The traditionally peaceful city of Minneapolis has seen an eruption of protests in the last couple of months after the shooting deaths of both Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January 2026 at the hands of ICE agents.
In 2026, the Trump administration is facing its greatest challenge to Donald Trump’s presidency as of yet. In major cities, citizens have united in protesting the actions of ICE, especially those in Minneapolis, with people openly defying government agents in the wake of the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of ICE agents.
A neighbor who saw what happened told local MPR news: “She was trying to turn around, and the ICE agent was in front of her car, and he pulled out a gun and put it right in — like, his midriff was on her bumper — and he reached across the hood of the car and shot her in the face like three, four times.”
Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons (Chad Davis)
One may begin to wonder in the face of these nationwide protests what has caused all this chaos to escalate to this point? With the enforcement of deportations of undocumented immigrants under the Homeland Security Act of 2002, ICE agents are being ordered to help in the carrying out of deportations across the nation. The government is justifying the procedures as necessary in order to encompass public safety and national security. With Trump’s increased Homeland Security Department budget and motivation, agents are given the power to stop, detain and arrest people they suspect of being in the U.S. illegally. U.S. citizens may also be detained if they are interfering with an arrest, or assaulting an officer.
It was only a matter of time before this renewed immigration crackdown made its way to Minneapolis. Around 2,000 anonymous, heavily armed ICE agents and 1,000 border patrol officers in unmarked vehicles began making their way through the city as part of what an ICE official described as the “largest immigration operation ever”. The operation was marred from the onset by controversial actions, such as detainment of a Liberian man without a warrant who had been regularly checking in with immigration officials, as well as the use of teargas outside a high school to suppress a protest. Almost immediately this operation saw heavy resistance from the city’s traditionally more liberal population, with activist groups organizing to provide help to immigrants and their families who feared leaving their homes and being detained by ICE agents. Soon enough, protestors began clashing with ICE agents, and protests soon became battlegrounds between Minneapolis residents and immigration. Still, no one expected the situation to escalate as much as it did.
As federal law enforcement officers were trying to remove their car from snow on January 7, protesters showed up “preventing them from leaving the scene” so that the ICE agents were unable to perform their next enforcement operation. Renee Good, a 37-year-old writer and mother of three, seemed to be an accomplice in the protests by blocking the road. Once more law enforcement officers had arrived at the scene, Good is seen to be refusing their orders to get out of the car by attempting to flee the scene. When officers recognized that she was trying to escape, an agent shot her in “self-defense” as she was allegedly about to drive into an officer standing at the front of her car.
Sadly, this would not be the only casualty from a conflict between ICE and Minneapolis residents. During a protest on January 24, 37 year old ICU nurse Pretti, interfered with enforcement of the law by ICE agents in Minneapolis. Pretti was known to be very caring and sympathetic, especially towards the individuals subjected to deportations, and his family specified that he had no prior criminal history. When referring back to the shooting, it is known that there was only video evidence that was taken during the scuffle by bystanders. As it was seen in the footage, Pretti seemed to be unarmed and trying to help another person moments before he was shot. Although current evidence shows that Pretti was passionate about the cause, there is other video evidence that brings up controversy about the shooting. On January 13, Pretti was forcefully taken to the ground by federal immigration agents after kicking out the tail light of their vehicle during a protest.
In the face of these mass protests, Trump has appeared to concede to some of the protest’s demands by removing the local border patrol commander Greg Bovino from the operation in Minneapolis. To add, ICE agents are now being issued body-worn cameras, due to the incidents specifically in Minneapolis in hopes of bringing down tension between agents and the general public. Since the shootings in Minnesota, ICE agents that are currently deployed in that state will be provided with body-cams immediately. As funding becomes more available for the enforcement group, body-cams will be provided nationwide to all agents. However, these small concessions have done little to calm the crowds of people still protesting, with many calling for the removal of ICE from Minneapolis altogether and an end to the widescale immigration crackdown currently taking place.
