ICE capturing sufferer’s sister blasts Trump cronies’ ‘disgusting lies’ after proof uncovered
The sister of Alex Pretti, the intensive care nurse killed by US immigration agents, has denounced what she called “disgusting lies” about her brother coming from the White House
The sister of Alex Pretti, the ICU nurse shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis, has slammed what she called the “disgusting lies” spread about her brother(Image: AP)
The sister of Alex Pretti, the ICU nurse shot dead by US ICE agents, has condemned what she described as “disgusting lies” being spread about her brother by the White House.
“When does this end? How many more innocent lives must be lost before we say enough?” Micayla Pretti said. “Hearing disgusting lies spread about my brother is absolutely gut-wrenching.
“All Alex ever wanted was to help someone, anyone. Even in his very last moments on this Earth, he was simply trying to do just that.” She added: “He touched more lives than he probably ever realised.”
Pretti, a US citizen and a nurse at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, was fatally shot on Saturday during a federal immigration enforcement operation in the city. His death triggered protests, amid sharply conflicting accounts from federal authorities, local officials and witnesses.
According to federal agencies, Pretti was present as officers carried out a targeted operation to apprehend an undocumented individual “wanted for violent assault”. Witnesses said agents pursued a person into a doughnut shop, drawing a crowd of bystanders who began filming the encounter on their phones.
Multiple eyewitness accounts and video footage show Pretti recording events on his phone and moving towards an agent after a woman was pushed to the ground. He appears to try to assist her before being pepper-sprayed, restrained and shot.
Federal authorities initially claimed Pretti approached officers with a handgun and resisted attempts to disarm him, arguing that the use of deadly force was justified.
The account has been shown to be untrue by video evidence and witness testimony. Verified footage widely circulated online shows the 37-year-old holding a mobile phone, not a firearm, in the moments before he was sprayed and tackled by agents.
In several clips, officers can be seen restraining him on the ground, while an agent appears to remove a firearm from Pretti’s waistband shortly before shots are fired.
No publicly released video shows him brandishing or threatening officers with a weapon. Local officials have said Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry and had no criminal record. Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara confirmed his status and publicly questioned the federal narrative surrounding the shooting.
However, within hours of the killing, senior White House officials described Pretti as a “wannabe assassin”.
Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff, called the nurse “a domestic terrorist who tried to assassinate law enforcement”, while Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, accused him of perpetrating “the definition of domestic terrorism”. “This individual who came with weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers committed an act of domestic terrorism. That’s the facts,” she said just hours after his death.
In a statement issued by the family, Pretti’s relatives accused the administration of smearing his character. “The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting,” the statement said. “Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand, and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman, who was just pushed down by ICE, all while being pepper-sprayed. Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.”
Despite that, senior figures in the Trump administration have continued to portray Pretti as a danger to law enforcement.
The killing took place amid an intensified anti-immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, overseen by Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, which has sparked mass demonstrations and legal challenges. Speaking before his demotion, Bovino claimed Pretti confronted agents while armed and said he “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement”.
With opinion polls showing voter support for Trump weakening dramatically on immigration, the president announced he would send his border-enforcement chief, Tom Homan, to Minnesota, while Bovino was reassigned to his usual posting in California.
Officials within the Department of Homeland Security have become “increasingly uneasy and frustrated” with members of the administration for branding Pretti a terrorist and insisting he intended to harm agents, despite the publicly available evidence.
