Keir Starmer voices concern over capturing of nurse by Donald Trump’s ICE brokers
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the shooting of Alex Pretti was ‘concerning’ as he responded to questions about Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents
Keir Starmer said he is concerned by the shooting of Alex Pretti(Image: EastEndJoe/X)
Keir Starmer has expressed concern over the fatal shooting of an American nurse by Donald Trump ’s ICE agents.
Alex Pretti was killed at a protest in Minneapolis on Saturday – the second person shot dead by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the city this month. Eyewitnesses and video footage contradicted claims from the Trump administration that he posed a threat, and demonstrated he was holding a phone in his hand instead of a gun before he was wrestled to the ground.
Mr Starmer was asked for his views on the incident as anger mounts around the world over the tactics employed by Trump’s authoritarian ICE squads. Speaking to journalists as he traveled to China, the PM said: “I haven’t seen all of the details, but what I have seen is obviously concerning.
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“I don’t think anybody could see some of the footage and not say it’s concerning, but I’m not claiming to have seen all the footage and all the detail, but of what I have seen, I’d say it’s concerning.”
The PM rarely criticises the thin-skinned US President in public as he tries to exercise his influence privately. But the relationship is increasingly under strain amid Mr Trump’s demands to take control of Greenland.
And Mr Starmer rebuked him for dismissing the contribution of British forces in Afghanistan which sparked a furious backlash in the UK. Mt Trump falsely claimed that Nato forces stayed a little off the frontlines”, in an insult to the 457 British troops who lost their lives.
The PM called the comments “insulting and frankly appalling”, and piled pressure on him to apologise. In a climbdown, Mr Trump then lavished praise on British forces but failed to properly apologise.
In a statement on social media, he said: “The great and very brave soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America. In Afghanistan, 457 died, many were badly injured, and they were among the greatest of all warriors.
“It’s a bond too strong to ever be broken. The UK military, with tremendous heart and soul, is second to none (except for the USA). We love you all, and always will!”
Trump has finally said he feels bad about the deaths of two protesters who were killed after confronting federal agents – Mr Pretti and Renee Good. He faced a backlash over his hardline comments following the fatal shootings.
Border chief Gregory Bovino, who called the dead activists, Renee Good and Alex Petti, “domestic terrorists,” has been removed from the city. Meanwhile, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who also used the term, was called to the Oval Office on Tuesday to explain her handling of deportations directly to Trump.
Speaking to Will Cain on Fox News on Tuesday, Trump said he “doesn’t like” the killings. And he said: “I don’t know about his (Mr Pretti’s) parents, but I know her (Ms Good’s) parents were big Trump fans.
“It makes me feel bad anyway. I guess you could say even worse, they were tremendous Trump fans, Trump people. The daughter, she was you could say radicalised, maybe not. I don’t know, but I hate to see it, hate to see it.”
