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Anna Brodsky-Krotkina Fatalities amid demonstrations indicate the US system for safeguarding civil rights is nearing its demise
Recently in Minneapolis, Minnesota, armed federal immigration officers fatally shot Alex Jeffrey Pretty, an American citizen aged 37, who worked as an intensive care nurse at a local veterans’ hospital. According to accounts from colleagues and relatives, he was a kind individual – a devoted son, a loyal friend, an enthusiast of nature and cycling – and had a clean record with the law and the police. However, he had participated in large-scale demonstrations opposing Trump's immigration policies — the detentions and removals of hundreds of thousands of individuals, encompassing men, women, and children — and was killed by federal officers on a city street in broad daylight.
Video footage from the locale reveals Pretty managing traffic on the street, directing individuals away from the zone occupied by the officers, and subsequently attempting to assist a woman who had been knocked to the ground by federal agents. The officers then encircle Pretty, spraying pepper spray in his face, before seizing him from the back, forcing him to the ground, and physically assaulting him as he seems to attempt to lift his head. During the altercation, one officer seemingly retrieves a firearm from Pretty's waistband, then pivots and departs with it. A shot then brings Pretty to a halt, and he appears deceased, before an additional nine shots are discharged, seemingly by an officer or officers persisting in firing upon him. The officers then leave the area, apparently without even endeavoring to secure the scene or preserve evidence.
A makeshift memorial in Minneapolis honoring nurse Alex Jeffrey Pretty EPA/CRAIG LASSIG
This marks the second instance within a month where federal officers in Minneapolis have killed a U.S. citizen engaging in demonstrations. At the start of January, they fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Goode , a mother of three and a poet. Video evidence from eyewitnesses depicts a federal officer grasping the handle of Goode's vehicle and instructing her to unlock the door. As shown in the video, Goode calmly informed the officer, “Okay, I’m not angry.” As she starts to drive away, another officer is seen aiming a firearm at her and discharging it through the windshield. An independent autopsy ascertained that Goode succumbed to a gunshot wound to the head , alongside injuries to the chest and arm.
A photo of the murdered Renee Hood, presented during a press conference by members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus on funding and reforming the Department of Homeland Security in Washington.
In both situations, the federal administration has defended the actions of federal officers without initiating any probe. President Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem have all validated the killing of Renee Goode by labeling her a “domestic terrorist.” The reaction to Pretty’s death has been comparable: The Department of Homeland Security has already issued a declaration concerning the shooting, incorrectly asserting that Pretty “approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun” and “forcefully resisted” when “officers attempted to disarm him.” The declaration proceeded to indicate that “the officer returned fire,” adding that Pretty “also possessed two magazines and was undocumented — it appears to be a scenario where the individual intended to inflict maximum damage and fatalities on law enforcement.”
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Throughout the previous year, the demonstrations in Minnesota have evolved into perhaps the most consequential and simultaneously the most devastating. On January 23, the state hosted the “ICE Out of Minnesota” event, which escalated into a widespread labor strike. ( ICE represents the acronym for United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement . ) According to organizers, an estimated 50 to 100 thousand individuals participated in demonstrations across the state. Despite the frigid temperatures, tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through the center of Minneapolis. Concurrently, over 700 small enterprises and multiple cultural organizations ceased operations in solidarity. Another focal point of tension was the Minneapolis airport, where hundreds of clergy members — including priests, pastors, and rabbis — and activists voiced their opposition to anti-immigration endeavors. This demonstration concluded with numerous arrests, which only underscored the gravity of the situation.
Protests in Minneapolis Getty Images
It comes as no surprise that the city started to resemble a combat zone, where even uninvolved individuals suffered. As an illustration, a family comprising six children, who were present in a minibus at the epicenter of the turmoil, were affected by tear gas emanating from a stun grenade, which triggered the airbags. Consequently, three children, including an infant of six months, were transported to the hospital via ambulance. “We experienced a burning sensation in our lungs,” conveyed the father of the family, emphasizing that two of his children are diagnosed with severe asthma. “Water offered no relief. Nothing provided assistance at that juncture,” he further stated.
What implications do these events carry? It is evident that US President Donald Trump and his administration are conducting hostilities against their own population. They are nonchalantly dismantling the framework of law that the entire nation has depended on for numerous generations.
Minnesota appears to have morphed into a testing ground for suppressing opposition to the president’s agenda. Trump and his team selected it deliberately: it’s a state that leans Democrat, and its governor is Tim Volz, who was a potential vice-presidential candidate on Kamala Harris’s ticket during the last presidential race. During the election, Volz directed sharp criticisms at Trump, branding him “immature,” “complaining,” and simply “an odd individual.” Despite Trump’s electoral victory, he appears to hold animosity towards both the state and its governor.
Minnesota is now saturated with armed federal immigration officers, and their authority is unmistakably dominant. Faced with the presence of federal forces, the state government has demonstrated impotence and a lack of capacity to safeguard its inhabitants. To illustrate, Senator Amy Klobuchar (Democrat from Minnesota) declared that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers “outnumber” the local Minneapolis police force. Consequently, the state government is physically incapacitated from resisting the instances of illegality perpetrated by federal officers. “They abduct two-year-old children from their parents, transport them via planes to Texas, and subsequently my office is obliged to intervene and repatriate them; alternatively, they seize an elderly man clad solely in his undergarments, only to realize that he is not the intended target,” Klobuchar stated. The Minnesota senator refuted the Department of Homeland Security’s assertions concerning Pretty’s demise, maintaining that his death could not be justified by the mere possession of a firearm. “What we observed, the manner of his death, should never befall an American citizen. The Trump administration characterized him as a ‘domestic terrorist,’ when all he possessed was a cellular device,” Klobuchar articulated. “His sole act was assisting someone, a woman who had been pushed onto the snow and ice. Subsequently, a conflict arose, and six officers discharged their weapons multiple times. Consequently, a thorough investigation into these events is imperative.” However, despite Klobuchar’s firm rhetoric, her capacity to influence the proceedings was severely limited; all authority had devolved to the Trump administration.
J.D. Vance recently journeyed to Minnesota, conveying a rigid communication from the president. His discourse largely accentuated the objective and methodology of the federal administration. Acting as a proponent of a coercive system, Vance advocated adherence to the principle of “disbelieving your senses and accepting a falsehood as the truth if it is articulated by the authorities”: “I acknowledge the death of Renee Good as a tragedy. However, I also believe she assaulted an ICE officer with her vehicle,” Vance stated at a press conference, despite the likelihood that every attendee had viewed the footage capturing Good in her final moments. Vance also delineated strategies for addressing political protests. In his address, he repeatedly referred to the largely nonviolent demonstrations in Minnesota as “chaos” 23 times. Chaos, as we know, is imperative to combat. Moreover, he portrayed the protests as a disease and called for “reducing the temperature in the state” no fewer than a dozen times. He further pinpointed an internal adversary accountable for the “disease” afflicting society and “chaos.” The antagonists of order encompass the media, “ultra-left agitators,” who apparently abound in Minnesota, and certain mythical adversaries of America circulating on social media platforms who advise individuals to immigrate to the United States.
Furthermore, he described the methods of combating the enemies of order, which involves depriving Americans of their constitutional rights . The First Amendment to the Constitution, which stipulates that Congress shall not restrict the freedom of expression, the press, and the prerogative to assemble peacefully, will evidently be jeopardized. Disregarding the Constitution, Vance issued a warning to the state regarding the utilization of armed forces for “local law enforcement operations,” namely, suppressing protests with the assistance of the military . “At present, we do not deem such action necessary. However, the president retains the prerogative to alter his stance — should the situation deteriorate,” he asserted, underscoring Trump’s absolute authority.
Apart from the criminalization of demonstrations, the abrogation of freedom of speech was also impending: “If you affront a federal law enforcement officer, we will exert every effort, we will utilize all the resources of the federal government, to incarcerate you,” the vice president threatened. However when it came to disparagement, absent a specific threat of violence, an individual was safeguarded by the laws pertaining to freedom of speech in a democratic America, and in scenarios involving the insult of a government representative or even the president himself, imprisonment was not a consequence.
In Minnesota, the erosion of the laws and foundations of the Constitution is readily apparent, accompanied by increasing trepidation regarding the fate of democracy in the United States.