THE UNITED STATES has erupted in fury after a second person in the span of a month was fatally shot by federal immigration authorities in Minneapolis last Saturday.
The Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) said US Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino had provided inaccurate information about the target of an operation in Minneapolis on Saturday prior to the fatal shooting of veterans nurse, 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti.
Bovino had claimed that Jose Huerta-Chuma, who Border Patrol agents were targeting Saturday morning before they shot and killed Pretti, had a criminal history that included domestic assault to intentionally inflict bodily harm, disorderly conduct, and driving without a valid license.
However, the state’s DOC says Huerta-Chuma had never been in custody, based on the department’s data records and court data.
The records also showed Huerta-Chuma had committed no felonies in the state, nor was he currently under supervision from the state.
An angry backlash came as a massive winter storm was sweeping across multiple states on Sunday.
The Office of Personnel Management already announced that federal offices in the Washington, D.C. area would be closed yesterday (Monday), and the Senate postponed its first votes until today (Tuesday).
US President Trump, meanwhile, approved emergency declarations for several states.
Meanwhile, the National Nurses United union said it was outraged by the murder of VA registered nurse Alex Pretti RN, by immigration agents, and is demanding the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
They issued the following statement:
‘The nation’s nurses, who make it their mission to care for and save human lives, are horrified and outraged that immigration agents have once again committed cold-blooded murder of a public observer who posed no threat to them.
‘This time, they have executed one of our fellow nurses, Alex Pretti, who saved veterans’ lives at an intensive care unit RN for the Veterans Health Administration.
‘He not only advocated for his patients inside the VA as a member of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), but also took his advocacy to the streets to stand up for his community as nurses do.
‘We demand justice and accountability for his murder.
‘ICE and all related immigration enforcement agencies have repeatedly shown through their violence, terror, and lawlessness that they pose a dire public health threat to the entire country and all our communities.
‘ICE agents have been kidnapping hard working people – mothers, fathers, and children – and now murdered a registered nurse, one of the most trusted professions in the country.
‘Nurses demand the immediate abolition of ICE.
‘Nurses are trained to respond to emergency situations and this is why we are calling for urgent action to end the ICE violence in our communities.
‘National Nurses United calls for a no vote on the Homeland Security Appropriations bill that is up for Senate approval next week and demands Congress abolish ICE entirely.
‘We will be doing everything in our power to vote out any elected official who supports funding for this all-out assault on the health, safety, and civil rights of our people.
‘Abolish ICE now.’
In a statement issued last Friday, National Nurses United had said: ‘After a year of constant, unchecked violence and militarisation of our neighbourhoods by the Trump administration – including the murder of Renee Good and Keith Porter, and the horrible violence against children, women, the elderly, and immigrants – that has horrified the nation, it is unconscionable that Congress would send $10 billion in funding to continue terrorising our communities.
‘The proposed FY26 Homeland Security Appropriations bill does nothing to rein in the abuse of power that we see every day in our streets.
‘Nurses demand the removal of immigration enforcement agents from communities, the abolition of ICE, and accountability for this administration’s crimes against all residents of the United States.
‘Make no mistake, the terror we are experiencing is being subsidised by our own government and is leading to irreparable harm to the working-class.
‘Workers are being kidnapped at their place of work and being ripped away from their families. Families are often losing their sole source of household income and are unable to cover housing costs, food, and basic needs as a result.
‘Children with immigrant parents are being pulled out of school for fear they might be separated from their parents, or worse be attacked by ICE in their own schools. Immigrant patients are delaying care for fear of being apprehended, and ICE is failing to provide necessary health care to detainees as required by law.
‘Instead of funding armed secret police to terrorise our Black and brown, AAPI, and indigenous neighbours, Congress must focus on the investments that nurses and working people are demanding to make our society safer, healthier, and more just.
‘The small investments to health agencies fail to reverse the destruction of our public health agencies caused by the Republican-led Congress and Trump administration, through last year’s budget bill and Reduction In Force (RIF) plans.
‘This appropriations bill also fails to reverse the $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and other public health programmes that will force patients to go without care and safety-net hospitals to close.
‘It fails to extend the enhanced ACA subsidies needed to prevent huge hikes in premiums for millions of families. And ultimately, it fails to make the transformational reforms nurses and working people are demanding, in order to guarantee health care to every person in the United States free at the point of service.
‘Nurses know that our vision for a healthy society is possible and we will not stop fighting until it is a reality.’
The SEIU union posted on X on Saturday: ‘Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans took part in the ≠≠ICEout ofMN Day of Truth and Freedom.
‘This morning ICE killed another Minnesotan & continues to tear apart families across our state.
‘Children are being taken, our neighbours afraid to leave their homes, and Minnesotans being killed by federal agents in our streets. ENOUGH. Our families aren’t safe with ICE here.
‘ICE must leave Minnesota NOW.’
Meanwhile on Saturday, Senate Democrats vowed to block a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding package on Saturday after Pretti was shot several times in the chest by US Border Patrol agents.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) said that Democrats will block the major government funding package if it includes money for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and slamming the actions of ICE officers and Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis as ‘appalling’.
‘What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling – and unacceptable in any American city,’ Schumer said in a statement.
‘Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included,’ he warned.
Schumer blasted Senate and House Republicans for failing to include language in the Homeland Security spending bill to put constraints on ICE officers, who have been accused of using excessive force against protesters in Minneapolis.