He warns that “many core values” of the country “are increasingly under attack” and calls on officers to act “lawfully and responsibly”
Former US President Barack Obama has stated that the death of a man at the hands of a Border Patrol agent in Minnesota should serve as a “wake-up call” to the public and has warned that “many of the core values” of the United States “are increasingly under attack,” amid criticism of abuses by these officers.
“The death of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call for all Americans, regardless of party, that many of our fundamental values ​​as a nation are increasingly under attack,” he said in a statement signed with his wife, Michelle Obama.
He affirmed that federal agents “have a difficult job,” but stressed that “Americans expect them to carry out their duties lawfully and responsibly and to work with state and local officials, rather than against them, to ensure public safety.”
“That’s not what we’re seeing in Minnesota. In fact, we’re seeing the opposite,” he criticized. “For weeks, people across the country have been rightly outraged by the spectacle of masked recruits from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agents acting with impunity and employing tactics that appear designed to intimidate, harass, provoke, and endanger the residents of a major American city,” he maintained.
“These unprecedented tactics, which even the former chief counsel of the Department of Homeland Security during the first administration of (current President Donald) Trump has called shameful, illegal, and cruel, have now resulted in the shooting death of two American citizens,” the former president explained. In this regard, he emphasized that “instead of trying to impose something resembling discipline and accountability on the agents they have deployed, the president and officials in the current administration seem eager to exacerbate the situation, while offering public explanations for the shooting deaths of Pretti and Renée Good that are not based on any serious investigation and that appear to directly contradict the video evidence.”
Obama was referring to the death of Good, who was shot earlier this year by an ICE agent, also in Minnesota, while she was inside her vehicle. In both cases, the version given by federal authorities clashes with the images captured by witnesses, which suggest that neither victim posed a threat.
“This has to stop. I hope that, after this recent tragedy, administration officials will reconsider their approach and begin to find ways to work constructively with Governor (of Minnesota, Tim) Walz and Mayor (of Minneapolis, Jacob) Frey, as well as with state and local police, to prevent further chaos and achieve legitimate law enforcement objectives,” Obama said.
CALLS FOR SUPPORT OF PEACEFUL PROTESTS IN MINNEAPOLIS
Finally, Obama stressed that “all Americans should support and draw inspiration from the wave of peaceful protests in Minneapolis and other parts of the country.” “They are a timely reminder that, ultimately, it is up to each of us, as citizens, to speak out against injustice, protect our basic freedoms, and hold our government accountable,” he concluded.
Former Vice President and former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris also joined the criticism, highlighting that “Pretti was an intensive care unit nurse at a veterans’ hospital.” “His life, through his profession, was dedicated to serving his community and our country,” she praised.
“As many have seen on video, his last act before being killed by federal agents was to do everything in his power to protect his community,” she noted. “Alex and tens of thousands of Minnesota citizens have bravely defended their neighbors against a murderous occupation of an American city by the federal government,” she stated, before expressing her outrage and heartbreak over what happened.
Pretti died on Saturday when a Border Patrol agent shot him multiple times while he was being apprehended during an ICE operation to arrest a foreign national in downtown Minneapolis. Federal authorities maintain that the man was carrying a weapon at the time of the incident and invoked the agents’ right to self-defense. However, Pretti had a gun license and did not draw his weapon while being apprehended.
This and other actions by federal agents deployed by the Trump administration, such as the death of Reneé Good on January 7, who was also shot, and the arrest of a five-year-old child, have sparked outrage among the state’s population. Municipal and state authorities have called for the withdrawal of the additional federal forces and an end to the “occupation,” while the White House has defended the actions of these forces.
