Opinion
The death of American Alex Pretti at the hands of US officials in the city of Minneapolis on Saturday was a senseless tragedy. But the misleading and inflammatory statements about the incident made subsequently by Trump administration officials make the killing all the more disturbing.
Video evidence shows Pretti had nothing but a phone in his hand when he was tackled and shot multiple times by Border Patrol agents. A gun Pretti was apparently carrying (reportedly licensed) was never drawn.
The shooting came amid an aggressive immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and across the state of Minnesota which has stoked protest and unrest.
The Herald’s North America correspondent, Michael Koziol, who has been in Minneapolis, described the city after Pretti’s death: “Squads of masked men patrolling the streets; federal police pitted against local; the government in conflict with its own citizens; hate scrawled on every corner and anger spewing from every mouth.”
Videos of the shooting mean American voters can see what happened with their own eyes. But that has not stopped Trump administration officials trying to cast Pretti as a villain.
Just hours after his death, Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security said, without evidence, that Pretti had “committed an act of domestic terrorism”. Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino said Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement”, while Stephen Miller, an influential Trump adviser, wrote on social media that Pretti was an “assassin”. There is no evidence for these claims.
These irresponsible remarks pre-empt any official investigation of the shooting. Little wonder Pretti’s grieving parents have accused the Trump administration of spreading “sickening lies” about what happened to their son.
But this approach is sadly familiar; after a federal agent shot and killed another Minneapolis resident, Renee Good, this month, the Trump administration demonised the victim and has blocked a state investigation into the killing.
A New York Times editorial after Pretti’s death concluded: “President Donald Trump and his appointees have demonstrated themselves to be unconcerned with truth and willing to lie to serve their own interests.”
The deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good must be fully investigated – the American people deserve to know the truth about what happened to them.
There are signs US President Donald Trump is changing strategy in Minnesota.
The language used by Trump officials has shifted since it became clear that the White House was out of step with public opinion about Pretti’s death. US border tsar Tom Homan has also been dispatched to Minnesota to oversee federal immigration enforcement in the state.
Given the circumstances, it is bewildering that so many members of US Congress are refusing to take action; they should start by cutting funding to Trump’s immigration enforcement activities.
The shocking killings by government officials in Minneapolis might seem remote to Australians, but they show how democratically elected governments can lapse into authoritarianism when it comes to immigration policy and enforcement.
For Australia, this is a cautionary tale.
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