The Trump administration is standing by its immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis following a deadly weekend confrontation between federal agents and a U.S. citizen.
U.S. Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino said Sunday that the administration’s “immigration mission” will continue, despite the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti during an altercation with agents. Federal officials say Pretti assaulted officers, forcing them to respond in self-defense.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti approached agents with a handgun and reacted violently when officers attempted to disarm him, describing the encounter as a serious threat to agent safety.
President Donald Trump has defended the Minnesota operations as necessary to enforce immigration laws and reduce crime, emphasizing the need to protect federal officers carrying out their duties.
The incident has drawn criticism from local officials and sparked protests in Minneapolis, while bystander video circulating online has raised questions about the sequence of events. State and local authorities have since filed legal challenges, and a federal judge has ordered evidence related to the shooting preserved ahead of a hearing scheduled for Monday.
The shooting marks the second fatal encounter involving a federal agent this month, further intensifying debate over immigration enforcement and public safety.
Federal agents and protesters clashed on the freezing streets of Minneapolis on Saturday after agents fatally shot a person for the second time in the city in the span of a month.
This video obtained and verified by Reuters of the incident shows multiple Border Patrol agents struggling on the ground with a man, appearing to strike him before shots are fired.
Local media have identified the man who was killed as 37-year-old Alex Pretti.
Public records show Alex Pretti lived in Minneapolis and people who identified themselves on social media as former colleagues said he worked as a nurse.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the Border Patrol agent fired in self defense after attempting to disarm a man who was a U.S. citizen.
Federal officials said he approached them with a handgun and two magazines.
Reuters could not verify DHS's description of events.
Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol agent leading the operations in Minneapolis, said his agents had been in the middle of targeted enforcement operation before the shooting.
BOVINO: “This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
He also said the incident was under investigation.
Local leaders questioned that account later in the day and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called on U.S. President Donald Trump to withdraw the 3,000 agents he has ordered into the city for an immigration crackdown.
WALZ: “Donald Trump, I call on you once again: Remove this force from Minnesota. They are sowing chaos and violence. We've seen deadly violence from federal agents again and again and again.”
Minnesota officials later said that their investigators had been blocked from the scene.
City Police Chief Brian O'Hara said the man killed on Saturday was a lawful gun owner with no criminal record other than traffic violations.
Saturday’s shooting drew hundreds of protesters to the neighborhood where the shooting took place to confront the agents, who deployed tear gas and flash bang grenades.
City police later arrived to manage the crowd, which calmed down after the agents left the area.
It all took place a day after more than 10,000 people took to the streets in frigid conditions to protest the crackdown.
Walz and other Minnesota officials were already at odds with the Trump administration over the shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by a federal immigration agent.
Trump officials have also said that agent acted in self defense in that earlier instance, and have refused to allow local officials to participate in their investigation.
A massive winter storm continues to hit large parts of the country, dumping snow, sleet and freezing rain. Frigid temperatures, power outages, and treacherous road conditions were widespread. The National Weather Service says the storm is expected to continue through Monday. Heavy snow is forecast from the Ohio Valley to the Northeast, while ice threatens the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Southeast. The number of customers without power was more than 800,000, according to poweroutage.us, and the number was rising. More than 10,000 flights have been canceled. President Donald Trump approved emergency declarations for at least a dozen states by Saturday.
Just under 12,000 flights have been canceled for the weekend across the U.S. as a monster storm expected to wreak havoc across much of the country bears down. The storm threatens to knock out power for days and snarl major roadways. Roughly 140 million people were under a winter storm warning from New Mexico to New England. The National Weather Service forecast warns of widespread heavy snow and a band of catastrophic ice stretching from east Texas to North Carolina. The edge of the storm was sending freezing rain and sleet into parts of Texas on Friday night into Saturday, while snow and sleet were falling in Oklahoma.
A man shot by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday (January 24) has died, local and federal officials said, the second fatal shooting involving federal agents this month during a surge in immigration enforcement in the northern U.S. city.
The man, who has not been identified, was armed with a handgun and two magazines, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
A video circulating on social media and aired on cable news stations showed people wearing masks and tactical vests wrestling with a man on a snow-covered street before shots are heard. In the video, the man falls to the ground, and several more shots are heard.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey call for an immediate end to the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operations in the state.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says another person has been shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the man had a firearm with two magazines. Stay with SNC for updates.
Heavy snow was falling over Northwest Texas and Oklahoma City on Friday morning as a major winter storm began moving east across the U.S., bringing deadly cold and the threat of power outages and treacherously icy roads to almost half the nation's population and prompting more than a dozen governors to declare states of emergency.
More than 150 million Americans were under some form of weather emergency notices from the National Weather Service.
Driven by a massive blast of Arctic air from Canada, the storm will move across the nation from the southern Rockies to the East Coast through early Monday, and cover much of the eastern U.S. through the weekend, forecasters said.
At least 14 U.S. states and the District of Columbia had declared states of emergency as of Friday morning, activating resources and mobilizing crews to mitigate the storm's impact by salting roads, preparing to respond to power outages, and more.
Brandon Buckingham, a meteorologist with private forecasting company AccuWeather, said snow and sleet had started to fall Thursday evening in portions of the Central Plains, and warned that there was a danger of ice accumulating on roads, trees and power lines.
"Dallas could see a half-inch of ice," Buckingham said. "This is going to become treacherous very quickly."
He said residents should prepare for "power outages lasting at least several days" in areas where ice accumulates, even though the storm is expected to dissipate by early Monday.
In Oklahoma City, which could see up to 12 inches of snow and a glaze of ice before the weekend is over, supervisor Morgan Mayo of the cafe Not Your Average Joe said customers were packing in on Friday morning to get out of the frigid temperatures: a low of 8 degrees Fahrenheit on Friday.
"We're going to do our darnedest to stay open" even on Saturday when the high is expected to be just 10 degrees, Mayo said. "We have several employees who live in walking distance and are willing to brave the storm."
In Texas, the potentially catastrophic storm recalls a 2021 ice storm that cut power to nearly 40 percent of the state's power grid and left more than 2.7 million people without electricity for days. The storm was blamed for more than 200 deaths, most related to cold temperatures.
The state’s largest electrical grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), said it is ready for this weekend's storm and expects “sufficient generation to meet demand this winter.”
HEADING EAST
As the storm heads east on Saturday and Sunday, upwards of a quarter-inch of ice could accumulate in Atlanta and Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina this weekend.
On Sunday, between 4 and 8 inches of snow will fall on Washington D.C., Baltimore, New York City and Boston, although snow exceeding 12 inches is likely to fall in parts of the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic.
In the nation's capital, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser on Friday declared a state of emergency and a snow emergency to remain in effect from Saturday through Tuesday. Bowser asked the National Guard to provide high-ground-clearance vehicles to ensure first responders could effectively move through the District.
The storm represents the first major test for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who took office just weeks ago. He told local news station NY1 on Friday that the city's sanitation workforce would transform "into the nation’s largest snow-fighting operation" in advance of the heavy snowfall expected on Sunday, but that the city's schools would be open on Monday for either in-person or remote learning.
Forecasters say over half the U.S. population could be affected by snow, ice or bitter cold as a winter storm sweeps across the county. On Friday, schools in Chicago and other cities canceled classes due to extreme cold. Then the storm is forecast to bring snow, sleet, and ice from Texas to New England. Forecasters warn the damage could rival a hurricane, especially in areas hit by ice. More than 1,000 flights were delayed or canceled Friday, with more expected Saturday. People are stocking up on water, food and generators as they prepare for the storm.
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