Lying Kristi Noem ‘has outraged conservative DHS and ICE employees along with her falsehoods about Minneapolis taking pictures sufferer Alex Pretti’

Conservative immigration officers have condemned the White House over the killing of Alex Pretti and rubbished Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s lie that he ‘brandished’ a gun. 

The 37-year-old was shot dead in broad daylight by a Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis during a targeted immigration enforcement operation on Saturday.

The second civilian fatality this month has ignited national outrage, including from federal agents who fear the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has ‘lost all trust’.

Twenty current and former federal officers who are staunch conservatives have now slammed the Trump administration’s handling of Pretti’s brutal killing. 

Citing how Noem rushed to decide that Pretti was a ‘domestic terrorist’ who brandished a gun before an investigation even took place, one Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officer told the New York Times that he has grown distrustful of the government.

He shared how he has ‘always given the benefit of the doubt to the government in these situations’ but told the newspaper he does not believe ‘any of the statements they put out anymore.’

Noem, just hours after shots rang out, insisted that Pretti ‘brandished’ a legally owned handgun at officers trying to detain an illegal migrant.

The DHS boss then dodged questions about the shooting on Sunday, noting it would be investigated, but still reiterated that her agents ‘clearly feared for their lives and took action to defend themselves and the people around them.’

But even President Donald Trump has remained skeptical to place blame on Pretti, telling the Wall Street Journal that his administration is ‘reviewing everything and will come out with a determination.’

‘I don’t like any shooting. I don’t like it,’ Trump told the outlet Sunday, while also suggesting that Pretti should have never been armed to begin with. 

‘But I don’t like it when somebody goes into a protest and he’s got a very powerful, fully loaded gun with two magazines loaded up with bullets also. That doesn’t play good either.’ 

Minneapolis police say Pretti had no serious criminal history and was a lawful gun owner with a valid permit. 

Public support for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has diminished in recent weeks.

Trump administration officials are reportedly planning to soon launch a campaign to improve ICE’s public image by highlighting its work outside Minneapolis.

But some current and former agents fear the reputation of America’s immigration agencies may now be too far gone.

John Mitnick, a top DHS attorney in the first Trump White House, said he is ‘enraged and embarrassed by the department’s lawlessness, fascism, and cruelty.’

Similarly, a former ICE official told the Times that operations in Minneapolis may negatively affect future recruitment to federal law enforcement agencies.

Skepticism surrounding ICE and DHS comes amid allegations that the Trump administration was attempting to cover up the Minneapolis Border Patrol shooting by rushing out a statement in the aftermath that ‘no one agreed with’. 

DHS published a statement just hours after Pretti’s death, claiming the Border Patrol officer responsible was acting defensively as Pretti was armed when he was shot.

The department released a photo showing a nine millimeter semi-automatic handgun officers said Pretti ‘approached’ with before a ‘violent’ struggle ensued.

However, video from the scene led officials, including Governor Tim Walz, to question the DHS narrative, as there did not appear to be any evidence of Pretti brandishing a gun.

A DHS source told the Daily Mail that while licensed to carry a weapon, Pretti never touched his weapon. The insider also expressed frustration that colleagues had raced to get a statement out at the potential cost of accuracy.

Noem’s rushed statement is not a one-off occurrence. The DHS boss issued public remarks just hours after Renee Good was shot dead by an ICE officer in Minneapolis on January 7, even though few details about the incident were known.

Noem claimed that Good had committed an act of ‘domestic terrorism,’ ‘weaponized’ her car and ‘attempted to run a law enforcement officer over.’ The officer, she declared, followed his training.

Her comments sent shockwaves through the law enforcement community and America at large. A former senior DHS official told the Daily Mail at the time that Noem displayed ‘profound ignorance’ and a ‘disturbing disregard for the proper way to investigate an officer-involved shooting’ by not reserving her judgment.

Some Republicans in Congress echoed those sentiments and Democrats stepped up calls for Noem’s impeachment. 

Noem on Sunday marked her first full year as Homeland Security Secretary, during which she has strived to make herself the very public face of Trump’s mass deportation program.

But some experts suspect her handling of the Minneapolis shootings signals a possible turning point in her troubled tenure as secretary.

Noem previously claimed that Pretti, an intensive care nurse who has protested Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, showed up on Saturday to ‘impede a law enforcement operation.’ 

The DHS Secretary has questioned why Pretti was armed but did not offer details about whether he drew the weapon or brandished it at officers.

Noem also previously blamed two of Minnesota’s most senior Democrat lawmakers – Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey – for the shooting.

‘Our law enforcement are doing everything they can to protect the public. We’re praying for the deceased’s loved ones, family, and friends, but we also recognize that the Minnesota and the Minneapolis governor need to take a long, hard look in the mirror,’ she said during a press conference on Saturday.

‘They need to evaluate their rhetoric, their conversations, and their encouragement of such violence against our citizens and law enforcement officers.’

Multiple bystander videos show a Border Patrol agent shooting and killing Pretti after a roughly 30-second scuffle around 9am Saturday. 

The videos appear to contradict statements by DHS, which said the shots were fired ‘defensively’ against Pretti as he ‘approached’ them with a gun.

In the videos, Pretti is seen with only a phone in his hand. None of the footage appears to show him with a weapon. 

During the scuffle, agents discovered that he was carrying a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, and they opened fire with several shots. 

Federal officials have not released the agent’s identity, but did confirm the officer who shot Pretti is an eight-year Border Patrol veteran.

Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who has led the administration’s big-city immigration campaign, said the officer who shot Pretti had extensive training as a range safety officer and in using less-lethal force.

A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order banning the Trump administration from ‘destroying or altering evidence’ related to the death of Pretti. 

It has not been confirmed whether Pretti’s gun fired any shots.