Hope Walz, the daughter of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D), openly criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Saturday, describing the agency as “unfundable” and a “terrible Gestapo.”
In a TikTok video, she expressed her “deep sadness” and “great anger” over the recent shooting of 37-year-old Alex Preti by Border Patrol agents.
“ICE has brutally beaten, murdered, and maybe even executed individuals in the Twin Cities,” Hope stated. “A nurse at a VA hospital started lying openly about it.”
She urged people to reach out to their senators to advocate against funding for ICE. “This awful Gestapo should not, and cannot, be funded,” she insisted. “So call your senators. Tell all your senators to defund ICE, because it’s absolutely deplorable at this point.”
According to a report from AWR Hawkins at Breitbart News, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that Border Patrol agents were “conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against illegal aliens wanted for violent assault” when Preti approached them “with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun.”
In their statement, the agents mentioned they were “conducting a targeted operation against an undocumented immigrant wanted for violent assault.” During this operation, a man approached a “U.S. Border Patrol agent with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun.”
When officers attempted to disarm him, he “violently resisted,” according to police.
NBC News reported that DHS claimed agents shot and killed Mr. Preti in self-defense as he resisted efforts to disarm him. However, bystander video footage “was taken from various angles and seems to contradict parts of DHS’s account.”
Witnesses recorded the encounter, and video circulated widely on social media over the weekend. While the DHS maintains that its officers shot Preti in self-defense after he resisted, witness videos suggest inconsistencies in the department’s version of events.
A spokesperson for DHS confirmed that “law enforcement is reviewing body camera video from immigration officers” related to the recent shootings.
This incident followed another shooting involving ICE agents, where Renee Good was killed. She had been accused of “using a vehicle as a weapon” against ICE officers.
