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Posted 1/26/2026

The political career of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has reached a critical juncture as "Operation Metro Surge" continues to draw blood on the streets of Minneapolis. Since September 2025, twelve people have been shot by federal agents—three of them fatally—triggering a wave of outrage that has now reached the halls of Congress.

At the center of this storm are two high-profile deaths that have shifted the national conversation. First was Renee Good, a 37-year-old poet and mother of three, who was killed by an ICE agent on January 7. While the administration claimed she attempted to strike an officer with her vehicle, bystander video suggested she was attempting to drive away from a chaotic scene.

Then came this past Saturday, January 24, and the death of Alex Jeffrey Pretti. Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA, was shot by an eight-year veteran of the Border Patrol during a confrontation on Nicollet Avenue. While the Department of Homeland Security maintains that Pretti was armed and "violently resisted," his family and multiple video analyses tell a different story. In a scathing statement, his parents noted:

"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. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed."

The fallout has been immediate. Governor Tim Walz has dispatched the National Guard to the Twin Cities, not to assist federal agents, but to stand between them and the protesters. Yet, the most striking element of this turbulence is the demographic shift on the front lines.

For decades, the burden of decrying police brutality and defending "God-given rights" has fallen almost exclusively on people of color. The uniqueness of the current Minneapolis crisis lies in the race of both the victims and the majority of the protesters. Good and Pretti were White U.S. citizens, as are many of the thousands currently clashing with federal agents. Outside of the anomalies of January 6th, clashes between White citizens and a federal policing body have been almost non-existent in the 21st century. Today, in Minneapolis, they appear to be the "new norm."

The accountability for this escalation is being placed squarely on Secretary Noem. As of today, 120 lawmakers have signed a resolution to impeach her, citing gross violations of the Fourth Amendment and the public trust. While Representative Steven Horsford has called for her immediate firing, the administration remains defiant, even as the Twin Cities descend into what many are calling a state of federal occupation. Former President Bill Clinton chimed in on death of Mr. Pretti saying, "the people in charge have lied to us, told us not to believe what we’ve seen with our own eyes."