Some Republicans have joined Democrats in criticising the tactics of United States immigration agents in the city of Minneapolis, after a border patrol officer fatally shot 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti on Saturday.
It's the second fatal shooting of a US citizen by a federal agent in the city in less than a month, after Renée Good was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer earlier in January.
In a statement following Pretti's death, Republican representative and Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy said the shooting was "incredibly disturbing", and the credibility of ICE and the US Department of Homeland Security was "at stake".
Fellow Republican representative and Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski also said Pretti's shooting should raise "serious questions" about the adequacy of immigration enforcement training.
Republicans have broadly backed US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, including through approving a significant funding increase to ICE last year.
But after the two deaths in Minneapolis — where thousands of immigration agents have been deployed as part of Trump's sweeping immigration crackdown — some are demanding answers from the Trump administration as they fear the political risk of losing some of their key supporters.
Why are ICE agents in Minneapolis?
Last month, Minnesota's Twin Cities — Minneapolis and Saint Paul — became the latest targets of Trump's campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration.
In December, ICE officers launched an operation in the cities that it described as the "largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out", with the stated intent of arresting and deporting undocumented migrants.
The following month, thousands of additional federal immigration agents were deployed to the city, including US border patrol officers.
Trump has singled out the Somali community in Minnesota — which has the largest population of Somali Americans of any US state. Many are US citizens by either birth or naturalisation.
The US president has repeatedly attacked the Somali community in recent months, calling them "garbage" and saying "I don't want them in our country". The Immigrant Law Centre of Minnesota last month accused him of "unfairly" vilifying the community, saying the majority of Somalis in the state had entered as refugees and were now US citizens.
Trump's administration has latched onto cases of alleged fraud in Minnesota as justification for the crackdown, invoking a scandal that involved the theft of federal funds intended for social welfare programs in the state.
Some of the focus has been on a program called Feeding Our Future, founded by an Anglo-American woman called Aimee Bock, which allegedly stole US$250 million ($360 million) in federal funds that were meant to be used to provide meals to schoolchildren.
Bock was found guilty in March last year, with more than 50 other defendants pleading guilty and avoiding trial.
Many — but not all — of Bock's employees were Somali Americans, leading to increased scrutiny of the community by Trump, who accused Somalians of "ripping off" Minnesota.
Minnesota's attorney-general Keith Ellison pushed back against Trump's claim this week.
"It's not about fraud, because if he sent people who understand forensic accounting, we'd be having a different conversation," Ellison told reporters. "But he's sending armed masked men."
Federal agents involved in five shootings this month
The fatal shooting of Pretti over the weekend was one of five shootings in January involving federal agents conducting immigration enforcement.
This includes Good, who was shot dead in her car by an ICE agent on 7 January.
A video from the incident shows masked officers approaching Good's car, which was stopped at an unusual angle on a Minneapolis street. The car then backs up and pulls away, briefly driving in the direction of the officer who opened fire at close range.
The video did not appear to show any sign that the officer was wounded. US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said he was treated at a hospital and released, while Trump said on social media the woman "ran over the ICE officer".
Good's ex-husband told the Associated Press that she was on the way home with her current partner after dropping their six-year-old child off at school.
Her partner, Becca Good, also said in a statement that on the day of the shooting, the pair "stopped to support our neighbours".
The death of Good sparked public outrage and weeks of protests in Minneapolis.
Death of Pretti worries gun rights groups
Videos from bystanders show Pretti, a US citizen, holding a phone as he tried to help other protesters who had been pushed to the ground by agents, before he himself was forced onto his hands and knees by the officers.
This contradicts accounts of Trump administration officials, who claimed Pretti assaulted the agents.
Pretti was reported to be carrying a gun by that time, which he had a licence to carry.
Gregory Bovino, a senior Border Patrol official, told US broadcaster CNN that "the victims are Border Patrol agents", stressing Pretti was carrying a gun. Bovino was unable to provide evidence that Pretti was trying to impede a law enforcement operation.
The administration's blame on Pretti carrying a gun has worried gun rights groups, some of whom are key supporters of the Republican Party.
"Every peaceable Minnesotan has the right to keep and bear arms, including while attending protests," the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus said in a statement.
Trump says he's 'reviewing everything'
Following the fatal shooting of Pretti and a mass protest in Minneapolis, Trump told the Wall Street Journal on Monday that his administration is "reviewing everything and will come out with a determination".
"At some point we will leave ... they've done a phenomenal job," Trump said.
"We will leave a different group of people there for the financial fraud."
Last year, the Trump administration moved to cut funding for ICE body cameras. Cameras carried by law enforcement play a key role in police reforms.
Trump officials last year also placed nearly all staffers working for three internal watchdog offices — which were conducting the oversight of immigration agencies — on paid leave.
Darius Reeves, a former ICE official, said a body camera pilot program rollout had been slow in 2024 under President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and "died on the vine" under Trump, a Republican.
In response to a request for comment, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said ICE officers "act heroically to enforce the law and protect American communities".
"Anyone pointing the finger at law enforcement officers instead of the criminals is simply doing the bidding of criminal illegal aliens," she told the Reuters news agency.
— With additional reporting by the Reuters and Agence France-Presse news agencies.
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