Mercedes-Benz took a swing with the EQE sedan, but like the larger and more expensive EQS, it missed the mark. The model will quietly exit stage left before it reaches a second generation, clearing the way for a more conventional electric replacement built on familiar ground, the next-gen E-Class
Read: The EQE Gives Way To A Proper Sedan, The E-Class EQ
Badged as the E-Class with EQ Technology, the new electric sedan was recently spotted undergoing testing under heavy camouflage in Europe. The spy shots don’t offer much clarity on what the final design will look like, but it’s reasonable to expect some styling cues from the electric GLC, reshaped into a more conventional three-box sedan profile
Grille Wars Aren’t Over Yet
That’s where these renderings by Nikita Chuyko at Kolesa come in, offering a preview of what the finished car might look like. As with the GLC EV, it features a massive illuminated grille that dominates the front end. While BMW has started backing away from oversized grilles, Mercedes is going all-in with them.
For what it’s worth, the silver finish of the grille shown does nicely complement the car’s silver paint finish, so it doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb. Whether that same grille design will flatter a darker paint job is still an open question.
The E-Class EQ is also likely to get its own lighting treatment. Unlike the oddly sculpted headlights on the gas-powered version, this electric variant may adopt a cleaner look, potentially highlighted by star-shaped LED daytime running lights.
Also: BMW’s Neue Klasse Plan Starts To Blur As You Look At The 2027 5-Series
It’s a similar story at the back. Although the rear fascia shares a lot in common with the gas-powered E-Class, it could have distinctive taillights with new light signatures.
Another key difference we noticed on the prototype, and one reflected in these renderings as well, is the addition of a fourth side window that stretches behind the rear door frame. That said, Mercedes could also take a page from the Maybach S-Class, which uses a three-window layout with the final pane extending deep into the C-pillar.
What About Power?
Carscoops understands Mercedes-Benz’s new electric sedan will use the same MB.EA platform as the GLC EV. That likely means it’ll share the same powertrain and battery options too. The only variant of the GLC with EQ Technology currently on sale, the GLC 400 4Matic, features a 94 kWh battery and twin motors delivering 483 hp and 590 lb-ft (800 Nm) of torque.
The sizeable battery is enough to give the SUV up to 444 miles (715 km) of driving range on the WLTP cycle. Given the slightly sleeker shape and lower profile of the E-Class EQ, it may boast an even more impressive driving range. An advanced 800-volt electrical architecture will also support charging speeds of up to 330 kW.
Electric vehicles come with some obvious perks, from impressive acceleration and near-silent driving to charging costs that are typically, though not always, lower than fueling up with gas. But there’s a flipside when things go wrong. Battery replacement isn’t just expensive, it can easily eclipse the value of the car itself.
Just ask the owner of this 2013 Tesla Model S, for example, now staring down a quote that’s far from reasonable.
Watch: Tesla Model S Cruises Past 430,000 Miles On Original Battery
This particular owner recently visited a Tesla service center in Madison, Wisconsin, to get estimates on a battery replacement. According to a post they shared on Reddit, they inquired about swapping out the existing 60 kWh pack for either the same model or a larger 90 kWh version. Both options came back with steep price tags that likely outstrip the resale value of the vehicle.
Battery Pricing Hits Hard
A replacement 60 kWh pack would cost $13,830. That includes $580.50 for labor, based on a 2.58-hour installation time. The rest, a hefty $13,250, covers just the battery itself. Not exactly light on the wallet for what is now Tesla’s smallest available battery on offer.
The price jumps significantly for the larger 90 kWh pack. The pack alone costs $18,000, with an additional $4,500 required to unlock its full capacity. Factor in installation and necessary replacement parts, and the total comes to $23,262.
That’s well beyond what most used Model S vehicles from the same year are currently worth. We found they typically range from $10,000 to $15,000, depending on trim and condition. From a financial standpoint, the upgrade cost doesn’t pencil out.
Reddit user u/sirromnek shared the experience, sparking discussion among other Tesla owners. While many have logged hundreds of thousands of miles on their original packs without issue, battery degradation isn’t unheard of. For some, the only path forward is a costly replacement.
While going directly to Tesla is an option, new batteries can also be purchased from third-party suppliers, often at a much lower price than Tesla offers. However, given that decade-old Tesla Model S sedans are barely fetching over $12,000, buying a replacement pack probably isn’t worth it.
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.
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.
Jim Brownlow wrote "Jan. 6" on the sidewalk outside of of his local post office on the anniversary of the attack in 2025. A month later, police showed up to arrest him for criminal damage to property. He's still fighting the case in Muskego Municipal Court.
The post Muskego man fights court case over writing ‘Jan. 6’ on sidewalk with chalk appeared first on WPR.
Columbia University has selected University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin as its next president.
The post Columbia University selects UW-Madison Chancellor Mnookin as its next president appeared first on WPR.
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.
U.S. House Rep. Derrick Van Orden indicated Gov. Walz played a role in the death of Pretti in response to a post that said Minnesota officials are fueling tensions with ICE.
The post Wisconsin GOP lawmaker blames Minnesota’s Walz for shooting. Democrats denounce killing. appeared first on WPR.
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.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
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.
This story was originally produced by Minnesota Reformer, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Wisconsin Examiner, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
This story was originally produced by Minnesota Reformer, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Wisconsin Examiner, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
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