Federal Agents Confused About the Speech Rights
[guest post by Dana]
Today, from Attorney General Pam Bondi:
Screenshot
It sure doesn’t sound like any law enforcement de-escalation is happening in Minneapolis.
With that, while Bondi may or may not be clear on what constitutes “assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement,” it’s very clear that on-the-ground agents are desperately in need of a solid review of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights:
"You raise your voice, I erase your voice.”
This viral video of an ICE agent threatening to silence a Minnesota protester is about as un-American as it gets.
The events in Minnesota give the country a lesson in the First Amendment that we’d all be better off remembering: The… pic.twitter.com/06q7AqN7IV
— FIRE (@TheFIREorg) January 28, 2026
Oh, and here’s some more “assaulting, resisting, and impeding law enforcement”action by a retired couple. We know that’s what the couple was doing, because why else would the agents point their guns at them?
ICE pointed semi-automatic weapons at a retired American couple in a church parking lot. No warrant. No rights read. Just terror.
This is not law enforcement. This is unconstitutional intimidation.
Under the Fourth Amendment, ICE cannot detain or search without a judicial… pic.twitter.com/SzroJ3n0xD— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) January 27, 2026
Look, ICE agents are behaving lawlessly. It’s dangerous and illegal, and we should all be upset by their actions. Congressional members should be hearing from their constituents. Contrary to the fears and accusations by some, this does not make one a liberal, progressive, Democrat, or anti-law and order individual. To the contrary, it evidences that responsible Americans holding to a righteous belief in the defense of the Constitution and the Rule of Law.
—Dana
Hello.
Dana (004a6c) — 1/28/2026 @ 3:40 pmPam Bondi. Tampa’s 27th most successful realtor, and America’s 5th largest embarrassment.
nk (6c45b4) — 1/28/2026 @ 5:01 pmhttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xceLK2GevBU&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D
I can’t figure out the giggling.
BuDuh (89ccc2) — 1/28/2026 @ 5:21 pmhttps://X.com/Playteaux1/status/2016505713615352131#m
Probably lying.
BuDuh (89ccc2) — 1/28/2026 @ 5:38 pmAs Dave claimed a couple of weeks ago with Ms. Good, blocking a street is protected by the 1A.
Certainly it’s good if everyone, not just ICE agents, better understands the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
lloyd (94035d) — 1/28/2026 @ 7:26 pmSo much First Amendment going on here.
Alex Pretti spits at ICE agents and smashes federal SUV’s tail light in video 11 days before death
lloyd (94035d) — 1/28/2026 @ 7:48 pmMore free speech:
Weird.
BuDuh (89ccc2) — 1/28/2026 @ 8:17 pmGhislaine Maxwell say if she testifies before congress she will name the 29 men who were given secret immunity deals by DOJ including donor leon black. She has thratened to name who was in the hot tub with her and bill clinton. (DU)
asset (ca408c) — 1/28/2026 @ 8:41 pmWhen jefferies and schumer said their is nothing we can do to stop trump who has drawn a line in the sand you don’t expect us to join in a rendezvous with death at some disputed barricade. Who would do that? The people in Minnesota step forward over the line. @6&7 So? What Pretti may have done kicked the bumper and cursed is irrelevant to what happened on January 24. This will be decided in the street. If Ilhan Omar had been killed the counter attack would have already started. By the way you haven’t told us how much Good and Pretti were paid by soros. John Paul Jones said it best when asked to yield “I have not yet begun to fight!” I too want the killers and rapists out ;but not women cleaning port-a-potties to feed their families and leave the toddlers out of diliy texas. I am in the majority on this. When you look into the abyss the abyss looks into you! Nietzsche.
asset (ca408c) — 1/28/2026 @ 9:11 pmThere’s the Pattern of Deception and Pattern of Cruelty from Trump and Miller and this DHS, and there’s also the Pattern of Defiance, particularly defiance of the rule of law. A hundred court rulings defied.
Paul Montagu (48c279) — 1/29/2026 @ 12:09 amNotably Buduh and Lloyd have nothing in particular to say about ICE agents pointing guns at old people.
As for Alex, spitting on an ICE car seems reasonable to me in the circumstances. Kicking out the tail light less so. Noticeably he noticeably has a gun but nobody seems to think that’s a good reason to shoot him.
And of course the most important point which is that none of that was evident to anybody in particular when Alex was actually shot, and in his actions that day he wasn’t assaulting the police officer, unless you feel that standing between an agent brutalizing a woman, and that woman, is somehow assault.
And for the future of our public note this video about how ICE is recruiting these days, by going after a certain segment of the population who loves guns and nationalism associated with cowboys and vaguely nazi slogans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en7ji1LZFZ4
Robert (bf9d92) — 1/29/2026 @ 4:26 amIf the “I erase your speech” skinhead in the second video is not a DEI, I don’t know what is.
It supports the account of the old couple in the first video.
Noem is hiring street sweepings who could not hold down a job at McDonald’s or on a garbage truck.
nk (6c45b4) — 1/29/2026 @ 5:05 amAnd note what Lloyd and Buduh are doing here. It’s the S/He’s no Angel theory of why victims deserve what comes to them. Note the people chasing down Good’s story to prove she was a bad mother and, horors, worked with anti ICE organizations.
It’s possible that based on his earlier encounter, where he was clearly armed, and wrestled to the ground and had a rib broken, that he came to the conclusion that ICE wasn’t going to focus on that. He misuderstood the brutal incompetence of the badly organized and untrained agents he was dealing with the second time.
nk, you get the involuntarily unemployed, and you also get those who haunt the 8chan and Dark Net threads, the 3 percenters and militia members, the ones who believe we are being Invaded by A Foreign Invasion or at least willing to pretend to believe it if it gives them permissions to dress up in battle gear and push people around, shoot pepper spray into their face and maybe kill. If they Have To.
Also groypers.*
*Lloyd, I added groypers as a belated holiday present to you. I hope you’re grateful. I hope this reference to groypers will meet your Robert = groypers needs for the next few months. If you do need another fix at some point, just let me know.
Robert (bf9d92) — 1/29/2026 @ 5:35 amAnd Buduh,
Far be it from me to criticize too harshly other people’s commenting habits, Lloyd I am sure has a list of my transgressions, but your gnomic posting of links without much explanation is a little annoying. Surely you could tell us why we should take the time to go down one of your rabbit holes.
I did by the way, and the giggling may have been because we, the Left, see the agents as clowns. Krazy Keystone Kops. If they didn’t have guns, anger issues, also pepper spray, and they chase down and imprison people who don’t deserve it, they’d just be mocked all the time.
It’d be nice if laughter were the only thing they inspired, instead of rage.
Robert (bf9d92) — 1/29/2026 @ 5:39 amIf all ICE/BP officers are like the one in the story above then I guess all “#resistance” nurses are like the one in the story below:
Pretti was a nurse?? The deuce you say..
Your rules.
BuDuh (611c54) — 1/29/2026 @ 5:43 amSo somebody says something stupid on the internet and that means?
Also your insinuation now is that nurses are suspect? Reminds of Stalin’s Doctor Plot.
At any rate I am sure you will supply us with more information of dark doings, because there’s a whole industry of right wing influencers now set up to feed you material:
O
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:zha4tsu7otgnojc7uoxhjmkr/post/3mdihw3edys2o?ref_src=embed&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fballoon-juice.com%252F
Robert (bf9d92) — 1/29/2026 @ 6:27 amI have the feeling that some posters were AHA!(ing) loudly when viewing the newly released Pretti video. As if they were somehow vindicated. Some people love victim-blaming. He wore a short skirt, what’d he expect. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that we’ve seen thus far that justifies LEOs shooting a man in the back at point-blank range, while he’s laying on the ground, held down by agents. Not the C&C, not spitting on a truck, not kicking a taillight, not hollering at the agents, not holding up his cell phone and recording the happenings, and not attempting to help a woman shoved to the ground.
The sad irony is, ICE agents didn’t feel as threatened by Pretti in the newly-released video, where he was actually more obnoxious in his protesting. But rather, they felt more provoked by him when they decided their only option was to shoot and kill when he was captive on the ground after trying to aid a downed protester.
Before going to the second protest, his parents admonished him to be careful and not do anything stupid. He heeded their wise caution, and ended up dead. That’s a horrible pill for any parent to swallow.
Dana (8a4c27) — 1/29/2026 @ 6:42 amNot quite.
Two weeks prior to the interview would have been before he was kicking and spitting.
BuDuh (611c54) — 1/29/2026 @ 6:52 amThe post makes it about speech rights. It’s in the title. Maybe confine the argument to the less ambitious “some in ICE are reacting badly to what protesters are doing” and it won’t sound as ridiculous when the facts appear.
lloyd (7475ad) — 1/29/2026 @ 7:29 am@11
There are only so many hours in the day, Robert. As I’ve noted before, your tactic is to move on to the latest new outrage when the prior outrage doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. I haven’t looked into that yet. Maybe it’s just as described, maybe not. I’m interested in finding the truth. You aren’t.
When you mentioned it, I thought it was the old couple in Portland who were just minding their own business and going for a walk according to a post here months ago who got knocked down by ICE. After some scrutiny, it turns out they were part of a protest that blocked ICE from accessing their building.
So, we’ll see.
lloyd (7475ad) — 1/29/2026 @ 7:42 am“more obnoxious” is a ridiculous description.
The sad irony is that ICE’s restraint in this instance is used against them.
lloyd (7475ad) — 1/29/2026 @ 7:57 amWhy “ridiculous”? The dude spat and yelled and caused property damage.
Paul Montagu (b32264) — 1/29/2026 @ 7:59 am@23
… while packing a gun and getting into it with LEOs.
It’s ridiculous that you left those little details out, but not unexpected.
lloyd (7475ad) — 1/29/2026 @ 8:03 am“The J6 defendants were released and not charged after it was determined that their obstruction, impeding, spitting, and destruction of government property was determined to be merely “obnoxious,” for which there is no US code that prohibits that activity”
BuDuh (f5fa1c) — 1/29/2026 @ 8:03 amNow that’s ridiculous. Of course he had a gun 11 days before he was murdered, that was established, just like he had a gun last Saturday. That was the constant.
Paul Montagu (1c2835) — 1/29/2026 @ 8:09 amBut last Saturday, he didn’t yell at CBP, he didn’t spit, he didn’t confront (except to help the lady who was shoved to the ground by Thug Agent 1), and he didn’t cause property damage. He was decidedly less obnoxious on the day he was shot to death.
If Trump’s supporters were capable of human sensibility, they would not be Trump’s supporters.
nk (6c45b4) — 1/29/2026 @ 8:41 am@27
Human sensibility?
You mean, encouraging mass migrations that caused untold human misery on the trek and at the border? That sensibility?
You mean, willing to let social services such as schools, hospitals and welfare being overwhelmed due to defacto open border policies? That sensibility?
You mean, willing to ignore the death’s of the likes of Laken Reily because doing so would highlight the dangers of defacto open border policies? That sensibility?
No nk, you don’t get to ignore all of that, and when the Trump supporters want that to change and votes for Trump because he’s effectively the only candidate able to do so… and then claim any sort high grounds.
whembly (f70fc4) — 1/29/2026 @ 8:54 amAs we are, Alex Pretti was. As Alex Pretti is, we will be.
A man was alive and now he is dead. That is the only reason murderers must be caught.
nk (6c45b4) — 1/29/2026 @ 9:04 am@27 Nevertrump thinks Pretti and Good are worth thousands of trafficked kids, because those meddling kids made folks vote for Trump.
lloyd (9c9691) — 1/29/2026 @ 9:10 amlloyd, you just have to be getting paid by somebody to troll here. Nobody, I mean nobody, would spew the garbage you do day in and day out unless it was their livelihood.
nk (6c45b4) — 1/29/2026 @ 9:29 amMy contention, mostly unexpressed in these precincts, is that murder and protester abuse and 1st and 4th amendment violations were an inevitable result of the way ICE has gone about enforcing Trump’s version of the immigration law. Miller’s quota approach guaranteed that there would be pressure on ICE to arrest as many as physically possible, without regard for whether the folks selected are “the worst of the worst”, or even whether the folks are here legally or are actually citizens. The mass amount of money thrown at ICE (talk about throwing money at a problem) meant they would be hiring a ton of folks, and standards would slip, because hiring quotas would need to be met.
I’m glad to see Lloyd own consequences of the ICE ramp up in his #30. It’s honest. Citizens are going to get killed.
Maybe he can come to the recognition that they did not deserve to be killed, and it wasn’t the victim’s grievous fault that they were killed.
Appalled (0da451) — 1/29/2026 @ 9:33 am#28
Curious, whembly. Do you see ways ICE could accomplish its mission better, without the cruelty?
Appalled (0da451) — 1/29/2026 @ 9:36 am👍
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/29/2026 @ 9:40 amEven in war, where we generally do not concern ourselves with which particular enemy soldier killed one of our soldiers, we take a harsher view of the leaders and hold them responsible for war crimes including waging the war in the first place.
nk (6c45b4) — 1/29/2026 @ 9:41 amBuDuh, I think the ‘new’ video of Pretti is probably legit. BBC is a reputable news org and it’s been out long enough that if it was fake or inaccurate I would expect to see some assertions of that. We haven’t.
What I’m confused about right now is why federal agents would exit their vehicle, take him into custody by subduing him, and then let him go after he damaged their vehicle. If they were just going to ignore the damage why get out? If they weren’t going to ignore the damage why wasn’t he arrested and charged?
Note given the history: This isn’t a trap or leading question that drives to some larger point. I think the video is real and I’m genuinely confused about that. I’m asking you because you’ve been very into the details on this events and I’m curious what you think.
Time123 (09f21f) — 1/29/2026 @ 9:54 am@33
I object to the “cruelty” framing.
But, no. Especially in the face of uncooperative States/Cities.
ICE/DHS has to aggressively find and apprehend these illegal aliens.
Add on top of the protest/non-protest behaviors really complicates these operations.
whembly (f70fc4) — 1/29/2026 @ 9:55 am@36
Pretti would be alive today, had they arrested & charged him for his behavior today.
Absolute miss by DHS/ICE there.
whembly (f70fc4) — 1/29/2026 @ 9:56 am28, Whembley, –nk is a political arsonist complaining about the water damage caused by the firefighters.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e) — 1/29/2026 @ 10:03 amThey needed him to slow his roll. He went from screaming, to spitting, to kicking. What was next? Who knows.
Without local law enforcement doing their job of keeping the peace, I think this was all they could do in hopes that Pretti would make the choice to not go any further in the tirade that his parents tried to quell before it happened.
In Pretti’s next foray he managed, at least it appears to me in the Pink Lady Video, to actually grab, however briefly, the arm of a Federal Officer. Maybe that was the next step the agents in the first encounter were worried about. Their benevolence in letting him go was ultimately in vain.
The police union weighed in:
Is it still a mystery why this didn’t happen in cooperating cities? Not to me.
BuDuh (f5fa1c) — 1/29/2026 @ 10:39 amnk: “lloyd, you just have to be getting paid by somebody to troll here. Nobody, I mean nobody, would spew the garbage you do day in and day out unless it was their livelihood.”
It’s not a crazy theory.
The older-Pretti-video that has come to light is interesting. Pretti’s behavior is obviously more provocative in nature -> he should have been legitimately arrested for vandalizing the car. It’s also fascinating that despite the scuffle, no agent saw Pretti’s gun which seemed more apparent in these videos with his coat lifted off of him. The gun is an odd choice. I tend to agree with I think BuhDuh (or whembly). It’s not that he doesn’t have the right, he does…and he didn’t use or brandish it improperly. It’s just that if you are actively harassing law enforcement and had one physical encounter where it got physical and the gun should have been detected, it becomes an odd choice to continue to bring it…especially where it’s reasonable to conclude that he’s just increasing risk versus decreasing it. Why do it, especially in the shivering cold where the only threat would have been coming from men who out-gunned and out-numbered you where it would be foolish to even bring it out. The gun doesn’t justify him being killed..at all, it’s just a curious choice.
I’m not sure if we saw the totality of the interaction but certainly this one appeared far more restrained by the agents. My gut reaction is that Pretti was looking for a confrontation, whether to give someone something to film or for the adrenalin rush of it all. You saw a bit of that in his “final” video with him bouncing into the middle of the street, but with the sheer cold and probably still sore from the previous encounter, he was definitely less provocative. All of this still comes down to how a trained agent…even hearing someone yell “gun”….could look at a guy lying on his stomach….not see a gun….and proceed to unload into the victim’s back. If Pretti has the gun in his hand….or if it’s loose and he’s reaching for it, I get it. And, given that the first shooter was immediately prior to the shooting messing with his pepper spray cannister, did he have a good perception of what was happening? I just don’t see how you give him the benefit of the doubt. He just comes across as looking for an excuse….and recklessly negligent.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 1/29/2026 @ 10:42 amBuhDuh: “to actually grab, however briefly, the arm of a Federal Officer”
For a commenter drilling down into milliseconds in the Good (bad) shooting, this is a poor take. Any contact was incidental and immediately followed by Pretti’s free hand going into the air, essentially making his intentions known. The fact that this brief contact is sufficient cause for the agent to fly into a further rage and proceed to not just pepper spray Pretti but also the woman he knocked over who was no threat…and the second woman who was simply moving to help the first. I’m not sure that a police board of inquiry would be so mechanical to count that incidental contact as either assault or obstruction. The agent in effect instigated the contact by looking to unnecessarily continue to assault the woman on the ground. Why wasn’t he issuing commands and then waiting to see compliance. There was not an exigent circumstance to simply jump to more beatings and spraying. Still, that’s not what puts him in a court of law. If he was the second agent to shoot, that decision should create a question for a jury….either manslaughter or negligent homicide.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 1/29/2026 @ 10:54 amThere have been plenty of links to the pink lady video. What you write about is either about a different part of the encounter or you just haven’t seen the segment I am talking about. I gave a play by play earlier on a different thread. Maybe I am wrong, which is ok. But I cannot spend time debating something that either isn’t in the video or is in the video but not what I am pointing out.
I will now read the rest of your comment.
BuDuh (f5fa1c) — 1/29/2026 @ 10:58 amI do believe you are talking about the same segment, AJ. I disagree that it was incidental contact. IMO, Pretti intentionality reaches for the officers arm and lacking the super-human speed to change his action at the exact same instance that his mind made the decision (supposedly the Officer that shot Good possessed this impossible ability), he did grab it before realizing he made a terrible mistake.
I would like to get into what I think happened amongst a mix of terrible decisions, but I have an appointment to go to AJ. I will be back.
BuDuh (611c54) — 1/29/2026 @ 11:05 amLack of support / coordination by local law enforcement is probably why they didn’t take him into custody. I didn’t see anything from Pretti the day he was shot that indicated he was out of control or violent on that day.
To me it didn’t look like the agent sprayed him for grabbing their arm. It’s far for definitive but the agent seemed angry when he shoved the lady and sprayed Pretti and the Lady when Pretti went to help her and got between them. His actions after being pepper sprayed are chaotic, and that’s not abnormal. Being blinded and in pain makes it very hard to take deliberate thoughtful actions.
Time123 (09f21f) — 1/29/2026 @ 11:06 amPretti never grabbed the agent because he was holding his cell phone in his right hand the whole time.
Paul Montagu (1c2835) — 1/29/2026 @ 11:09 amThey would have ad to call local or state police because they have no power of criminal arrest, only civil arrest on immigration violations, or accusations of that, and the Minneapolis police were not getting involved.. maybe they could have made a citizen’s arrest. But that would have interrupted their “work” for one thing.
And, I understand, they were getting paid extra per arrest, whether or not their arrest stood up.
They (or one of them) chose to (summarily and illegally) inflict a punishment on him instead by pushing him down while driving away.
It’s kind of stupid, if you think they are bad guys, to confront them – even within the law – but maybe he thought they weren’t really bad guys
I think we can safely assume he was not a jihadist anxious to martyr himself or suicidal for some other reason.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 1/29/2026 @ 11:11 amYou even took the time to link the video, Paul. But you refuse to watch it?
Like I said before several times. Watch Pretti’s left hand and the officer’s left forearm.
I have to go now.
BuDuh (611c54) — 1/29/2026 @ 11:12 amBuduh,
The link you provided in comment 15 says the nurse has been fired from her job after an investigation. I understand that people get emotional and say stupid things. A nurse publicly advocating violence in the way that she did is not suited to being a nurse right now and i understand why her employer doesn’t want her working for them. (I don’t think she’s permanently unemployable, but anyone that hires her is taking a risk) But I don’t want a LEO who threatens to ‘erase my voice’ if I’m being too loud working for me.
An organization isn’t defined by their worst member, but organizations are defined by how they respond when their members do / say unacceptable things. One of the features of this has been a lack of accountability and transparency when mistakes are made by DHS. I’m not saying this officer should be fired. But they should get some coaching respecting the rights of citizens and their leadership should be clear that the sentiment they espoused isn’t in line with US values.
We’re Americans. We have every right to tell the the police loudly and to their face that we think they’re jack booted pigs. It’s rude, obnoxious, and unadvisable but we have the right.
Time123 (09f21f) — 1/29/2026 @ 11:17 amWell, that could be an argument that he wasn’t properly trained. Butm as I said, hearing someone else shout “gun” either once or several times and then NOT seeing a gun, and NOT hearing anyone say that he has recovered it, could get him to believe that the gun was still on him. But he was prevented from using it wherever it was. Whether or not it was reasonable fora person to be in fear of his life or fear that somebody else could be injured or killed is a matter fora jury to determine.
There’s also the fact that a different person could have a gun. They at least didn’t randomly fire.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 1/29/2026 @ 11:21 amPaul, In this video at 49 seconds Pretty appears to reach or and briefly grab or push the agent’s arm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG9pw-lEflA&list=RDNSYG9pw-lEflA&start_radio=1
Time123 (09f21f) — 1/29/2026 @ 11:31 amA different person did indeed have a gun shortly (probably nowhere near them at the time) according to the the Wall Street Journal’s story that talked about a CBP preliminary report forwarded to Congress – but he wasn’t killed.
This is mentioned only in the print edition of the Wall Street Journal of Wednesday, January 28, 2026, page A5.
I don’t know why the Wall Street Journal cut this from the online version of this article. Or it could be that what I found online was an early version of that article.
he online version, Updated Jan. 28, 2026 2:10 pm ET, is also missing the paragraph about an agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement attempting to enter the Ecuadorian consulate in Minneapolis where some Ecuadorans had sought sanctuary and being refused (according to a statement in Spanish issued by Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility.)
I found some stories about that, like this one: But not when Google searching
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/ice-agents-blocked-from-entering-ecuadorian-consulate-in-minneapolis-256723525707
If Trump was paying attention he might threaten Ecuador with imposing new tariffs.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 1/29/2026 @ 11:48 amHeh. Lloyd, the ever present scold. You funny!
Dana (094089) — 1/29/2026 @ 12:03 pmI saw contact, BuDuh and Time, and that Agent 1 initiated contact and moved him backward, and that video of such contact wasn’t in the final seconds of Pretti’s life. My point stands.
Paul Montagu (1c2835) — 1/29/2026 @ 12:10 pmThis is believable, Appalled, so long as folks don’t revisit your post-Kirk comments here.
The amount of pixels here devoted to Pretti and Good dwarfs any spent in the abandoned/abused/trafficked kids by at least a hundred fold, so my comment just happens to be 100% accurate. I’m relieved that you see the consequences of the policies you support, and are completely unfazed by it.
lloyd (a2ad70) — 1/29/2026 @ 12:25 pmnk, have you considered adding “gerbil” to your comments again so norcal can think they’re witty?
lloyd (a2ad70) — 1/29/2026 @ 12:27 pmIn New York it is a little bit different: (but the Councilmember’s legally licensed gun wasn’t loaded, so she didn’t break the law)
https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2023/10/council-member-inna-vernikov-brought-gun-protest-did-she-break-law/391185/
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 1/29/2026 @ 12:32 pmHilarious how folks can’t allow themselves to go beyond calling Pretti’s actions “obnoxious”. Common sense is just a bridge too far.
lloyd (a2ad70) — 1/29/2026 @ 12:32 pmI winder if the demonstrations could be organized by the government of Ecuador
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 1/29/2026 @ 12:33 pm“he did grab it before realizing he made a terrible mistake”
I agree that there was some contact, but I don’t think it was purposeful or aggressive….hence incidental. Sort of like when two people attempt to occupy the same space and inadvertently make contact. Yes, Pretti was trying to get in between, but he was not challenging as evidenced by his immediate hands up and his continued holding of his phone…and his turning toward the woman. From the in-car video, the distance between Pretti and the agent was more than an arm length very quickly. Now, all of this must also include the perceptions of the agent as well and his actions…and also the geography of the encounter. They were literally right next to snow-covered median between the street and sidewalk which appeared difficult to navigate. So, an agent yelling for protesters to move to the sidewalk would need to also recognize that he would need to give them a minute to awkwardly navigate the median. This agent did not and was using the woman being down on the ground as an excuse to further engage with her…if it wasn’t for a new target, Pretti, to appear. Again, grab sounds to me purposeful and aggressive. Maybe it warrants a push….and clear directives…followed by a moment to give people an opportunity to comply. Here, things escalated. The pepper spraying of the women conveys someone raging and acting out indiscriminately. That works against the agent in my view.
Did the perimeter need to be widened? Was the spraying agent being directed by a superior to do what he was doing? Were the actions of the agents coordinated….were they as a team working toward a goal…or kind of doing their own thing? Was the immigrant arrest being hindered by Pretti or the women? Would there be consensus by individuals who train these agents that the tactics were bad, even if the encounter was in fact legal? So, even if I’ve been Mr. Hot-Take on these two incidents, I do believe that an objective review is more than warranted. Many of us have little confidence that a DHS review will be that because of how outrageous Noem’s statements have been and how they must also reflect the White House’s preferred narrative. A whitewash will give Democrats an issue…a legitimate one.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 1/29/2026 @ 12:37 pm@58, How would you characterize his behavior in the videos from the day he was killed?
Time123 (09f21f) — 1/29/2026 @ 12:38 pmAJ, I’m not sure how relevant that is. If it was an accidental contact or an intentional grab that he quickly thought better of I don’t think it justifies deploying pepper spray. His stepped in front and his posture wasn’t threatening. I think the agent over reacted by using pepper spray. I don’t see anything Pretti did that would justify pepper spray followed by being struck repeatedly by multiple officers, let along shot.
Time123 (09f21f) — 1/29/2026 @ 12:41 pmThe demonstrations were going on long before the attempt to enter Ecuador’s consulate.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 1/29/2026 @ 12:59 pm@62
Just to remind folks here…
The issue is really about ‘use of force’ doctrine.
Even if Pretti simply inserted himself between the woman and the officer, right there he’s committing a misdemeanor and can be arrested. That’s before Pretti made any sort of contact.
We can both hold that a) Pretti shouldn’t have inserted himself like this and b) question ICE on their shooting.
whembly (f921bc) — 1/29/2026 @ 3:22 pm“AJ, I’m not sure how relevant that is. If it was an accidental contact or an intentional grab that he quickly thought better of I don’t think it justifies deploying pepper spray.”
Whether something is sufficient to be considered obstruction or assault will not be up to biased internet observers. We give law enforcement people broad discretion to decide what force is appropriate. So, in terms of internal discipline or any sort of legal cupability, it comes down to what a reasonable officer interprets from all of the facts of the situation, including what was said during and before the encounter which we simply don’t know. Bad policing may not be illegal policing.
Again, I believe that the officer had the authority to shove the woman if she was not following his command to get out of the street. He probably also has the authority to initiate detaining her or arresting her, though it’s not clear to me that he gave her the opportunity to comply after knocking her down. He also has the discretion to remove Pretti from being an obstacle, with one way being to deploy the pepper spray.
All of the does not take into account whether this is good policing that shouldn’t be sanctioned. If he escalates a situation and uses too much force causing other bad results like Pretti being shot, then I think he should be sanctioned and probably fired. I believe the manic way he was deploying the pepper spray…especially aiming it at the women who were trying to retreat….tells me he was out of control and no longer reliably viewing the situation. I think many objective observers would question that point forward. Still, the legal question is whether the use of lethal force was appropriate or if it was accidental, would it be a reasonable error?
AJ_Liberty (d7b377) — 1/29/2026 @ 5:18 pmBullsht to that. Beating up on a civilian woman was outside his mission parameters, to capture an illegal with a record of traffic tickets.
Paul Montagu (1c2835) — 1/29/2026 @ 5:52 pmCNN just showed devastating new integrated video which tracks the two agents who fired the shots (black hat and brown beenie)…which does include the one agent who knocked over the woman, pepper sprayed the women and Pretti, and initiated the scuffle.
The video IS disturbing as we see the first 5 shots very clearly from a new view…where Pretti is on his knees. We then see him rolled over on his back looking incapacitated when we see the second agent unload 5 more shots into him as he backs away from Pretti. You clearly see the recoil of the two weapons as they are firing. Importantly, you do not hear any shots prior to the 10 shots.
One of the shooters was the agent using the pepper spray cannister to strike Pretti in the head. Where was the immediate threat, especially after he lay motionless on the ground without a gun in sight? There are remedies for agents who assault women unnecessarily or escalate situations using pepper spray. But the shooting? This should be a criminal matter. There’s no imagining this away….
AJ_Liberty (d7b377) — 1/29/2026 @ 6:32 pmThere’s no imagining this away….
AJ_Liberty (d7b377) — 1/29/2026 @ 6:32 pm
There is if one wants to continue to feel good about supporting Trump. Harshing that tribalist buzz just isn’t fun.
norcal (9d1ab1) — 1/29/2026 @ 6:43 pmnorcal, you are probably the only person who comments here who has lived experience in this domain of policing, what are your views on the shootings and the tactics employed? I understand you despise the whistling but what are your views on the quality of the policing and the lack of de-escalation?
AJ_Liberty (d7b377) — 1/29/2026 @ 7:11 pmEric Ericsson: Dog killer noem trying to sabotage homan tells ice officials in Minnesota to report to her not homan. The wolves are devouring each other. Darkness at noon.
asset (3bfd5e) — 1/29/2026 @ 7:59 pm@66
The officers are well within their purview to arrest someone to prevent the officer’s ability to do their job.
Furthermore, I’m in the camp that we should deport as many illegals possible. Even if they have a record of traffic tickets.
whembly (f921bc) — 1/29/2026 @ 8:22 pmAJ_Liberty (d7b377) — 1/29/2026 @ 7:11 pm
I wasn’t part of ICE, but rather a sister agency. (I first worked for INS. INS was abolished circa 2004, and replaced by three different agencies.) Nonetheless, I rubbed shoulders with ICE agents regularly.
I recall the ICE agents back then going to several months of training. All of these fast hires in the past year, based on questionable recruiting ads, plus 47 days of training (you know, to honor the 47th president), are not going to result in smooth law enforcement. You want well-trained and seasoned officers doing these things. Most of the guys I knew are probably retired like me.
As I’ve said before, I think both sides have contributed to this conflagration. Trump, ever since he came down the escalator, has insinuated that illegal immigrants in general are vermin and criminals. That is incorrect. The criminals are a small minority. Stephen Miller, with his insane quotas, has ensured that ICE won’t be too careful in how it goes about filling those quotas. (On a related note, I don’t like how Trump dragged his feet after the Supreme Court said he should facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia from El Salvador. Trump simply couldn’t bring himself to comply right away. No, that would be a loss of face.)
On the other hand, Democrats need to realize that Trump campaigned on mass deportations. He won the election. Elections have consequences.
People should stop trying to prevent ICE from doing its job. They can say they are there to monitor abuses, but who are they kidding? They are against ICE officers arresting people who are here illegally. Neither states nor individuals get to nullify the results of a Presidential election, or override the enforcement of federal law.
Walz and Frey are to blame for whipping up Minnesotans against ICE, and calling for ICE to leave Minnesota. Sorry, guys. You don’t get to exempt Minnesota and Minneapolis from immigration enforcement. Now you have all these people who are very worked up, and who think they are fighting for some sacred cause.
If they don’t like the immigration laws, or enforcement thereof, then they should work to change them, or elect a different President. Trying to prevent ICE from doing its job is simply not accepting the consequences of the election. You lost. Get over it.
Not letting the local police assist ICE in making sure the crowds don’t get out of control is further foolishness.
And don’t get me started on sanctuary cities. What if conservative areas or states declared themselves sanctuaries from gay marriage, and only issued marriage licenses to heterosexual couples? They would be forced to comply with federal law, and rightly so.
In sum, Trump should stop the quotas, hire better officers, and provide longer training. Also, he should stop lying about these shootings. And stop saying sh!t like illegal immigrants are poisoning our blood, or eating geese and pets, etc. Anything that makes illegals seem less than human is going to subtly contribute to ICE brutality.
The left needs to acknowledge that they lost the election, and that illegal immigrants are going to be deported. Stop antagonizing people against ICE. People like Pretti should realize that they can’t veto the enforcement of immigration law, and they should stop thinking they’re on some kind of holy crusade.
And here’s another thing. People need to realize why ICE officers wear masks. Whenever the police are going after murderers, rapist, robbers, thieves, etc., people aren’t usually going to protest in the street and doxx the police making those arrests, so the police don’t have to hide their faces.
Immigration is a different animal. There is broad disagreement on the enforcement of immigration law. At any given time, roughly half the people in the area where ICE is making an arrest will be against the arrest of an illegal alien. Not only are they against it, they think it’s noble to oppose it, and sometimes they resort to threats against and the doxxing of ICE officers for doing their jobs.
I’ve said this several times before, but the best way to stop illegal immigration is 1) Mandatory E-Verify in every workplace nationwide, and 2) No public benefits for illegals. If they can’t work, and they can’t get anything from the government, there is no magnet, and many already in the U.S. will self-deport.
Romney proposed an E-Verify bill in 2024. It went nowhere.
norcal (9d1ab1) — 1/29/2026 @ 9:43 pmRomney did the thing that would most effective.
Trump is doing the thing that is most performative.
But, remember. Romney is the RINO. 🙄
norcal (9d1ab1) — 1/29/2026 @ 10:10 pm@73
DeSantis did those things for state of Florida. Far from a RINO there.
whembly (d4d508) — 1/30/2026 @ 6:11 amYou don’t think prosecutions against violent criminals involves threats to witnesses and the authorities? You don’t think organizations that are opposed to law enforcement in general have every incentive and motivation to go after police and harass them to make doing their job unpleasant?
Also, I reject the notion that it is “doxxing” to inform the public who is enforcing the law. The State effectively has a monopoly on that role. A huge percentage of the country is going to oppose masked agents of the state doing that job, especially when, as here, it seems like the people in charge have very little incentive to do anything when those agents cross the line. Whatever you may think of the merits of the Good shooting, for example, it’s patently absurd to investigate everyone but the actual shooter.
JohnnyAgreeable (5e5425) — 1/30/2026 @ 6:48 amAren’t these points somewhat in tension? Winning an election obviously gives you the power to enact your preferred policies, but it doesn’t equal a strong mandate to do so if you win by very narrow margins.
Additionally, it’s even worse than that, because a great number of people who support Republicans over Democrats on immigration don’t support how Trump is doing it. You don’t have to look very far to find plenty of local stories about an illegal immigrant who is being deported despite being a valued member of the local community. The message of all these pieces is usually, “I voted for Trump, but I didn’t vote for this.” (Read: I wanted illegals who commit crimes deported.)
There’s a guy on Substack I follow named Jeff Mauer. He posted a graphic summary of his thoughts recently, saying that “Draconian enforcement of all immigration laws” is where Trump is at. “Practical enforcement of all immigration laws” he described as where the majority of Americans are. “Practical enforcement of some immigration laws” he characterized as a mistaken view of the left on where they think the majority of Americans are. Finally, he described “No enforcement of any immigration laws” as “The useful idiots who will get Trump elected to a 3rd, 4th, and 5th term.”
I think that’s about right. You can–like me!–think that Biden and the Democratic party is very bad on immigration and therefore want that to change. But that doesn’t mean you will retain public support when you swing entirely to the other extreme.
JohnnyAgreeable (5e5425) — 1/30/2026 @ 6:59 amI *really* think the masks, para-military look, and lack of consistent uniforms is a detriment to enforcement.
-The masks de-humanize the agents and make them look more thugish.
-They’re dressed like ‘militia dudes‘, not police officers. This makes them look ‘less official‘. It also makes the scene more chaotic.
-The lack of clear and easily recognized markings plus the face masks makes them look less like official public servants are more like right wing foot soldiers. Which is fuel for the dumber and more into their own drama left wing protestors.
I want immigration laws enforced efficiently and professionally with the minimal amount of force needed. What the trump administration has been doing *isn’t that*. Excessive force, lethal force that wasn’t needed (such as shooting Good and Pretti which even if justifiable mistakes were mistakes) and violations of civil rights (such as breaking into a mans home without a warrant) all carried out with a lack of accountability is unacceptable in the short term and counter productive in the long term.
One small step that I think would help would be to have the enforcement agents look less like masked special forces wannabes and more like professional members of law enforcement.
Time123 (49c8e2) — 1/30/2026 @ 8:22 amI don’t recall ICE/CBP wearing masks pre-Trump, leaving Covid aside.
Paul Montagu (c3f6cb) — 1/30/2026 @ 12:06 pm