wife, who spoke to the AP but later said she didn’t want her name used, said she was not surprised he would have been involved in protesting Trump’s immigration crackdown. She said she had not spoken to him since they divorced more than two years ago and she moved to another state.

She said he was a Democratic voter and that he had participated in the wave of street protests following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, not far from the couple’s neighborhood. She described him a someone who might shout at law enforcement officers at a protest, but she had never known him to be physically confrontational.

She said Pretti got a permit to carry a concealed firearm about three years ago and that he owned at least one semiautomatic handgun when they separated.

Pretti had ‘a great heart’

Pretti lived in a four-unit condominium building about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from where he was shot. Neighbors described him as quiet and warmhearted.

“He’s a wonderful person,” said Sue Gitar, who lived downstairs from Pretti and said he moved into the building about three years ago. “He has a great heart.”

If there was something suspicious going on in the neighborhood, or when they worried the building might have a gas leak, he would jump in to help.

Pretti lived alone and worked long hours as a nurse, but he was not a loner, his neighbors said, and would sometimes have friends over.

His neighbors knew he had guns — he’d occasionally take a rifle to shoot at a gun range — but were surprised at the idea that he might carry a pistol on the streets.

“I never thought of him as a person who carried a gun,” said Gitar.

Pretti was also passionate about the outdoors

A competitive bicycle racer who lavished care on his new Audi, Pretti had also been deeply attached to his dog, who died about a year ago.

His parents said their last conversation with their son was a couple days before his death. They talked about repairs he had done to the garage door of his home. The worker was a Latino man, and they said with all that was happening in Minneapolis he gave the man a $100 tip.

Pretti’s mother said her son cared immensely about the direction the county was headed, especially the Trump administration’s rollback of environmental regulations.

“He hated that, you know, people were just trashing the land,” Susan Pretti said. “He was an outdoorsman. He took his dog everywhere he went. You know, he loved this country, but he hated what people were doing to it.”

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.

Man killed by Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis was an ICU nurse who grew up in Green Bay is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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A bill moving through the Wisconsin Legislature would offer low-interest loans to small dairy farmers to boost efficiency as the state’s dairy industry rapidly consolidates into larger industrial operations.

But ahead of the state’s legislative session, which resumed in early January, major farm and dairy industry representatives pushed for changes that would allow large industrial farms to access the loans, according to lobbying communications and draft legislation obtained by Investigate Midwest through open records requests.

The state has lost nearly 18,000 dairy farms over the past two decades and, as of 2022, has roughly 6,000 operating dairy farms, with small-scale farms dwindling rapidly. 

Wisconsin dairy farms with fewer than 500 cattle have decreased 67% since 2002. Almost every county in the state has lost at least half of its small farms in that same time, according to an Investigate Midwest USDA data analysis.

Senate Bill 323, introduced in July 2025, would set aside $20 million to create an innovation program for dairy farmers in the state to fund the purchase of new equipment or expand animal health practices to produce more milk. Farmers would apply through the state’s agriculture department.

Bill authors said farmers could also use the funds to develop manure management plans, create products from manure and improve animal health and outputs to produce higher-quality products, such as buttermilk. Medium and small dairy farmers can access up to $500,000 administered by the state’s agricultural department. 

The bill was passed by the Senate 18 to 15 on Jan. 21 and can now be heard by the state Assembly.

Dispute over dairy herd sizes

State Sen. Rob Stafsholt, a New Richmond Republican who authored the bill, said economic sustainability has been an issue brought to him by farm operators throughout his rural, northwestern district.

“Some of the technology that can make farmers as efficient as possible and would help the smaller guys to compete with the bigger guys is often financially out of reach for our small and medium farms,” he said. 

The Wisconsin dairy industry is worth nearly $53 billion, and its farms have become increasingly larger in recent years, while the overall number of farms continues to decrease. This trend has created legal clashes between rural towns and dairy farms across the state.

Bigger farms increase profitability by working with consolidated dairy processing companies. Small operations also work with large-scale processors but often rely on boutique dairy product sales, such as those from small-scale creameries or co-ops.

Cost is a major factor in the decline of small farms. The cost of operating a dairy farm in the U.S. has nearly doubled in the last decade, while the price farmers receive for their milk has fallen 15% in the same time frame, according to an analysis of USDA data.

The Wisconsin Farm Bureau and the Dairy Business Association, lobbying and advocacy groups for the state’s dairy and agriculture sector, both asked bill authors to remove the bill’s limit on the number of animal units a farm could have to apply for funding.

In Wisconsin, animal units are a metric primarily used to determine whether a farm meets the threshold for being considered a concentrated animal feeding operation, otherwise known as a CAFO. A single animal unit does not equate to a single animal. For example, a dairy cow is the equivalent of 1.4 animal units, while it would take roughly 30 chickens to equal a single animal unit.

Farms with 1,000 or more animal units have to apply for additional permits through the state’s Department of Natural Resources to manage waste. As farms get larger, increased waste can lead to runoff and pollution problems for nearby communities and waterways. Livestock runoff has been linked to cancers, infant deaths and miscarriages. 

The current bill language sets an applicant’s limit at roughly 999 animal units, or roughly 700 dairy cattle.

In a letter to the bill authors, the Wisconsin Farm Bureau requested that the cap be removed, allowing the size of the farm to be part of the determination when applying for funding, rather than disallowing a larger farm from applying altogether. 

“By aligning the program’s design with its intent, the bill can more effectively support on-farm innovation and ensure that Wisconsin farmers of all sizes have the opportunity to modernize, improve herd health, and maintain our state’s leadership in agricultural innovation,” the letter stated. 

The Dairy Business Association, a trade group headquartered in Green Bay and operated by a board of executives with ties to CAFOs across the state, dairy processors and cheesemakers, told lawmakers in a letter that the state’s large farms provide stability to the milk supply and should be a part of the funding pool.

“A strong dairy economy depends on participation from farms of all sizes,” the letter states. “If this program’s eligibility criteria exclude large farms, the ripple effects will weaken — not strengthen — rural Wisconsin.”

Records show that Dairy Business Association lobbyists met with bill authors soon after the bill text was circulated in early June 2025 to discuss the herd size provision and other concerns with the legislation. The Dairy Business Association did not respond to requests for comment. 

The office of state Rep. Clint Moses, a Menomonie Republican who co-introduced a similar bill in the state’s Assembly, provided an early draft of a bill amendment to Dairy Business Association lobbyists ahead of the release of the amendment, according to an Aug. 5, 2025, email.

Despite meetings with lobbyists to express concerns about the bill’s language regarding herd size, the language has not changed to remove the animal unit cap. 

Darin Von Ruden, president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union, said that if the legislation caps farm size, the funding will help more farmers. He said the Wisconsin Farmers Union supports maintaining the animal unit limit in the current legislation and will continue to watch the bill closely. 

“The dollars that are available there could be easily swallowed up by two or three of the biggest farms in the state, and then nobody else will be able to be a part of that process,” Von Ruden said.

Stafsholt, the senator who introduced the bill, said that the original purpose of the bill was to support small and medium-sized farms and that keeping a limit on animal units will stop large farms from taking larger pieces of the program’s budget. 

“Going forward, I have no intention of switching that number,” he said. 

Bill addresses dairy’s undocumented workforce

The bill also points to the realities of drafting legislation affecting the dairy industry and navigating the sector’s open secret: undocumented labor. 

Draft legislation shows bill authors intent on blocking farms that use undocumented labor from qualifying for the loan program. The current version of the bill would only allow farms that employ workers who are authorized to work in the state to apply for the program.

There are no definitive counts of the number of undocumented laborers working on Wisconsin dairy farms, but research estimates that nearly 70% of the state’s dairy industry relies on undocumented labor. 

“I don’t have an issue with (farms) doing what they are doing,” Stafsholt said. “It’s more about following the law. We want to make sure taxpayer dollars funding the dairy cattle innovation program are not necessarily being utilized by those who fail to follow the basic law.”

In September 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested dairy farm workers in Manitowoc County as part of a larger raid in the area. This comes as ICE raids have hit major agricultural industries and cities, detaining workers and increasing anxiety throughout the labor force. 

Lobbyists from both the Farm Bureau and the Dairy Business Association initially expressed concerns about the impact this limitation would have. 

In an August email from a member of Stafsholt’s staff to the senator, meeting notes show that Dairy Business Association representatives expressed concerns about the original requirement that farms employ only individuals legally authorized to work in Wisconsin, but that language remains in the current version. 

“After conversations with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection on how the bill provision will be facilitated and discussions with the bill authors, staff, and stakeholders, we are not prioritizing changing that provision,” Jason Mugnaini, a Wisconsin Farm Bureau lobbyist, told Investigate Midwest in December.

This article first appeared on Investigate Midwest and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

CAFOs want in on proposal meant to help Wisconsin’s small dairy farms is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Alex Jeffrey Pretti was a 2006 graduate of Preble High School in Green Bay, according to the Green Bay Press Gazette.

The post The man killed by a federal officer in Minneapolis was an ICU nurse, family says appeared first on WPR.

Masked federal agents on the scene near where a federal officer shot a Minnesotan for the third time in as many weeks. (Photo by Madison McVan/Minnesota Reformer)

This story has been updated.

A ​​federal agent fatally shot a man in Minneapolis on Saturday amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, escalating tensions after another killing earlier in the month.

It was the third shooting by immigration officers in the city in three weeks – and the second to end in death. Democratic local and state officials immediately condemned Saturday’s shooting as protests ramped up, and Republican President Donald Trump threatened again to send military troops to Minnesota.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said federal agents killed a 37-year-old man whom officials believe is a U.S. citizen who lives in Minneapolis. Video of the shooting was captured by observers and posted to social media.

The man who was killed has been identified as Alex Jeffrey Pretti in a statement from Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, DFL-Minneapolis, and by the Star Tribune and The Associated Press.

Pretti, who grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, was an ICU nurse who worked at the Minneapolis Veterans Administration hospital, according to a Wisconsin Public Radio interview with his parents, who still live in Green Bay,

O’Hara said he had no information about what led up to the shooting but said the man, whom he did not name, was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry. O’Hara says police have not interacted with the deceased other than a few traffic tickets.

Protesters line streets

Hundreds of protesters gathered near where the shooting happened, despite subzero temperatures. Many wore gas masks and eye protection — common in the Twin Cities, where demonstrations started when immigration officers arrived in December.

Federal agents deployed tear gas and flash bangs to push back the crowds, which lined up at several intersections near the site of the shooting shouting, “Shame!” and “ICE out, f*ck ICE!”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey again urged the federal government to end its two-month immigration siege, which has brought 3,000 federal officers to Minnesota, or nearly five times the number of sworn Minneapolis police officers.

“How many times must local and national leaders plead with you, Donald Trump, to end this operation and recognize that this is not creating safety in our city?” Mayor Jacob Frey said.

Gov. Tim Walz said he’d spoken to the White House after the shooting, but he doesn’t have confidence federal officials will change their actions or leave the state. He said the Department of Homeland Security has rushed to judgement and is already slandering the man who was killed.

“Minnesotans: You know who you are, and you demonstrate it every single day,” Walz said. “And we damn sure know who these people are. The American public knows. This needs to be the event that says, ‘enough.’”

Law enforcement blocked off the streets and deployed tear gas to dissuade angry demonstrators from going near the site of the shooting, which was on Nicollet Avenue just south of 26th Street. Over 100 federal agents were on the scene after the shooting.

O’Hara urged demonstrators to go home. State Patrol and other state law enforcement were there also in an attempt to keep the peace.

Video captures shooting

In a graphic video now circulating on social media, six federal agents appear to wrestle the man to the ground in front of the New American Development Center. One of the agents hits the man three times with what appears to be a firearm. Bystanders are surrounding the group and filming on their cell phones.

Over 10 shots can be heard in the video, but it’s unclear if more than one agent fired a weapon.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a social media post that officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against someone illegally in the U.S. “wanted for violent assault,” when another person approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm handgun.

Video shows an agent in a gray jacket approach the man as he’s being held on the ground by multiple other agents and then walk away with what appears to be a gun in his hand, before shots are fired.

“The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted. More details on the armed struggle are forthcoming,” Homeland Security said. “Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject but was pronounced dead at the scene.”

U.S. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino said in a press conference that the officer who shot the man is “highly trained” and served as a Border Patrol agent for eight years. Bovino said the agent has “extensive training as a Range Safety Officer,” to ensure people on a gun range are using it safely.

The parents of Alex Pretti, Michael and Susan Pretti, released a statement Saturday, castigating the Trump administration for slandering their son with “sickening lies” that they called “reprehensible and disgusting.”

They defended their son’s conduct, saying he was protecting a woman who had been pushed down by federal agents. “Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.”

Conflict between state and federal law enforcement

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which typically investigates law enforcement shootings, said in a social media post their agents arrived at the scene of Saturday’s killing at the request of the Minneapolis Police Department but were blocked from accessing the location by the Department of Homeland Security.

BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said that after BCA officials were blocked from the scene of the shooting, they obtained a signed judicial warrant to gain access. BCA officials returned to the scene, but DHS agents still denied access.

The BCA began a joint investigation into the ICE officer shooting of Renee Good earlier this month before being abruptly shut out of the investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, hindering local prosecutors from being able to consider if criminal charges are warranted against the officer.

Walz expressed disbelief that the federal agents were able to leave the scene with little to no investigation.

“You kill a man and then you just leave?” the governor said. “Is there a single case in American history where you just, like, walk away and say, ‘I guess that just happened and we’re not going to clean up our mess.’”

Walz said the federal agents involved in the shooting will be held accountable.

“Minnesota’s justice system will have the last word,” the governor said.

Trump posted a rambling response to the shooting on his social media platform referencing U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s bank account and saying “what you’re witnessing” is part of a cover up for Medicaid fraud.

“The Mayor and the Governor are inciting insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous and arrogant rhetoric,” Trump wrote, reviving a threat to invoke the Insurrection Act and send military troops into the streets of Minnesota. 

Accounts contradict Homeland Security

Homeland Security statements about the previous shootings have later been found to be false or misleading. After the Jan. 7 killing of Good, the department referred to her as a “domestic terrorist.”

A 911 call after a second shooting, of a Venezuelan man in north Minneapolis, suggests that the agent shot at the man as he was trying to escape into a house, which would contradict the Department of Homeland Security account that the federal immigration agent fired a shot defensively. In a sworn affidavit, an FBI agent confirmed that the agent shot the man when he had begun running toward the house, the Star Tribune reported.

As Reformer sibling publication Stateline recently reported, Homeland Security recently revised its account of a December shooting in Glen Burnie, Maryland, after local police contradicted its initial version. The agency first claimed both men injured in the incident were inside a van that ICE officers fired at in self-defense, but later said that one of the injured men had already been arrested and was in custody inside an ICE vehicle when he was hurt. The other man was shot twice and is facing two federal criminal charges.

In August, federal immigration agents fired at a family’s vehicle three times in San Bernardino, California. Homeland Security maintained the shooting was justified after at least two agents were struck by the vehicle, but available footage shows an agent breaking the driver-side window moments before gunfire erupted. Surveillance footage from the street does not show agents being struck by the vehicle.

The Saturday shooting comes one day after tens of thousands of people protested ICE in downtown Minneapolis in subzero temperatures.

The Minnesota National Guard has been on active duty for over a week, meaning that they are prepared to rapidly respond if they are deployed. Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt on Saturday requested support from the National Guard to help them provide security at the federal Whipple Building — the site of ongoing protests. It’s unclear how many guard members will be stationed there.

Reformer Deputy Editor Max Nesterak and Reporter Alyssa Chen contributed to this report.

Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.

The post Emerald Bluffs Solar Project Approved by PSC appeared first on RENEW Wisconsin.

(The Center Square) – A bill that would incentivize nuclear energy by providing credits and allowing companies to charge customers for developing the nuclear energy in Wisconsin passed the Assembly with an 86-11 vote despite opposition from multiple groups.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers does not plan to sign a bill currently in the Senate that would prevent individuals who were identified as male at birth from competing on women’s athletic teams in the University of…

(The Center Square) – People in Wisconsin didn’t let higher prices or higher interest rates stop them from buying a home last year.

(The Center Square) - Wisconsin state Sen. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, will not be running for another term in the Senate.

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Do solar panels release more emissions than burning fossil fuels? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.