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The Daily Wrap Up

26 Jan, 2026

Jan 27

[Transcript edited for clarity, length and flow]

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It’s been a week in America, has it not?

On Saturday, a federal immigration officer fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, sparking hundreds of protesters to take to the frigid streets of a city already shaken by a second deadly shooting in just weeks. Mr. Pretti was a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse who worked at a VA hospital. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has activated the National Guard as protests have grown, deploying troops to the shooting site and to a nearby federal building. The killing occurred just over a mile from where 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by ICE Agent Jonathan Ross on January 7.

Since Ms. Good’s shooting, protests have continued across Minneapolis. On Saturday evening, Mr. Pretti’s family released a heartbreaking statement saying they were devastated, but also furious. They described their son as a kindhearted person who wanted to make a positive impact on the world through his work as a nurse. They condemned what they called the administration’s lies, writing:

The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs, federal agents. He had his phone in his right hand, his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down while being pepper sprayed. Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.

On Sunday, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey sharply criticized federal immigration enforcement practices following the fatal shooting. She called the incident unnecessary and emblematic of an agency she described as out of control, operating without adequate training or accountability. Governor Healey had this to say:

This just isn’t right. This is so wrong, what’s happened. It was so unnecessary. There was no need for all of that to go down in the way that it did. It is just an example of how out of control ICE is. It’s why I call on Kristi Noem to resign. It’s why I call on ICE to get out of these cities and these states. Donald Trump needs to rein this in and take this back.

We have people who are clearly untrained who work for ICE now. As you know, a lot of people were recruited with $50,000 bonuses, come work for ICE. Minimal training. I’ve talked to colleagues in other states. Some of the training is online training. Online training. You would never run a law enforcement agency, or any agency frankly, with online training.

What we have seen happen in Minnesota now, week after week, is action and conduct that is not consistent with good law enforcement practices and is harming public safety. It’s not helping public safety. We actually have the safety and wellbeing of residents and Americans threatened by ICE’s presence in these places.

Governor Healey also made an essential point. Alex Pretti and Renee Good are dead, and others have been injured and terrorized, not because they were protesting, but because ICE was there in the first place.

At a White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt offered the administration’s explanation for what led to Alex Pretti’s murder. She had this to say:

But let’s be clear about the circumstances which led to that moment on Saturday. This tragedy occurred as a result of a deliberate and hostile resistance by Democrat leaders in Minnesota. For weeks, Governor Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey and other elected Democrats were spreading lies about federal law enforcement officers who are risking their lives daily to remove the worst criminal illegal aliens from our streets, murderers, rapists, pedophiles, human traffickers, and gang members.

What Leavitt is suggesting is that Alex Pretti somehow deserved to be murdered because Democratic leaders are telling the truth about ICE’s actions. Somehow, his First Amendment right to protest peacefully was negated by Democratic officials objecting to ICE’s tactics. That logic is not just incoherent. It is grotesque.

Leavitt was also asked whether Gregory Bovino would remain in Minneapolis overseeing ICE operations. Her response was revealing:

Mr. Bovino is a wonderful man and he’s a great professional. He is going to very much continue to lead Customs and Border Patrol throughout and across the country. Mr. Homan will be the main point of contact on the ground in Minneapolis.

Donald announced on his Truth Social media platform that he is sending Tom Homan to Minnesota in response to the backlash over Alex Pretti’s murder. Here is what he wrote:

Governor Tim Walz called me with the request to work together with respect to Minnesota. It was a very good call, and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength. I told Governor Walz that I would have Tom Homan call him, and that what we are looking for are any and all criminals that they have in their possession. The Governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future. He was happy that Tom Homan was going to Minnesota, and so am I! We have had such tremendous success in Washington, D.C., Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana, and virtually every other place that we have touched, and even in Minnesota, crime is way down, but both Governor Walz and I want to make it better!

In reality, the murder rate in Minneapolis is up, thanks to ICE. Tom Homan is not a moderating influence. He is as aggressive and unrestrained as Greg Bovino. Swapping one for the other is not going to make a meaningful difference. I do not hold out much hope that Homan will be any better.

The Hill reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Governor Tim Walz demanding that Minnesota abandon its sanctuary policies and turn over voter rolls to the Department of Justice to “confirm that Minnesota’s voter registration practices comply with federal law.” She also requested data on SNAP and Medicaid beneficiaries. Bondi had this to say:

I am confident that these simple steps will help bring back law and order to Minnesota and improve the lives of Americans.

Let’s be clear about what Bondi is doing. She is essentially saying that ICE and Customs and Border Patrol will leave Minnesota only if the state hands over sensitive voter and benefits data. That is extortion. It is the Attorney General of the United States engaging in extortion. It is horrifying, and it exposes the lie at the heart of the Trump Regime’s claim that it cares about the safety of American citizens.

I am not convinced we have reached the point at which things will get better. It is still possible they will get worse before they improve. ICE agents have been unleashed, and no one is restraining them. The only real solution, short of deploying the National Guard to protect Americans from a federal agency, is to remove ICE entirely, defund it, and dismantle it.

Democrats must hold their ground and be willing to do whatever it takes, including allowing Republicans to once again shut down the government, to protect Americans from ICE and other agencies operating under the control of the Department of Homeland Security.

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