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Vice President JD Vance called the unrest in Minnesota “engineered chaos” in the wake of another fatal, federal agent-involved shooting over the weekend.
On Saturday, 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a Minneapolis nurse who was carrying a licensed handgun while protesting a federal immigration enforcement operation, was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Authorities say Pretti resisted arrest after trying to intervene in the operation.
In response to the shooting, Vance accused “far-left agitators working with local authorities” of creating the conditions that led to the confrontation between Pretti and the border patrol agents.
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“This level of engineered chaos is unique to Minneapolis,” Vance said in a post on X. “It is the direct consequence of far left agitators, working with local authorities.”
His remarks come as a familiar network of far-left groups mobilize nationwide, often coalescing around disparate causes.
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Police in tactical gear arrive on the street in downtown Minneapolis as protesters gather on Jan. 17, 2026. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
In Minneapolis, the unrest intensified after the shooting, leading several local officials, including Gov. Tim Walz, to call on the Department of Homeland Security and the Trump administration to pull Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from the city.
Walz said in a post on X that he spoke with the White House “after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning.”
“Minnesota has had it,” Walz said. “This is sickening. The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.”
On Sunday, Walz said: “Minnesota believes in law and order. We believe in peace,” and called on Trump to pull “untrained agents” out of the state.
But the White House wasn’t keen on budging.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to local leadership calling for the withdrawal of federal law enforcement from Minnesota, writing on X that the focus should not be on removing officers but on removing “dangerous criminal illegal aliens” from the state.
“The Democrats have their priorities completely upside down. They will not keep the American people safe,” Leavitt wrote.
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Mourners gather at a makeshift memorial in the area where ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot dead a day earlier by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 25, 2026. (Octavio Jones/AFP/Getty Images)
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said Pretti approached agents while armed with a 9 mm pistol and two magazines and “violently resisted” when officers tried to disarm him, prompting one agent to fire.
Local video footage and eyewitness accounts, however, appear to show Pretti holding only his phone before he was pepper-sprayed and pinned to the ground, raising questions about the government’s account of the encounter.
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He was shot several times and pronounced dead at the scene. State officials later said Pretti had a lawful permit to carry the firearm.
Minnesota Democrats pushed back on the White House’s characterization, arguing the federal operation escalated tensions and endangered residents, including those not targeted by immigration enforcement.
