Trump's Federal Authority in Minneapolis: A Deeper Look at the ICE Shooting Tragedy
A photograph of 37-year-old Alex Pretti can be seen at a makeshift memorial in the area where he was shot dead by federal immigration agents earlier in the day in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Jan. 24, 2026. Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT /AFP via Getty Images.
Sorting through what exactly Alex Pretti did or did not do to provoke his death in Minneapolis at the hands of ICE agents is not enough to understand this tragedy. Pretti had a permit for his concealed weapon. But does the Second Amendment cover carrying it at an incendiary anti-ICE demonstration with the motivation to do something?
All this will be investigated and sorted out. But we need a bigger picture to put this tragedy in context. We must understand that America is now deeply splintered, with a divide in which we no longer share common values.
Historical Context and Political Backlash
Consider that six years ago, in the same city, Minneapolis, a local policeman killed George Floyd. In the end, justice was done and the officer was convicted on two counts of murder and sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison. But for progressives, this wasn't enough. They indicted and convicted the entire country.
Protests and disruptions erupted nationwide, provoked by progressive groups such as Black Lives Matter, showcasing Floyd as proof of the inherent racism and white supremacy of America. It triggered a wave of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) activism.
We need to distinguish between justice and ideology. Justice is about drawing conclusions from facts. Ideology is about claiming facts from already drawn conclusions. What Floyd did or did not do was irrelevant to Black Lives Matter. It already concluded that the country is racist and guilty. The election of Donald Trump was a backlash to this craziness.
Immigration Policies and State Failures
Immigration was part of it all. Our borders were porous during the Joe Biden years, with an estimated 9 million people entering illegally, bringing the total number of illegals in the country to some 14 million plus. Governor Tim Walz's Minnesota provided a user-friendly environment for illegals. It offered them driver's licences, potentially free college tuition and government health-care programs.
So, ICE was already unwanted in Minnesota before one ICE boot arrived on the ground there. Sleeping with dogs means waking up with fleas and now Walz has announced his withdrawal from running for re-election with the revelation that under his watch, there has been up to $9 billion in fraud in federal government welfare programs. As I recently discussed, some billion dollars in fraud in COVID-19 programs was discovered, mostly attributed to Somali immigrants.
Pretti showed up at the anti-ICE demonstration shortly after Walz spoke to his state, urging activism against ICE, calling their work, among other accusations, "a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota."
Political Figures and Federal Intervention
Representative Ilhan Omar, who has represented a major portion of Minneapolis since 2019, herself a Somali immigrant, has been an aggressive anti-American voice since she entered Congress. She barely survived a recent House censure vote after calling the late Charlie Kirk — whose life's work was dedicated to conveying to young men the importance of personal responsibility, family and marriage — a "reprehensible human being... filled with bigotry, hatred and white supremacy."
The federal government can send federal troops into a state under the authority of the Insurrection Act of 1807 when the state government fails to enforce federal law or protect constitutional rights. President Dwight Eisenhower used this authority in 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas, when Gov. Orval Faubus refused to follow federal law outlawing discrimination in schools. When the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) registered nine Black students to attend Little Rock Central High School, Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to prevent them from entering. Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas guard and used federal authority to protect these Black children so they could enter and attend school.
The leadership in Minnesota is clearly inimical to America's national interest and security. As Eisenhower once acted in Little Rock, so Trump can act in Minnesota.
Star Parker is founder of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education.
