Time for ICE to Pause in Minneapolis [View all]

When Donald Trump visited the Journal in October 2024, he was asked how he’d implement his mass deportation policy to avoid appearing to be cruel and inviting a political backlash.

His answer was surprisingly nuanced. He said he had to deport illegal migrants because “we can’t handle these people coming in right now. But the interest from the heart, yeah, something’s got to be done. I’m not going to do that [separate families]. I can’t do that. Okay, thank you. Really good question. I mean, there’s some human questions that get in the way of being perfect, and we have to have the heart, too. Okay?”

Fifteen months later in Minneapolis, there isn’t much heart in Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Saturday shooting of Alex Pretti, as he lay on the ground surrounded by ICE agents, is the worst incident to date in what is becoming a moral and political debacle for the Trump Presidency.
***
Videos of an event aren’t always definitive, but this is how it looks to us. Pretti attempted, foolishly, to assist a woman who had been pepper-sprayed by agents. Multiple agents then tackled Pretti, and he had a phone in one hand as he lay on the ground. An agent discovered a concealed gun on Pretti, and disarmed him. An agent then shot Pretti, and multiple shots followed.

The Trump Administration spin on this simply isn’t believable. Stephen Miller, the political architect of the mass deportation policy, called Pretti a “domestic terrorist.” He was a nurse without a criminal record.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/time-for-ice-to-pause-in-minneapolis-e9ecf097?st=CNhC2d&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

This administration has even lost the Wall Street Journal on the Pretti murder...