The deadly capturing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by Border Patrol brokers on Saturday has additional escalated tensions in Minneapolis, a metropolis now on the heart of America’s heated battle over immigration enforcement.
Pretti’s killing occurred lower than three weeks after Renee Good, one other Minneapolis resident and U.S. citizen, was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
A whole of three,000 ICE and Customs and Border Safety brokers at the moment are working within the metropolis, a pressure that’s roughly 5 occasions the dimensions of the Minneapolis Police Division, which has about 600 officers. A prime ICE official mentioned Sunday that federal brokers had carried out roughly 3,400 arrests within the space, although he didn’t say what number of arrestees had prison information.
This is a have a look at how the Trump administration’s crackdown in Minneapolis has unfolded, and the foremost occasions which have positioned the Midwestern metropolis within the nationwide and international highlight.
Dec. 1: ICE launches crackdown in Minneapolis space
ICE launched “Operation Metro Surge” within the Minneapolis space within the first week of December, the newest in a string of Trump administration immigration crackdowns concentrating on Democratic communities. CBS Information reported on the time that ICE deliberate to focus on, partially, these with deportation orders, together with Somali immigrants, a inhabitants President Trump has harshly criticized.
Minnesota had drawn nationwide consideration as a consequence of a litany of fraud schemes that allegedly bilked billions of {dollars} from the state’s federally funded public help applications. Mr. Trump attacked state officers over the fraud scandals — and zeroed in on the truth that many of the dozens charged within the schemes have been of Somali descent.
The state has the nation’s largest Somali American inhabitants, the overwhelming majority of them U.S. residents, both by delivery or by way of naturalization, in line with census information.
Dec. 26: Viral video alleges fraud in Minnesota day cares
In a now-viral YouTube video posted the day after Christmas, conservative influencer Nick Shirley visited almost a dozen day care amenities within the Minneapolis space that he alleged have been receiving taxpayer cash however not offering any companies. The video, which has racked up almost 4 million views on YouTube, was amplified by Vice President JD Vance and Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi.
State investigators later visited a number of of the day care facilities highlighted in his video, and mentioned 9 of them have been “working as anticipated.” Eight of the amenities had kids current throughout the inspection, and a ninth was not but open for the day, the Minnesota Division of Kids, Youth and Households mentioned. One of many facilities closed in early January.
Dec. 29: ICE dispatches brokers to go to Minneapolis-area companies
Days after the Shirley video was posted, brokers from ICE’s Homeland Safety Investigations department have been dispatched to conduct web site visits to a number of dozen Minneapolis companies. Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem mentioned they have been overseeing a “large investigation on childcare and different rampant fraud.”
Jan. 5: Hundreds of extra federal brokers are deployed
Roughly every week after the Shirley video, CBS Information first reported that the Trump administration could be deploying an extra 2,000 federal immigration brokers to the Twin Cities. The Division of Homeland Safety subsequently referred to as the deployment the most important operation in its historical past.
Octavio JONES /AFP through Getty Pictures
The reinforcements included Border Patrol brokers, together with commander Gregory Bovino, who had beforehand led sweeping and controversial immigration enforcement operations in Charlotte, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Jan. 7: Renee Good shot and killed by ICE officer
Two days later, an ICE officer in Minneapolis fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Good whereas she was behind the wheel of her automotive, sparking outrage and setting off days of protests.
Movies of the incident seem to indicate Good’s automotive was approached by a number of ICE officers, one among whom stepped in entrance of her automobile. Good backed up, turned her wheel and commenced to drive her automotive ahead, and the officer in entrance of the SUV, recognized as Jonathan Ross, fired a number of pictures.
Mr. Trump and members of his administration accused Good of deliberately hitting and attempting to run over the agent, in what Noem described as an “act of home terrorism” that left the officer injured. Legal professionals representing Good’s household have mentioned Good and her associate have been observing ICE operations. Evaluation of video from the scene steered Good might have been attempting to steer away from the officers, not in direction of them.
Hours later, Mayor Jacob Frey sharply criticized ICE, telling the company: “Get the f*** out of Minneapolis.”
Jan. 13: Prosecutors resign as they face stress over Renee Good investigation
At the very least six profession prosecutors within the Minneapolis U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace resigned, together with Assistant U.S. Legal professional Joe Thompson, because the workplace confronted stress to deal with the investigation of Renee Good’s capturing as a case of assault on a federal officer versus a civil rights case. At the very least six Justice Division prosecutors, most of them supervisors within the Civil Rights Division, mentioned they have been leaving the division quickly after they realized there wouldn’t be a civil rights investigation into Good’s capturing.
An FBI supervisor within the Minneapolis discipline workplace’s public corruption squad later resigned, too, partly over stress to “discontinue” the investigation of Good’s capturing, a supply informed CBS Information.
Individually, the Minnesota Bureau of Felony Apprehension withdrew from a probe into the capturing, saying the Justice Division had blocked state investigators from accessing proof.
Jan. 15: ICE officer shoots man in leg throughout alleged shovel assault
Precisely every week after the killing of Good, DHS mentioned one other ICE officer shot a Venezuelan migrant he was attempting to arrest in Minneapolis. The division mentioned the migrant and two different Venezuelan males attacked the ICE officer with a snow shovel and broom deal with. The officer, DHS mentioned, shot the unique goal of the operation within the leg following a confrontation.
The Venezuelan man suffered non-life-threatening accidents and was later charged by the Justice Division and accused of assaulting the ICE officer, alongside one other migrant concerned within the altercation.
Jan. 15: Trump threatens to make use of Rebel Act in Minneapolis
As protests over the immigration operations continued to flare, President Trump threatened to invoke the Rebel Act if state officers did not “cease the skilled agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E.”
If the president decides to invoke the regulation, it may set the stage for the navy to be deployed onto the streets of Minneapolis over the objections of state and native officers.
Later that week, some 1,500 active-duty troopers in Alaska have been positioned on standby for a doable deployment to Minnesota, a protection official informed CBS Information.
In the meantime, the Justice Division has weighed working with the Pentagon on a smaller scale in Minnesota, calling for navy legal professionals and forensic accountants to help with fraud investigations within the state.
Jan. 16: Choose blocks brokers from arresting or utilizing pepper spray on peaceable protesters
A federal choose blocked DHS brokers from arresting or utilizing pepper spray and nonlethal munitions on peaceable protesters in Minnesota, after a lawsuit alleged federal brokers “violently subdued” demonstrations towards immigration enforcement.
Scott Olson / Getty Pictures 
The federal government has denied utilizing excessively heavy-handed techniques, with Assistant Secretary of Homeland Safety Tricia McLaughlin saying the company “is taking acceptable and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of regulation and shield our officers and the general public from harmful rioters.”
An appellate court docket paused the order lower than every week later.
Jan. 16: Justice Division probes Frey, Walz and different Minnesota officers over alleged obstruction of immigration brokers
On Jan. 16, CBS Information disclosed a Justice Division investigation into allegations that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and different native officers had conspired to impede federal immigration brokers.
Walz and Frey denounced the probe, calling it political intimidation.
Per week later, the Justice Division subpoenaed the places of work of Walz, Frey and different prime state and native officers, together with Minnesota Legal professional Normal Keith Ellison.
Jan. 18: Anti-ICE protesters disrupt church service, triggering Justice Division crackdown
A bunch of protesters indignant over ICE’s presence in Minnesota entered a church in St. Paul on Jan. 18, disrupting a Sunday service. The protesters mentioned they targeted on Cities Church as a result of a person listed as pastor on the church additionally appeared to work for ICE.
The protest, which prompted households with kids and different congregants to depart the church, was extensively condemned by conservatives and the Trump administration, which shortly vowed to launch a prison investigation. The Justice Division additionally mentioned it could convey costs towards former CNN anchor Don Lemon, who was current within the church on the time. Lemon mentioned he was reporting on the protest.
Three folks have been arrested on federal costs a number of days after the protest, however a federal Justice of the Peace choose refused to signal arrest warrants for 5 different folks, together with Lemon, sources informed CBS Information. Federal prosecutors requested an appeals court docket to order the decrease court docket to problem the remaining arrest warrants, however a panel of appellate judges declined that request.
Jan. 18: U.S. citizen detained by ICE at gunpoint
Immigration brokers pressured their approach right into a home in St. Paul, Minnesota, and detained ChongLy “Scott” Thao — a Hmong American and U.S. citizen — at gunpoint and not using a warrant, The Related Press reported.
Pictures of 56-year-old Thao being led out of his dwelling in handcuffs, carrying solely underwear, Crocs and a blanket draped over his shoulders within the snow, provoked anger towards ICE and renewed questions concerning the company’s techniques. Thao was later launched.
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DHS described the incident at Thao’s dwelling as a “focused operation” searching for two convicted intercourse offenders who it mentioned lived on the identical tackle, and alleged Thao matched the outline of the suspect. Thao’s household has strongly disputed the declare that the suspects lived there.
A day later, two whistleblowers revealed ICE had quietly issued a memo in Could 2025 authorizing its officers to forcibly enter folks’s properties, and not using a judicial warrant, throughout operations concentrating on these with deportation orders. The directive marked a seismic shift from longstanding guidelines meant to adjust to the Fourth Modification, which has lengthy been interpreted to imply regulation enforcement cannot enter non-public property and not using a choose’s warrant.
Jan. 20: ICE takes 5-year-old boy into custody along with his father
On Jan. 20, a group of ICE officers in Minneapolis took into custody a person from Ecuador and his 5-year-old son, Liam Conejo Ramos. Movies and photographs of the incident — depicting Liam carrying a blue bunny hat and his college backpack — garnered nationwide consideration, triggering questions on who the Trump administration was concentrating on in its mass deportation effort.
Ali Daniels / AP 
Dueling narratives of the incident shortly materialized. Federal officers mentioned ICE focused the person’s father — not Liam — and accused him of being within the U.S. illegally. Based on their model of occasions, Liam’s father tried to flee ICE and deserted Liam in a automotive within the course of. After arresting the daddy, the company mentioned ICE officers tried to get Liam’s mom to take him however she refused to take action.
Individuals who have spoken to the mom mentioned she was scared to open the door to ICE, fearing she too would get arrested. Advocates and faculty officers accused ICE of attempting to make use of Liam as bait — a declare ICE has denied.
Liam and his father are at present being held at a household detention heart overseen by ICE in Texas. CBS Information reported they’ve pending immigration circumstances and cannot be legally deported for now.
Jan. 24: Alex Pretti fatally shot by Border Patrol brokers
Simply weeks after Renee Good’s capturing, a second particular person was shot and killed by immigration brokers: Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen who labored as an ICU nurse.
Movies of the incident present Pretti standing in the midst of a Minneapolis avenue holding up his cellphone towards immigration brokers. After he and several other others have been pushed again, he was wrestled to the bottom by a gaggle of brokers and appeared to wrestle as they tried to convey his arms behind his again. He was then shot a number of occasions.
VIDEO OBTAINED BY REUTERS 
Noem alleged that Pretti “approached” officers with a handgun and “reacted violently” when officers tried to disarm him, forcing the agent to fireside “defensive pictures.” Movies reviewed by CBS Information don’t present Pretti with a gun in his hand earlier than the capturing, and one video from instantly beforehand, when officers have been combating Pretti, seems to indicate an agent reaching into the scrum empty-handed and rising with a gun. Native police officers have mentioned Pretti was a lawful gun proprietor with a allow to hold.
The Trump administration has defended the officer, with Bovino accusing Pretti, with out citing proof, of attempting to “bloodbath regulation enforcement” throughout an operation to pursue a person who was within the nation illegally and wished for home assault. Native politicians have condemned the capturing, with Walz calling it “sickening.”
“These techniques are very clearly not secure, and it’s producing quite a lot of outrage and worry locally,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara informed “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” including that even when an investigation in the end finds the capturing was lawful, it could not matter “as a result of there may be a lot outrage and concern round what is going on within the metropolis.”
Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune through Getty Pictures 
Jan. 24: Bondi makes three calls for to “convey again regulation and order”
In a three-page letter, Bondi pressed Walz to let the federal authorities evaluate Minnesota’s voter rolls and welfare information, and to present ICE larger entry to jails within the state.
“I’m assured that these easy steps will assist convey again regulation and order to Minnesota and enhance the lives of People,” Bondi wrote in her letter to the governor Saturday, which accused state officers of “anti-law enforcement rhetoric” and “placing federal brokers in peril.”
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon rejected the request, calling it “an outrageous try to coerce Minnesota into giving the federal authorities non-public information on hundreds of thousands of U.S. Residents in violation of state and federal regulation.”
The Trump administration has lengthy pushed authorities in Minnesota to cooperate extra extensively with ICE’s requests to detain folks and to let federal brokers go into detention amenities. State corrections officers say they already cooperate with ICE, however cooperation varies on the county degree.
In a Fact Social publish a day later, Mr. Trump additionally referred to as on native regulation enforcement to help ICE, urging Walz, Frey and Democratic officers nationwide to “formally cooperate with the Trump Administration to implement our Nation’s Legal guidelines, relatively than resist and stoke the flames of Division, Chaos, and Violence.”
Jan. 25: Minneapolis police chief says, “This isn’t sustainable”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara mentioned “folks have had sufficient” and urged leaders to “come collectively and determine this out.”
“That is the third capturing now in lower than three weeks,” he mentioned in an interview on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “The Minneapolis Police Division went your complete yr final yr, recovering about 900 weapons from the road, arresting lots of and lots of of violent offenders, and we did not shoot anybody. And now that is the second American citizen that is been killed, it is the third capturing inside three weeks.”
“This isn’t sustainable” for town’s 600 officers, O’Hara mentioned. “That is taking an unlimited toll attempting to handle all of this chaos on prime of getting to be the police division for a significant metropolis. It is an excessive amount of.”
Jan. 26: Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, some brokers to depart Minneapolis, sources say
Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino and a few of his green-uniformed brokers are anticipated to quickly go away the Minneapolis space, sources accustomed to the transfer inform CBS Information.
One of many sources mentioned Bovino was relieved of his command in Minneapolis and is predicted to return to California’s El Centro sector, the place he served because the chief agent earlier than the Trump administration deployed him to main American cities, together with Los Angeles and Chicago.
The event follows intense backlash over how prime federal officers, together with Bovino, responded to the Pretti’s capturing. Bovino, citing no proof, steered over the weekend that Pretti meant to “bloodbath” federal brokers. A few of the claims by Bovino and different officers have been contradicted by witnesses and video from the scene.
Information of Bovino’s impending departure got here hours after President Trump mentioned Tom Homan, the White Home border czar, could be heading to Minnesota.
