'Battle is lost': Immigration officials tell Trump 'it’s time to pull out of Minnesota'
Immigration agents questioned their mission in Minnesota after the shooting deaths of two citizen observers.
A Department of Homeland Security officer fatally shot 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti over the weekend in Minneapolis, which led to a shakeup in the enforcement surge's leadership. Journalist Ken Kippenstein obtained private group chat logs that showed federal agents deployed to the area believe the situation has spun out of control.
“This is a no-win situation for agents on the ground or immigration enforcement overall,” said one Border Patrol agent in the private group chat. “I think it’s time to pull out of Minnesota, that battle is lost.”
The agents expressed frustration with the Trump administration's response to the shooting of Pretti and 37-year old Renee Good.
“As much as I support this administration there needs to be more common sense in situations like this, not a knee-jerk damage control narrative that does not line up with the evidence on video,” said a Border Patrol agent. “This individual was shot 8 to 9 times while unarmed. We can’t always support what happens just because it’s one of us."
The agents questioned the quality of some new recruits, calling them "idiots" with "sketchy" backgrounds and "some weird tattoos," and they said the administration's bellicose defense of the violence put them at risk.
“Lots of people are freaking out,” one ICE agent told Klippsenstein. “Agents are getting seriously paranoid, afraid of being targeted by ‘retaliators.’”
They faulted administration leaders for accusing protesters of "impeding" their functions, which would be a crime, and distracting agents from their enforcement operation by stoking fears about left-agitators.
“I can go on and on but overall it’s been a ridiculous experience,” one ICE agent told Klippenstein.