The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents during a January 24 protest in Minneapolis has drawn sharp condemnation from LGBTQ lawmakers, as scrutiny grows over the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement and the conduct of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse at a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital, was using his phone to record the actions of Customs and Border Patrol and ICE officers who had been deployed to Minneapolis amid protests over a surge of federal agents tasked with arresting and deporting non-citizens.
As reported by The New York Times, video of the altercation leading to Pretti’s death shows that he intervened after a federal officer shoved a civilian, who was attempting to act as a legal observer, to the ground. As Pretti tried to assist the civilian, an agent pepper-sprayed him before several officers tackled him.
One agent struck Pretti with a pepper spray canister, while another discovered a gun holstered at his hip. A third agent, who had already drawn his weapon, then shot Pretti. At least one additional agent also fired, and Pretti was declared dead at the scene.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both CBP and ICE, have claimed that Pretti threatened agents with a gun and caused officers to fear for their lives. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti “arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.” However, videos of the altercation contradict DHS’s account, with no footage showing Pretti ever brandishing the legally registered weapon in his possession.
Nearly all prominent LGBTQ elected officials at the national level have condemned Pretti’s shooting.
“ICE and DHS are out of control and making our communities less safe,” U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said in a post on X. “I will not support funding for DHS without clear accountability and stronger controls over the agency. It is time for the Senate to do its job and rein in this lawlessness.”
“Heartbreak doesn’t convey the devastation of what happened to Alex Jeffrey Pretti today. His own government killed him in cold blood,” U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) wrote on social media, urging her Senate counterparts to reject DHS funding. “The Senate cannot pass the DHS funding bill to allow these disgusting actions to continue.”
“Another senseless tragedy is unfolding today in Minneapolis,” added U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.), a Democrat seeking a Senate seat in the upcoming November 2026 election. “As we wait for more information, it’s clear that the federal government cannot continue to impede local law enforcement, erode trust, and put communities at risk. ICE is out of control and we need accountability now.”
“Once again, the administration is telling us not to believe the videos,” U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the House’s only transgender member, said in a post to her personal X account, referencing footage of an ICE agent’s shooting of Renee Good weeks earlier that did not align with DHS officials’ claims that Good was the aggressor. “DHS agents went after an observer, they beat him, and then shot him over and over again. I voted against DHS funding last week precisely because this shit is shocking, but, tragically, not surprising.”
“I voted to defund ICE, as did most House Democrats,” U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres wrote on his personal X account. “The Senate must now do the same. Too many lives have been lost to unbridled brutality. ICE’s cruelty must be filibustered.”
U.S. Rep. Emily Randall (D-Wash.) called for Noem’s impeachment in the caption of a video she posted to Facebook, addressing Pretti’s killing and what she described as a “fascist takeover” carried out by federal agents acting at the Trump administration’s direction.
“Lawless DHS agents are out of control. Murdering people in the streets, detaining children on their way home from school, and terrorizing our communities. That’s why I voted FUCK NO on the DHS funding package,” she wrote.
U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) also called for Noem’s impeachment on X, writing: “ICE and DHS agents are brutalizing and killing people in our streets. They are a lawless agency, and we need to use every lever of power to hold them all accountable, starting at the top.”
U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Texas) was more blunt in her assessment of the killing and what she believes must be done next.
“This is cold-blooded murder,” she wrote in a post on her official congressional X account, sharing video footage of Pretti’s last moments. “The ICE officers involved need to be taken off the streets and prosecuted. And to Senate Democrats, the Department of Homeland Security shouldn’t receive a penny in funding. ICE needs to STOP terrorizing and killing American citizens.”
Erik Bottcher, the New York City Council member who represents some of the Big Apple’s most LGBTQ-friendly neighborhoods, has abruptly dropped out of the race for New York’s 12th Congressional District to pursue an open New York State Senate seat.
An openly gay Democrat, Bottcher drew early headlines even before officially launching his campaign. While running for reelection to his City Council seat in October, he filed paperwork to seek New York’s 12th Congressional District, which includes Midtown Manhattan, Chelsea, the Upper West Side, and the Upper East Side. The district’s longtime incumbent, U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D), is set to retire at the end of 2026 after seventeen terms in office.
A masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a queer woman in Minneapolis after opening fire through the window of her SUV during a confrontation in the street.
Video footage posted online shows two masked ICE officers approaching a Honda Pilot stopped in the middle of Portland Avenue near 34th Street in Minneapolis' Powderhorn neighborhood. One agent can be heard yelling at the SUV's driver -- later identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good -- telling her to "get out of the fucking car" while attempting to open the driver's door, as a second officer stands back.
Five major LGBTQ groups have endorsed California State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) in his bid for California's 11th Congressional District, currently represented by House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who announced her retirement last month.
Among the organizations backing Wiener are The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBTQ advocacy organization; Equality California, the state's largest LGBTQ advocacy organization; Equality PAC, the political arm of the Congressional LGBTQ Equality Caucus; the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, which works to increase LGBTQ political representation; and the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus.
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