TWO LEGAL OBSERVERS MURDERED IN ONE MONTH; COMMUNITIES SOUND ALARM ON ESCALATING IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT VIOLENCE
UNITED STATES — January 24, 2026 — Rapid response and community observer groups across the country are grieving and alarmed following reports that Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37 year old Minneapolis resident, was shot and killed by federal agents on Saturday morning. Eyewitness accounts indicate that Pretti was not the target of immigration enforcement and was present as a civilian legal observer during federal operations.
This killing follows the January 7 shooting death of Renée Good, a mother of three, during a federal immigration enforcement operation in the same city. In less than one month, two legal observers have been murdered by federal agents in Minneapolis. Together, these deaths reveal a deeply disturbing pattern of escalating violence within immigration enforcement that now includes lethal force against civilians and legal observers who pose no apparent threat.
“We want to be clear: the violence perpetrated against immigrants and the racial profiling of citizens and non-citizens alike is state-sanctioned brutality that infringes upon the rights, safety, and liberty of all people,” said Jordan Kerzee of Ulster Rapid Response.
Legal observers and community witnesses are unarmed civilians whose presence reflects a commitment to transparency, restraint, and accountability. Their role exists to uphold the principle that public authority must be exercised with care for human life and respect for the limits of power. Violence against someone serving in this role signals a profound failure to honor that responsibility.
Frontline DIGNITY, a national rapid response organization that trains and mobilizes legal observers and community witnesses during immigration enforcement, named the murders as part of a broader pattern of harm.“Today’s killing in Minneapolis points to something deeply broken in our public life. Protecting
human dignity requires that we refuse to accept this violence as normal and demand accountability for those who bear witness in the pursuit of justice,” said Jaime Martinez, Executive Director of Frontline DIGNITY.
We call for an immediate halt to federal immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, a full and independent investigation into both fatal shootings, and the release of all available evidence. We further demand an immediate halt to all federal funding for ICE, CBP, and related enforcement agencies. No community should be subjected to unchecked force in the name of civil enforcement, and these deaths underscore the urgent moral necessity of abolishing ICE as an institution fundamentally incompatible with human dignity and public safety.
At this moment, we affirm a truth that must not be surrendered. Human dignity does not disappear in moments of enforcement, fear, or dissent. It demands reverence for life, moral restraint in the use of force, and fidelity to the common good. We remain committed to organizing, training, and standing with communities to protect life and uphold dignity, especially when it is most threatened.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: staysi@frontlinedignity.org