A border patrol agent stands in front of protestors as people gather near the scene of 26th Street West and Nicollet Avenue, where federal agents shot and killed a 37-year-old man Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, the third shooting in as many weeks. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)

A Border Patrol agent warned Nicole Cleland last month that she’d be arrested if she were again discovered following and observing federal officers. 

Three days later, the 56-year-old Richfield resident received an email saying her expedited airport security screening privileges had been revoked.

Cleland is a frequent traveler and had held Global Entry and TSA PreCheck status without incident since 2014. So the timing of the notice seemed curious, she said in a sworn declaration filed in support of the American Civil Liberties Union’s lawsuit challenging federal law enforcement tactics in Minnesota. The Border Patrol and Transportation Security Administration are both subdivisions of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as is U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Given that only three days had passed from the time that I was stopped, I am concerned that the revocation was the result of me following and observing the agents. This is intimidation and retaliation,” Cleland said in the declaration.  

A year into the second Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, Cleland is one of countless U.S. residents and visitors touched by the federal government’s rapidly changing data collection and surveillance apparatus. Some, like an AI-powered social media analyzer and an error-prone facial recognition tool, evoke dystopian sci-fi. Others, like automatic license plate readers, have been around for decades. 

Elected officials, privacy advocates, and ordinary community members working as constitutional observers are increasingly alarmed that the Trump administration could use these tools to chill constitutionally protected expression, while at the same time pressuring tech companies — many of which have cozied up to Trump in his second term — to make it harder for Americans to keep tabs on their government. 

Senior administration officials haven’t done much to dispel those concerns. Tom Homan, the “border czar” who’s now the face of Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, said on Jan. 15 that he’s pushing to create a “database” of people who “interfere or impede or assault an ICE officer.” 

Such a database wouldn’t outwardly differ much from the numerous information repositories the federal government already maintains. But its purpose — and, in some cases, the tools used to collect and analyze the data — may prove to be a new frontier in the emerging surveillance state.  

Facial recognition software

The Border Patrol agent who warned Cleland told her his unit had “facial recognition,” according to her deposition.

Reporting by 404 Media and other media outlets indicates that ICE and other federal immigration enforcement agencies use multiple AI-powered facial recognition tools, including Mobile Fortify and Clearview AI. Local law enforcement agencies deputized to work with ICE use a different facial recognition app, Mobile Identify, according to NPR.

DHS has used facial recognition software at airports and land border crossings for years, but its use in the field is a more recent development that civil liberties experts say represents a major expansion of government surveillance. 

Using proprietary algorithms, the tools try to match images captured in the field with data already in DHS databases, including names, birthdates, citizenship status and photos taken at U.S. entry points. DHS says it retains “biographic exit data” on U.S. citizens and permanent residents for 15 years, though it’s unclear whether this applies to images collected in the field as well.

Even before Operation Metro Surge began in earnest, lawmakers sounded alarms about the implications.

“This type of on-demand surveillance is harrowing and it should put all of us on guard,” U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, told NPR in November.

Human analytics apps

ICE also uses AI-powered apps to analyze social media activity and other digital data points to create “life profiles” for people of interest.

The agency has spent at least $5 million on Tangles, a sophisticated tool developed by a company with ties to Israel’s cyber-intelligence community, Forbes reported in September. Tangles mines social media posts, event sign-ups, mobile contacts, location data and more to create nuanced individual portraits and tease out patterns of activity — including organizing and protest — in specific places.

“Our powerful web intelligence solution monitors online activity, collecting and analyzing data of endless digital channels – from the open, deep and dark web, to mobile and social,” Tangles’ Microsoft Marketplace listing says.

The Verge reported in October that ICE has spent a similar amount on another digital monitoring tool called Zignal Labs, which uses AI text and video analysis to process billions of social media posts daily into what it calls “curated detection feeds.” The product includes near real-time alerts. “Sample workflows” featured in a Zignal Labs marketing pamphlet shared with The Lever include “an ongoing operation in Gaza” and a 2023 social media post purporting to show U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at the Mall of America.

Cellular snooping

Since September 2024, ICE has paid more than $1.6 million to a Maryland company that integrates a type of cell-site simulator popularly known as a “stingray” into government vehicles. 

TechCrunch first reported the purchases, which are a matter of public record. It’s unclear how often ICE uses vehicles equipped with stingrays in its operations, but a Utah judge reportedly authorized the agency to use one to track down a specific individual last summer. 

Stingrays trick nearby cell phones into connecting with them instead of legitimate transmitters, collecting reams of random users’ data in the process. That, plus past instances of warrantless snooping, makes them controversial even among law enforcement agencies. Ars Technica reported in 2015 that the FBI required local law enforcement agencies to drop cases rather than reveal evidence in court that “would potentially or actually compromise the equipment/technology.”

ICE is also interested in using — and may already be using — another cell-snooping tool that requires no external hardware. 

Last summer, the independent national security journalist Jack Poulson reported that the agency had reactivated a $2 million contract with the Israeli spyware developer Paragon Solutions. Once delivered via text message — no link required — Paragon’s spyware gains broad access to a phone’s contents, including encrypted messages.

“It’s an extremely dangerous surveillance tech that really goes against our Fourth Amendment protections,” Jeramie Scott, senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told NPR in November.

Flanked by Rev. Julia Burkey, left, and U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, right, Christine Neumann-Ortiz speaks at a press conference Thursday about plans to respond if federal immigration agents surge into Wisconsin. (Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)

A surge in Wisconsin of federal immigration enforcement will be met with an organized and peaceful resistance, the product of more than a year’s worth of planning and training, advocates vowed Thursday.

Voces de la Frontera, a statewide immigrant rights advocacy group based in Milwaukee, has established a 24-hour hotline to field calls from people concerned about the possible presence of federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as border patrol.

At an afternoon news conference with U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Black Earth) in a Madison church, Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces, said the hotline is “the starting point” for people who want to respond if they encounter a possible surge of ICE or border patrol agents.

Staffed around the clock by volunteers, the hotline was established to provide a centralized source of verified reports when there’s new ICE or border patrol activity around the state and to quickly dispel false reports that only increase fear.

Advocates and their allies are bracing for the possibility of a new federal surge in Wisconsin following what has now been more than two months of escalated federal activity in Minneapolis.

“It is not likely a question of if they’ll be coming into the community in a stronger way,” Pocan said. “It is a question of when they’ll be coming into the community.”

The Minnesota surge has led to the deaths of two people — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — who were killed by federal agents. In both instances, eyewitness accounts and videos refuted Trump administration claims that the victims had acted violently in the moments before they were shot.

“It’s not just the killings and the violence, but people are being separated and they’re also being held in dangerous and deadly conditions that are harder to see,” Neumann-Ortiz said — because federal officials have been “denying much oversight.”

Pocan authored a bill to abolish ICE during Trump’s first term, but acknowledged that even he has been taken aback by the agency’s actions in the last year.

“I don’t think people realized — nor did I — that we would ever get to this point where ICE was this rogue, this out of control,” Pocan said. “We have seen them going into communities and really having devastating consequences.”

He endorsed a description of the agencies as “a modern day Gestapo” that he attributed to New York Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler. “It’s treating the non-citizen and citizen alike with this disrespect.”

Pocan said Wisconsin can respond both forcefully and peacefully.

“Our message is that this is a community that’s going to be united,” he said. “We are going to fight back. And I do not mean physically fight back — I mean morally fight back — on what ICE is doing and how it’s treating our neighbors and our community, and what we’re seeing in Minneapolis and other places across the country.”

Rev. Julia Burkey, the senior pastor at Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ where the news conference was held, described the actions of the federal Department of Homeland Security as “terrorizing and killing innocent people, who are all beloved children of God, simply seeking to live their lives and make peace in their communities.”

She contrasted that with the response of Twin Cities residents who have turned out to support the immigrant community.

“We also are so inspired by the people of Minnesota and how they are loving their neighbors, how they’re singing songs of love and solidarity, how they’re protecting the most vulnerable people who are delivering church meals to those who are even afraid to go outside,” Burkey said.  “What we’re seeing is a groundswell of neighborly love, and we have that groundswell of neighborly love here in Wisconsin, too.”

Voces and its allies have been preparing for a wave of federal anti-immigrant action since President Donald Trump was elected to his second term.

“In Wisconsin, we have been building — really since November 2024 — with other organizations, faith groups, unions, a statewide community defense network to stand in solidarity with immigrant families and to protect our collective democratic rights,” Neumann-Ortiz said. “This network exists to help people assert their constitutional rights through peaceful assembly to document ICE violations and expose the truth about what is happening in our communities.”

Neumann-Ortiz urged people not to post or share purported sightings of ICE or other federal agents that have not been verified, to avoid spreading needless fear and misinformation.

The Voces hotline has trained volunteers who can be dispatched to locations where the federal agencies are suspected of operating and document what they encounter.

Verifiers are trained to not interfere in federal options, Neumann-Ortiz said, but instead “observe, record and support impacted families, connecting them through another network of folks who can provide legal resources and mutual aid when necessary.”

Voces also coordinates a rapid response network of volunteers to peacefully protest and publicize “unlawful and abusive activity” by federal agents, she said. Tens of thousands of volunteers have been trained across the state in churches, schools, workplaces and other locations on their legal rights and on how to respond safely, nonviolently and effectively and in a spirit of “collective care,”  she added.

“Everyone should know that you have the right to remain silent if you are questioned by ICE, you have the right to an attorney if you are arrested or detained, and you have the right to demand that ICE present a judicial warrant signed by a judge before giving them access to your home, workplace, or any other area that is considered a private area not open to the public,” Neumann-Ortiz said.

“Together, these efforts represent a model of community-based safety, rooted in solidarity, dignity, shared responsibility,” she said. “We believe that real security comes from people looking out for one another, not from militarized federal agencies. Our communities deserve safety without fear, justice without violence and dignity without conditions.”

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U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany who is running for governor, said he had not seen the video of the shooting at a Monday press conference, more than 48 hours after the shooting occurred and as video of the shooting has circulated on social media and in major news outlets. Tiffany at his campaign launch in September 2025. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Wisconsin politicians are responding to the shooting of Alex Pretti, the ICU nurse from Green Bay who was killed Saturday by U.S. Border Patrol agents. U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the frontrunner in the Republican gubernatorial primary, said Monday he hadn’t seen widely circulated video of the shooting.

Pretti’s death prompted protests across the country including in Green Bay, his  hometown. Gov. Tony Evers  joined a lawsuit challenging the presence of federal immigration agents in the Twin Cities. Other Wisconsin politicians issued a variety of statements reacting to the shooting.

U.S. Rep. Tony Wied, whose district includes Green Bay, called the shooting in Minneapolis a “tragedy” in a statement Monday. Pretti was a graduate of Green Bay’s Preble High School. 

“While we await a thorough investigation, I encourage my colleagues to tone down their rhetoric, which has put both law enforcement officers and the public at risk,” Wied said. “We can disagree on the issue but we must do so in a constructive and peaceful manner. Assaulting and impeding federal law enforcement is illegal and a recipe for disaster. As a country, we need to lower the temperature and allow law enforcement to do their jobs.” 

Video of the moments leading up to the shooting, which shows Pretti being pinned down by a group of immigration agents before being shot in the back, does not support Trump administration claims that he tried to assault or impede the agents.

Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is running for governor, said he had not seen the video of the shooting at a Monday press conference, more than 48 hours after the shooting occurred and as video of the shooting has circulated on social media and in major news outlets. Tiffany also called for “full investigation” of the shooting by the state and federal government.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Tiffany also said people have the right to carry legally registered concealed guns but should consider potential consequences. Pretti was a licensed gun owner, who according to a CNN analysis of bystander video had his gun removed from him before officers shot him. 

“The problem is not the Second Amendment. If I saw a quote accurately this morning… it sounds like (Pretti’s) father had some discussion with him recently, saying, ‘Be careful when you go to something like this, make sure that you don’t get caught up in the chaos,” he said. “And unfortunately, he did.” 

Democrats, including some who are running for governor, criticized Tiffany. 

Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Devin Remiker called Tiffany’s claim not to have seen the video “a pathetic excuse from a pathetic man.” 

“Tom Tiffany is, at best, a clueless coward and at worst a liar. Either way, he’s unfit to serve as governor of Wisconsin,” Remiker said.

“You haven’t watched the video yet? Let me sum it up for you,” former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes said in a social media post. “Trump’s ICE needlessly killed a US citizen without justification.”

Other Democratic candidates had a variety of responses including calling for immigration agents  to vacate Minnesota and calling for the elimination of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  . ICE is responsible for enforcing immigration laws in the United States’s interior, while Border Patrol is supposed to do so near the country’s border, though according to USA Today, the two agencies have become increasingly hard to tell apart under the Trump administration. 

State Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) called for the abolishment of ICE after the shooting. 

“ICE under Trump is incompatible with a free society. The Trump regime is making every single one of us less safe and less free. They are destroying public safety. They refuse to respect our constitution, our law, or our rights,” Roys said in a statement. “The organized, violent actions of ICE have left us with no other choice but to disarm, dismantle, and prosecute ICE.”

State Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison), who joined protests according to social media posts, said “Wisconsin stands with everyone resisting ICE in Minnesota” and called ICE an “enforcer of fascism that must be abolished and those responsible for the executions prosecuted.” Last week at a candidate forum with all of the Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls Hong said that “abolishing ICE is a meaningful policy.” 

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said that the country needs to “stop pretending that large-scale immigration enforcement operations” in the Midwest are about public safety. 

“People — regardless of immigration status or how federal authorities choose to define them — are in danger when ICE operates this way in our neighborhoods,” Crowley said. “At the same time, I echo Gov. Walz and Minnesota officials in urging people not to respond to violence with violence.” 

Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, who previously had proposed banning ICE from certain sites in Wisconsin, said that “a government that puts its own citizens in harm’s way has failed its most basic responsibility. And I will never look away when the government gets this wrong. We have a choice about who we are and what we stand for: safety without cruelty, accountability without fear, and dignity for every human being.”

Missy Hughes, the former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO, said that “the lawless and deadly ICE invasion of Minneapolis is unAmerican — and Donald Trump is responsible for it.” 

Joel Brennan, the former Department of Administration secretary, said he “recoiled in horror” watching the video of the recent fatal shooting and mourns for Pretti. He called for the “occupation” to end in American cities. 

U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden has repeatedly claimed that the protests against ICE in Minneapolis are equivalent to an “insurrection.” He said on Monday in a Facebook post that he does not “celebrate the death of any American citizen” and the “deaths are tragic, and they never should have happened.” 

But Van Orden blamed Democrats for “fueling hostility toward federal law enforcement.”

“When elected leaders and their allies normalize interference with officers doing their jobs, the outcome is entirely predictable and tragic,” Van Orden said.

Van Orden went on to compare Democratic leaders who have demanded that ICE and Border Patrol agents leave Minneapolis to Civil War Confederates. 

“History has seen this before. In 1861, Confederates in the South demanded that federal troops abandon Fort Sumter. They framed it as de-escalation and local control. In reality, it was a rejection of federal authority and the rule of law. What began as political rhetoric and demands to remove federal presence quickly turned into open conflict, with deadly consequences for the nation,” Van Orden said. “As with any officer-involved shooting, this incident is under investigation. I fully support that process and will be closely following its findings. My support for federal law enforcement, and the rule of law they uphold, remains unwavering.”

CNN reported Monday that Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, who has been at the center of the Trump administration immigration enforcement across the country, is leaving Minneapolis and DHS has suspended his access to his social media accounts. Trump is sending border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota to take charge of immigration enforcement  operations there.

Rebecca Cooke, who is challenging Van Orden in 2026, said in a social media post that Pretti’s  killing represents “a federal agency out of control. ICE needs to vacate Minnesota and leave our neighbors alone. This is not a policy disagreement, this is a moral imperative.”

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U.S. Border Czar Tom Homan speaks at the Tampa Convention Center on July 12, 2025. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix)

WASHINGTON — U.S. border czar Tom Homan is expected in Minneapolis by Monday evening, President Donald Trump said, amid increasing criticism of the administration’s immigration enforcement methods following the second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by immigration officers in Minneapolis already this year.

The move was part of an apparent toning down of the administration’s rhetoric against the city as a growing number of members of Congress from both parties raised concerns about the Saturday shooting death of 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti by federal immigration agents.

Trump reported a notably civil call with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat with whom the president has often clashed, around midday Monday.

“It was a very good call, and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength,” Trump said of the conversation. “The Governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future. He was happy that Tom Homan was going to Minnesota, and so am I!”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during an afternoon briefing that Gregory Bovino, the U.S. Border Patrol commander-at-large, would “continue to lead” immigration agents across the country, but did not address whether he would be active in Minneapolis once Homan arrived. 

CNN reported Monday afternoon  Bovino and some of his agents were set to depart the city. 

The Atlantic reported late Monday that Bovino would be removed from his position of commander-at-large and return to his former job as chief of Border Patrol’s El Centro, California, sector ahead of an imminent retirement. The New York Times also reported Bovino was being reassigned.

Homan “has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there,” Trump wrote on social media. “Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me.”

Leavitt repeated throughout a 20-minute White House press briefing the administration’s position that Democratic state and local officials were responsible for the situation in Minneapolis, but declined to endorse the harshest descriptions of Pretti that administration leaders, including top White House aide Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, have used.

Border czar

Early in his second administration, Trump tasked Homan with carrying out the president’s mass deportation campaign, which has faced significant pushback in Minneapolis.

Homan, who is expected to be in Minnesota by the evening, is the former ICE head of removal operations during the Obama administration and served as acting ICE director during the first Trump administration. 

Leavitt said Monday that Homan will be “the point person for cooperating with state and local authorities in corresponding with them, again, to achieve this level of cooperation to subdue the chaos on the streets of Minneapolis.”

Homan’s arrival comes while thousands of Minnesotans mourn and protest Saturday’s killing of Pretti, an intensive care nurse who appeared to be acting as a legal observer when Border Patrol agents tackled him to the ground, pinned him and shot him multiple times.

His was the second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by immigration officers in Minneapolis this year. Federal immigration officer Jonathan Ross killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, a mother and poet, Jan. 7. 

Multiple videos captured the killings of both Good and Pretti, further sparking outcry from the community. 

Investigation underway

Leavitt said an investigation into Pretti’s killing is underway with the FBI, Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations. Noem, who oversees HSI and CBP, labeled Pretti “a domestic terrorist,” the same term she applied to Good.

“The administration is reviewing everything with respect to the shooting, and we will let that investigation play out,” Leavitt said. 

Bovino said on CNN Sunday that the agents involved in the shooting of Pretti, are still on duty and while they will be taken off the streets of Minneapolis, they will still be allowed to conduct immigration enforcement.

The top Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said in a statement Monday that those officers still being on duty is contrary to CBP’s use-of-force policy, which requires three days of paid leave after an agent uses deadly force either on duty or off.

“It defies commonsense – and is completely inexcusable – that the agent who killed Alex Pretti Saturday is already back in the field terrorizing our communities and believing – as Greg Bovino has so wrongly asserted – that he is the victim,” he said. “At a minimum, the agent should be on Administrative Leave.”

Congressional response

Saturday’s killing could have far-reaching consequences on Capitol Hill.

Several congressional Democrats over the weekend coalesced to oppose any funding for the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement, increasing the chances of a partial government shutdown at the end of the week. 

The shooting also appeared to prompt a handful of congressional Republicans to adjust their position on Trump’s year-long immigration crackdown. 

The chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland and Governmental Affairs, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, called Monday for the heads of ICE, CBP and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to testify for a hearing by Feb. 12.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino, a New York Republican, also called on the same officials to testify in front of his committee. 

Sen. John Curtis of Utah was the latest of a handful of Senate Republicans calling for a thorough investigation into the killing and for “those responsible—no matter their title—” to be held accountable.

“I disagree with Secretary Noem’s premature DHS response, which came before all the facts were known and weakened confidence,” he wrote on social media. “I will be working with a bipartisan group of senators to demand real oversight and transparency, including supporting calls from @RandPaul for leaders of these operations to testify, so trust can be restored and justice served.”

White House’s terms for Minnesota

For nearly two months, 3,000 federal immigration officers have descended on Minneapolis, dwarfing the city’s police force of roughly 600. The Trump administration deployed the officers for immigration enforcement after right-wing media influencers resurfaced instances of fraud in Minnesota’s social service programs. 

Leavitt said Monday the Trump administration would only end immigration operations if state and local leaders instructed police to cooperate closely with federal immigration officers.

Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, and states and localities are not required to assist.

Some localities and states have agreements that local police will notify federal immigration officers if a person they arrest is an immigrant without legal authorization. 

But some jurisdictions don’t participate because the practice can divert resources or can open law enforcement up to lawsuits for unlawfully detaining an individual for an immigration violation, unless there is a judicial warrant. 

Attorneys representing the state of Minnesota and city of Minneapolis argued to Judge Kate M. Menendez on Monday that the Trump administration was trying to bend the state to the federal government’s will, a violation of the Constitution’s 10th amendment. 

The suit, in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota, is attempting to block the ICE surge in the state. 

Trump, in his Monday social media post, blamed the massive protests in Minnesota on “Welfare Fraud that has taken place in Minnesota, and is at least partially responsible for the violent organized protests going on in the streets.” 

Green Bay residents protest the shooting of Alex Pretti | Photo by Andrew Kennard/Wisconsin Examiner

Green Bay protesters took to the streets Sunday afternoon in temperatures well below freezing to protest the killing of Alex Pretti, a graduate of Green Bay Preble High School who worked as an ICU nurse at a VA hospital in Minneapolis and was shot and killed Saturday by Border Patrol agents. As they crossed the Fox River, marchers formed a line longer than the Ray Nitschke Memorial Bridge, which crosses the Fox River. 

“The only people who can defend us is us,” Daniel Castillo, a member of the Green Bay Anti-War Committee, told the crowd. 

After he was shot by federal agents, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called Pretti a “domestic terrorist,” and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino said Pretti, who was carrying a registered handgun when six Border Patrol agents tackled him, but did not unholster it, appeared eager to inflict “maximum damage” on assembled federal agents. Videos taken at the scene, showing Pretti holding a cellphone camera, not a gun, and trying to help a woman who was knocked to the ground by agents, as well as  what’s known about Pretti’s background, belie the Trump administration’s claims, the Minnesota Reformer reported.

In a statement, Pretti’s parents said they are “heartbroken but also very angry” and requested, “Please get the truth out about our son.” They said that “the sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting.”

“Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital,” the parents’ statement said in part. “Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the hero term lightly. However his last thought and act was to protect a woman.”

Lori Blakeslee, communications director for the Green Bay Area Public School District, confirmed to the Wisconsin Examiner that Pretti graduated from Green Bay Preble High School in 2006. 

In an interview early Sunday afternoon, Travis Vanden Heuvel told the Examiner he and Pretti were in a choir program together, and that the two were friends during elementary and middle school. 

“I think he was standing up for what was right and just, and I’m saddened and angered by what happened and how it happened,” Vanden Heuvel said. 

Vanden Heuvel said when he learned about the shooting, not knowing who the victim was, the word he had been using to describe it was tragic. His old assistant choir director had reached out to let him know Pretti had been killed. 

“And tragic became devastating, not that this happening in America or in Minnesota didn’t already make it close to home,” Vanden Heuvel said. “I mean, I think we’ve been feeling it hit closer and closer to home.”

The Examiner previously reported on a march against ICE in downtown Green Bay almost a year ago, in the weeks that followed President Donald Trump’s inauguration. 

Castillo told the Examiner this is different from last year’s event.

“It was just the random activist that approached us and said, ‘Would you like to set up some sort of event that shows that immigrants are just people too?’” Castillo said. “…This is much different, and because people are angry… they’re just mad that a man was assassinated, extra-judicially murdered.” 

Jennifer Gonzalez, communications coordinator for the Green Bay Police Department, said that “today’s demonstration, like others held in our community, was calm and peaceful, with no significant incidents.”

Protests also occurred elsewhere in Wisconsin, including in Milwaukee, Madison, Oshkosh and Superior.

State Rep. Amaad Rivera-Wagner (D-Green Bay) said in a statement that “it is not surprising that Alex was a nurse with roots in Green Bay, a place where we believe in taking care of each other and respecting human dignity.”

“We must come together to demand accountability, because hate cannot win,” Rivera-Wagner said. 

In a statement Saturday, Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich said “another American citizen is dead as the result of the federal government’s occupation of an American city, and the victim, Alex Pretti, was a graduate of a Green Bay high school.” 

“Without knowing all the facts of the case, we can say with certainty that a full, transparent, and independent investigation must be conducted,” Genrich said. “I mourn his tragic death with his friends and family, and join the chorus of Americans who are rightfully demanding the federal government change course and enforce immigration law in keeping with local, state and federal laws and the U.S. Constitution.”

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Marchers begin a walking and singing vigil outside All God's Children Church in Minneapolis on Jan. 17, 2026 | Photo by Ruth Conniff/Wisconsin Examiner

“A great American city is being invaded by its own federal government,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said on Saturday, after Border Patrol agents shot and killed an ICU nurse from Green Bay, Alex Pretti, in broad daylight while restraining him on the ground outside a doughnut shop.

In this dizzying new era of state terror, citizens and community leaders alike are trying to figure out what to do. What power do we have to face down a violent, repressive government targeting civilians in an operation aimed not at protecting public safety but at disrupting and destroying civil society? 

At a press conference with local media last week, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan promised to fight against a Minneapolis-like surge in Wisconsin, drawing a lot of probing follow-up questions from reporters. Pocan voted against $64 billion in funding for the Department of Homeland Security that passed the House and is now, belatedly, facing difficulties in the Senate. He said he would work with local law enforcement, support lawsuits filed by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and other state AGs against aggressive ICE deployments, and encourage peaceful protestors marching in inflatable dinosaur costumes. 

But the question of how to fight back is a tough one.

The federal government has created a massive paramilitary organization that is systematically terrorizing Democratic-led Midwestern cities. The 3,000 immigration agents in Minneapolis far outnumber the local police force there. We have never seen anything quite like this.

Minnesota elected officials seem to be struggling with the question of how to resist and how to defend their citizens. Along with strong language about the damage the federal crackdown is doing to the community, Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz repeatedly admonished protesters to remain peaceful, then deployed the Minnesota National Guard to block people from visiting a memorial at the site of Pretti’s death. Bringing in local and state law enforcement and the Guard to police protesters seems to buttress the Trump administration’s false claims that Minnesotans are the ones causing the violence, and that more armed men policing civilian neighborhoods will increase public safety. In reality, federal agents are the ones who are acting violently, not Minneapolis residents, and it’s not clear that local and state police are doing anything to protect the public from this threat.

The fact is, it’s hard to figure out what to do.

In Madison, on Saturday night more than 100 of my neighbors packed the James Reeb Unitarian Universalist Church for a potluck and discussion of nonviolent action, looking for answers to the terrible questions raised by the shooting death of yet another civilian in Minneapolis. 

How do we prepare for the possibility of an onslaught of armed federal agents into our own communities, busting down doors without warrants, dragging people out of their homes and firing on the neighbors who try to protect them? What power do we have to turn back the transformation of our country from democracy to authoritarian regime? 

The Madison event, planned before Pretti was killed, was organized by a coalition of dozens of peace and social justice groups under the umbrella Building Unity for Nonviolent Action. Speakers, including my friend John Nichols of The Nation magazine and Dane County Judge and Rev. Everett Mitchell, talked about the history of peaceful resistance in the U.S. The group showed part of the documentary “A Force More Powerful” about transformative nonviolent resistance struggles in India, the segregated American South, South Africa, Denmark and Chile. 

It was restorative to gather in person, take a break from isolation, helpless rage and doomscrolling and to spend some time contemplating the heroism of the Civil Rights movement activists who faced down hatred and violence with astounding courage and faith — despite all evidence to the contrary — in the fundamental decency of other people.

The difference between the Civil Rights era and today — and even the difference between the Black Lives Matter movement against police violence of a few years ago and today — is that the federal government can no longer be counted on to enforce civil rights, due process and justice. We are in a new era. “Those protections are gone,” Rev. Mitchell told the crowd. “So the only thing that you have available to you is each other.”

That bracing realization has spurred a proliferation of nonviolent resistance trainings in Minnesota and in other states, including Wisconsin.

One salutary side effect is that peaceful gatherings that bring out our capacity for love, mutual aid and connection help us avoid drowning in anger and despair.

Last weekend we drove to Minneapolis to visit our daughter who is, alarmingly, living in the middle of the chaos there. On our way to take her out for lunch we came upon a massive group of people holding a walking vigil in the neighborhood near where Renee Good was shot. About 600 Minnesotans were walking the streets singing, “You are not alone” and “Hold on, here comes the dawn,” as immigrant children and their parents peered out the windows of locked houses, waving. It was an unexpected moment of grace. A glimpse of the humanity and caring that are still possible. We need to hold onto that vision.

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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 section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall near El Paso, Texas, on June 6, 2024. (Photo by Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader John Thune, joined at the U.S.-Mexico border Friday by a handful of other Republican senators, highlighted the president’s signature tax cuts and spending package passed last year that provided billions for immigration enforcement.

The press conference in McAllen, Texas, came after a federal immigration officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday, and two people were shot by Border Patrol agents late Thursday in Portland, Oregon.

Thune, a South Dakota Republican, touted how the tax cuts and spending package signed into law last summer also provided “for additional reinforcements,” such as the hiring of more Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. 

On Jan. 3, ICE announced it hired 12,000 new officers, more than doubling its force from 10,000 agents to 22,000. Thousands more are set to be hired.

The GOP-passed bill also included $4.1 billion for Customs and Border Protection to hire 5,000 customs officers and 3,000 Border Patrol agents over the next four years.

Thune said because migration at the southern border has slowed, the time has come for President Donald Trump to shift his focus to immigration reform. CBP data from November, the most recent available, shows total apprehensions at the southwest border slowed to 7,350 that month.

“I think President Trump is probably the president best equipped to lead the effort to reform immigration law in his country in a way that it creates, again, those better paying jobs, opportunities for people who come to the country legally,” Thune said. “We are a nation of immigrants, but we’re also a nation of laws, and we have to make sure we’re enforcing our laws, and that’s where it starts.”

The Trump administration has continued with its aggressive mass deportation efforts throughout the interior of the country and has moved to revoke the legal status of more than 1.5 million immigrants since taking office last January. 

Thune added that the GOP bill, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, also provided billions for border security.

“As a result of the passage of the One Big, Beautiful bill … we got more resources down here, not only for physical infrastructure, for the wall, but for also that virtual infrastructure, for technology and counter drone technology, all those sorts of things that make it possible for the Border Patrol to do their job,” he said.

Thune was joined by Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming and Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Ashley Moody of Florida, Jon Husted of Ohio, Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska.

Rounds said that under the Trump administration the southern border has undergone “a remarkable transformation.” 

“There is no such thing as a country that can be a superpower, or, for that matter, be free if they can’t defend their own borders,” Rounds said. 

Cornyn also highlighted how the bill will reimburse, up to $13.5 billion, those border states who have spent money on immigration enforcement. He said of that money, Texas will get $11 billion. 

Portland police officers stand behind police tape in front of an apartment building in east Portland. (Photo by Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle)

Federal agents reportedly shot and injured two people near a medical clinic in east Portland on Thursday afternoon, according to the Portland Police Bureau.

The Department of Homeland Security acknowledged the shooting on social media, though it referred to a U.S. Border Protection agent firing “a defensive shot.” Police had few immediate details to share about the incident, which occurred the day after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis. 

Like Minneapolis, Oregon’s largest city has been the subject of an intense immigration crackdown by federal agents in recent months. While a federal judge stymied President Donald Trump’s efforts to mobilize the Oregon National Guard and deploy guardsmen from other states to Portland, federal officials revealed in court in December that they’ve brought ICE agents from around the country to the metro as part of a major operation.

The Homeland Security Department claimed that agents were conducting a targeted stop against a Venezuelan national affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua criminal group, and that the driver attempted to run over agents when they identified themselves. The agency made similar claims about the Minneapolis shooting, though bystander videos from multiple angles showed that the officer fired into Renee Nicole Good’s car after he was clear of the car’s path. 

No such videos were immediately available of the Portland incident, which occurred near a medical campus on Southeast Main Street. 

“We are still in the early stages of this incident,” Portland Police Chief Bob Day said in a statement. “We understand the heightened emotion and tension many are feeling in the wake of the shooting in Minneapolis, but I am asking the community to remain calm as we work to learn more.”

Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell said in a statement that the FBI is handling an investigation into the shooting. Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced Thursday evening that his office will investigate whether any federal officers acted outside the scope of their authority, in keeping with a November warning he and district attorneys of the state’s three largest counties gave the federal government that the state will investigate and prosecute federal agents who engage in excessive force.

“We have been clear about our concerns with the excessive use of force by federal agents in Portland, and today’s incident only heightens the need for transparency and accountability,” Rayfield said. “Oregonians deserve clear answers when people are injured in their neighborhoods.”

Shooting reported mid-afternoon

Police received reports of a shooting on the 10200 block of Southeast Main Street at 2:18 p.m. Six minutes later, they received a call for help from a man at Northeast 146th Avenue and East Burnside, a 10-minute drive away. 

The shooting occurred near an Adventist Health building with several offices and medical clinics, the health organization confirmed in an email. The clinics closed for the rest of the day, and Portland Police were seen escorting people out in the evening. 

Police found a man and woman with apparent gunshot wounds. Emergency responders transported both people to the hospital and their condition is unknown, according to police. 

State Rep. Ricki Ruiz, D-Gresham, represents a neighboring state House district and spoke to the Capital Chronicle near an apartment complex where the shooting victims called for help. He said the two were hospitalized at Oregon Health & Science University and he was unsure of their condition.

A woman he spoke to said she spotted U.S. Border Patrol agents roaming the area earlier this morning, Ruiz said.

Lilian Rubi Herrera, who spoke to the Capital Chronicle in Spanish outside the apartment building, receives donations from her followers on social media to buy groceries for immigrants who are fearful of leaving their homes. She was in the neighborhood distributing food when she heard about the shooting and went to the scene. 

Herrera said her social media followers are extremely sad because of the shooting in Minneapolis.

“Out of all the years I’ve lived here, I never thought I would witness this type of treatment from the federal government.” she said. “They treat us worse than dogs, and that’s not fair. We must use our voices and seek help for our community.” 

A Capital Chronicle reporter saw men wearing FBI gear walking around the apartment complex behind police tape. 

State, local leaders condemn shooting, urge caution

Within hours of the shooting, about 150 people had gathered outside Portland City Hall, chanting “abolish ICE.” Some held candles and anti-ICE signs as they waited to hear from city councilors.

Portland City Councilor Angelita Morillo, speaking to the crowd, called upon Congress and local officials to resist ICE operations and strip funding from the agency.

“The reality is that anyone who chooses to stand in solidarity with our community is putting themselves directly in harm’s way, because that’s what it means to sacrifice and to love your neighbor,” she said. “And what I see here is we have a group of people that is prepared to do anything and everything to take care of our immigrant community.”

Councilor Candace Avalos said the recent shooting victims were her constituents in her city councils’s district, arguing that “this is what the Trump administration’s deportation agenda looks like.” She called for the audience to keep organizing until ICE agents leave the city.

“We keep each other safe when ICE shows up in our neighborhoods, it’s not politicians who stop them,” she said. “It’s neighborhood whistles, with their phones out, standing shoulder and shoulder, forcing them out of our communities.”

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson called on ICE to immediately pause its operations in Portland and urged residents to remain calm.

“We cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts. Portland is not a ‘training ground’ for militarized agents, and the ‘full force’ threatened by the administration has deadly consequences,” Wilson said. “As mayor, I call on ICE to end all operations in Portland until a full investigation can be completed.”

U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter, a Democrat who represents Portland, also urged her constituents to stay calm and said local law enforcement must be able to conduct a full investigation. 

“ICE has done nothing but inject terror, chaos, and cruelty into our communities,” Dexter said. “Trump’s immigration machine is using violence to control our communities—straight out of the authoritarian playbook. ICE must immediately end all active operations in Portland.”

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, added that he was monitoring reports, and that “Trump’s deployment of federal agents in my hometown is clearly inflaming violence — and must end.”

Reporter Mia Maldonado contributed to this report.