Shockwaves from the shooting death of an anti-ICE Minneapolis protester over the weekend are reverberating throughout the Republican Party and even dividing conservative leaders within Florida — the most ICE-friendly state in the nation.
The cracks in the resounding GOP support for the Department of Homeland Security are both rare and a first under President Donald Trump, whose promise of mass deportations helped him win in November 2024. But the tactics employed to carry out that agenda have begun to raise concerns, even among the president’s most ardent of supporters.
“Distorting, politicizing, slandering — justifying what happened to Alex Pretti contradicts the American values the administration campaigned on,” Republican state Sen. Ileana Garcia posted on social media Monday morning. The Miamian co-founded “Latinas for Trump” in 2016.
“He was neither a domestic terrorist nor an assassin. … Allowing individuals like Stephen Miller, among others, who represent the government and make hard-line decisions, to make such comments will have long-term consequences,” she warned. “This is not what I voted for!”
This is the second time Garcia, the daughter of Cuban exiles, has criticized the Trump administration’s actions on undocumented immigration. In June, she similarly blasted Trump’s homeland security adviser, Miller, for his “inhumane” approach to mass deportations.
Other Republicans like U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar offered more muted criticisms.
“Washington’s failure on immigration is hitting our streets. Minneapolis is the result of Washington refusing to fix a broken immigration system and continuing to enforce outdated laws,” she wrote on social media, calling for an end to “chaos” and “tragedy.”
“There is precisely one bipartisan bill … that revamps our immigration system, including ICE enforcement policy, so they don’t need to be out in large-scale operations in our communities,” she added.
Florida Republicans have long-touted how the Sunshine State is the most friendly in the nation to Trump’s mass deportation agenda. This includes multiple state-run migrant detention centers, all 67 counties partnering with ICE, and laws (although contested) preventing undocumented immigrants from entering the state.
What happened?
On Saturday, 37-year-old VA ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed during a struggle with Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis. Pretti, who had a revolver stowed in his belt, approached an officer while recording. The agent had just shoved a woman to the ground, videos show.
Pretti was quickly swarmed by five officers. According to video footage, one officer appears to take Pretti’s revolver out of his waistband before another discharges his weapon and kills him.
DHS offered another version of events.
“An individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. The officers attempted to disarm the suspect, but the armed suspect reacted violently,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem claimed.
This was the second videoed death of an ICE protester in Minneapolis in a matter of weeks. On Jan. 7, 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by ICE while fleeing in her vehicle. Officials say she was attempting to run over an agent with her car, prompting the lethal action.
Growing call for action
Garcia isn’t the only Republican demanding answers. U.S. Rep. Andrew Garbarino, a New York Republican chairing the House Homeland Security Committee, is requesting ICE and CBP testify in front of his panel.
Other congressional members from Texas, North Carolina, Louisiana, Maine, and Alaska are also calling for an investigation. Even Sen. Pete Ricketts, a Nebraska Republican and staunch Trump supporter, has asked for a “transparent investigation.” Others like the National Rifle Association have criticized the administration in the surrounding chatter of Pretti’s death.
This came after FBI Director Kash Patel claimed, “You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest.” That’s false, and the NRA said as much.
But not all Republicans are breaking ranks. Gov. Ron DeSantis blamed Minnesota’s Democratic leadership for its “toxic environment,” although he didn’t mention Pretti’s death specifically. His office did not respond to a request for comment on Pretti.
“What we’re not doing is what people like [Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz] and what this Mayor are doing, which is basically trying to sabotage the enforcement operations,” DeSantis said during an unrelated press conference Monday morning. “ They’re creating a toxic environment where they’re really inciting people to go out and show hostility to the agents who are doing this. That is not a recipe for success. That is not the way that you do business.”
Pretti’s death has even been reflected into the looming Florida gubernatorial race. Democrat David Jolly, a former Republican member of Congress, called the shooting a “murder” and demanded Noem be removed from her post.
“We know what we saw. An American citizen practicing civil disobedience was disarmed and then shot 10 times in the street, and his body lay lifeless and he was murdered,” Jolly said during a campaign event, Florida Today reported.
But his opponent and favored candidate to replace DeSantis, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, saw the situation differently. On an appearance with Fox News, Donalds — endorsed by Trump — apologized to immigration agents for “having to deal with all these protests.”
“We stand behind you, we want you to continue to do your job on behalf of the United States of America,” he said.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Contact Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
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