A growing memorial stands on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, where 37-year-old Alex Pretti was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents days earlier at Nicollet Avenue and 26th Street in Minneapolis. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
WASHINGTON – Top leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee showed play-by-play video leading up to the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by Customs and Border Protection agents while questioning the heads of two federal immigration agencies about the incident during an oversight hearing Thursday.
Chairman Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, said there needs to be accountability following the January deaths of Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse, and Renee Good, a mother of three and poet, at the hands of immigration officials.
“The thousands of people on the streets in Minneapolis and Minnesota and the millions of spectators who witnessed the recent deaths make it clear that the public’s trust has been lost,” Paul said. “To restore trust in (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and Border Protection, they must admit their mistakes, be honest and open about their rules of engagement and commit to reform.”
Paul and Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, the top Democrat on the panel, questioned ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons and CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott about immigration officers’ use-of-force tactics and whether the officers followed de-escalation procedures.
“You need to look at your rules about drawing guns because it seems to me that they don’t apply the same standards as the police,” Paul said of immigration officers.
It was the second hearing on congressional oversight this week for Scott and Lyons. They are Democrats and Republicans in a stalemate At issue is the agency’s fiscal 2026 funding, with Democrats calling for changes to immigration enforcement tactics following deadly clashes in Minneapolis.
However, the shutdown will not stop President Donald Trump’s mass deportations. Even if a deal on DHS funding is not reached by Friday and the agency is shuttered, ICE still has $75 billion in funding from last year’s tax and spending package.
Minutes into Thursday’s hearing, border czar Tom Homan announced that immigration enforcement in Minneapolis would be halted after two months.
Pretti pepper sprayed, held down
Paul and Peters pointed out the heads of CBP and ICE a video analysis from the New York Times in advance the shooting of Prettiwho was pepper-sprayed and tackled to the ground by several immigration officers. He was detained and at least ten shots can be heard on video.
Lyons and Scott declined to comment on the clips shown, saying multiple investigations were ongoing. Scott said the FBI, CBP and ICE were conducting their own investigations.
Paul expressed disappointment in that response, citing Pretti’s history of encounters with federal officials. The video shows a woman screaming at an immigration officer. She is pushed to the ground and Pretti helps her up.
“Nobody in America believes that shoving this woman’s head in the face or into the snow was a de-escalation,” Paul said.
Paul asked if an appropriate response to someone screaming is to push them to the ground.
Scott said that wasn’t the case, but he couldn’t comment on the specific video.
Paul said it was clear in the video that Pretti was using his hand to shield his face from pepper spray.
“He’s pulling away at any moment,” Paul said. “He tries to escape and he gets sprayed in the face. I don’t think that’s a de-escalating thing. This is an escalating thing.”
Paul said an investigation needed to be carried out quickly.
Scott said there is body camera footage of the officers involved in Pretti’s shooting that will be released to the public.
“I don’t think this should take months and months and years and years,” Paul said. “There has to be a conclusion.”
Peters pointed out immigration officers hitting Pretti with a can of pepper spray. He asked Scott if that was an appropriate response.
“What I’m seeing is a subject that’s not complying either, he’s not following orders. He’s constantly resisting,” Scott said, adding that he couldn’t answer Peters’ question because the investigation is still ongoing.
Peters then questioned Scott and Lyons about why DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was quick to label Good and Pretti as “domestic terrorists.” He asked the men if they had given her any information or additional information to reach that conclusion.
Both said they didn’t do it.
Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin also told Lyons that she was concerned about Trump’s comments about sending immigration agents to polling places ahead of the midterm elections.
“There is no reason for us to be stationed at a polling station,” he said.
Withdrawal from Minnesota
Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford briefed the first panel that brought Minnesota leaders to the nation’s capital about Homans notice that the recovery in Minneapolis would end.
The first panel included Republican Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota; Harry Niska, Republican leader in the Minnesota House of Representatives; Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Democrat; and Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell.
Lankford said there needs to be better coordination between local and federal law enforcement, such as 287(g) agreements. In these voluntary partnerships, local law enforcement notifies ICE when they arrest someone who is in the country illegally and holds that person until federal immigration agents can arrive.
“So my office’s position is that as a sheriff who wants to pursue 287(g), you must have the support of your county executive,” Ellison said, adding that seven counties have such agreements.
One Republican, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, did not blame Pretti and Good’s deaths on the immigration officials who killed them. He said they happened because Ellison called on Minnesotans to exercise their First Amendment rights.
“Two people are dead because you encouraged them to put themselves in danger,” Johnson told Ellison. “And now you’re taking advantage of these two martyrs. You should feel damn guilty about it.”
In response, Ellison said, “It was a nice theatrical performance, but it was all lies.”
“Occupied by the federal government”
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Andy Kim noted that the number of ICE agents initially sent to Minneapolis, about 3,000, significantly dwarfed the number of local police, which is about under 600. He asked Ellison what it felt like in Minneapolis to have so many federal immigration agents in the city.
“It felt like we were being occupied by the federal government,” Ellison said.
During the second panel, Kim Lyon asked whether ICE plans to conduct a similar operation in other cities.
Lyons said the agency would do so and said he had learned lessons from the deportation operation in Minneapolis.
“We’re looking at lessons learned,” Lyons said. “I think the problem is the … agitators and the coordination on the protest side. People can go out and protest, but why are we encouraging individuals to go out and hinder themselves and put themselves in harm’s way? I think that’s the lesson we learned from this.”
