In Minneapolis, the shooting of Alex Pretti by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on Saturday—the second American citizen to be killed by federal migration agents in less than a month—has prompted protests not just about this incident but about immigration raids taking place across the city more broadly.
Donald Trump said on Sunday similar raids are taking place in Republican-run states “with ZERO protests, riots or chaos”—“Why? Because Local Police and ICE are cooperating and working together.”—and that “tragically, two American Citizens have lost their lives” in Minneapolis because Democrats are “REFUSING to cooperate with ICE, and they are actually encouraging Leftwing Agitators to unlawfully obstruct their operations to arrest the Worst of the Worst People!”
But far-left activists insist this is an ICE—not a Republican/Democrat—problem, calling on the migration officers to be thrown “out” across the board.
This division is fairly well reflective of the debate in many parts of Europe, where the left-wing narrative often clashes with conservative efforts to control borders and deport illegal migrants.
Former Department of Homeland Security official Vincent ‘Rocco’ Vargas, who spoke to europeanconservative.com last year about the need for proper border control, has stressed following this latest killing that “it is important to state clearly that the anger directed at ICE and Border Patrol should not slide into a worldview where the mission itself is treated as illegitimate.”
Former Democrat President Barack Obama—during whose time in office reports say 56 individuals died while in ICE custody—joined in the debate on Sunday, saying that people have been right to be “outraged by the spectacle of masked ICE recruits and other federal agents acting with impunity and engaging in tactics that seem designed to intimidate, harass, provoke and endanger residents of a major American city.”
The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault. pic.twitter.com/0JmEsJ1QFW
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded that Obama was exploiting the moment to “sow more division,” saying he should instead encourage Democrat officials “to work with the Trump Administration to remove dangerous criminal illegal aliens from American communities.”
Former President Bill Clinton also described the scenes in Minneapolis as one of the “few moments where the decisions we make and the actions we take will shape our history for years to come.”
European leaders have so far said little-to-nothing about the growing unrest.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
