Raw Story

Immigration agents across the country are quietly rebelling against the Trump administration after being thrust into what they describe as a “no-win situation” following the killing of Minneapolis ICU nurse Alex Pretti, according to a report by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein. Agents told Klippenstein they are furious over what they see as a politically driven “information war” from Washington, rejecting officials’ rush to brand Pretti a “domestic terrorist” despite video evidence showing he was unarmed when shot repeatedly. The administration’s aggressive damage-control narrative has fueled paranoia, fear of retaliation, and deep internal dissent, with some agents openly questioning leadership and even calling for a pullout from Minnesota as confidence in DHS leadership collapses.

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Trump immigration agents revolt after Pretti killing sparks internal backlash Trump immigration agents revolt after Pretti killing sparks internal backlash

Dozens of protesters in Phoenix, Arizona were hit in a drive-by mace attack Monday night by an apparent Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, Phoenix New Times editor Zach Buchanan reported.

“I've been sent video from the end of the ICE raid at the Zipps on 32nd and Shea,” Buchanan wrote in a social media post on X, alongside video of the incident.

“It shows protesters – on the sidewalk, impeding no one – getting drive-by maced by an ICE agent from a truck as it rolls away down the road. Hard to see how such tactics are justifiable.”

In the video, around two dozen demonstrators can be seen protesting ICE on a sidewalk near a sports grill just outside of Phoenix’s downtown area as apparent ICE vehicles drive by. As a silver truck bearing sirens passes by, an individual in the front passenger seat can be seen spraying protesters with what appears to be mace as the vehicle passes by.

“Oh my god, oh my god,” a voice can be heard shouting moments after the protesters were sprayed.

One protester appeared injured by the drive-by mace attack, with others rushing to their aid and one offering them an article of clothing to wipe their face.

Speculation is growing in the wake of another fatal shooting in Minnesota that the Department of Homeland Security is hiring pardoned Jan. 6 rioters as immigration agents.

Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino confirmed that the two agents who shot 37-year-old Alex Pretti were already back on duty, but not in Minneapolis, and has refused to identify them. Journalists who have covered pro-Donald Trump militant groups suspect some of the agents involved in immigration crackdowns are drawn from those extremist ranks.

"Because I filmed the Proud Boys for years, because I was in Charlottesville and at the January 6 riot, and spent five months filming the ICE agents in Federal Plaza I’m convinced they are the same people," said independent visual journalist Sandi Bachom. "It’s impossible to find a whole new army of aggressive, violent, immature, Call to Duty Trump sycophants. That’s why they’re masked. People are gonna start figuring it out. That’s why he pardoned them all."

"I remember thinking when I got back from January 6, well Hitler had an army and Trump doesn’t," Bachom added. "He does now."

Trump pardoned about 1,500 defendants for Jan. 6-related offenses in one of his first official acts upon returning to the White House, and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) two weeks ago – following the shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by a veteran immigration agent – asked administration officials whether the Department of Homeland Security was actively recruiting pro-Trump extremists.

"The American people deserve to know how many of these violent insurrectionists have been given guns and badges by this Administration," Raskin wrote in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. "Who is hiding behind these masks? How many of them were among the violent rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6th and were convicted of their offenses?"

Senate Democrats have threatened to withhold funding for DHS without major reforms to ICE, including a possible ban on masking, and state legislatures are advancing bills to ban federal agents from obscuring their identities while on duty, and the secrecy surrounding Pretti's killers has set off alarms about their actual identities.

"There is another, more disturbing prospect: Are ICE agents actual bad dudes the administration hired rapidly with no background checks — possibly criminal (maybe pardoned J6ers?) — and the administration doesn’t want that information getting out?" wondered journalist Robert A. George. "IOW, the masks represent a LITERAL coverup. Now, we know this isn’t universally the case: Jonathan Ross who shot Renee Good is an ICE veteran. But the spiriting out of Minneapolis the agents who killed Alex Pretti is certainly…curious."

"This is purely speculation on my part, but hey, I didn’t call them domestic terrorists or anything," George added.

Their suspicions seemed to be shared by many others.

"Anyone else notice how the Proud Boys, Three Percenters, Oath Keepers, Patriot Front, etc. were always out there marching to support and protect law enforcement...until recently?" asked University of Washington biologist Carl T. Bergstrom. "They're never out there supporting ICE. It's so odd, like Superman and Clark Kent."

The Atlantic's Robert F. Worth spoke to an activist on the ground in Minneapolis who agreed.

"It became clear very quickly that ICE is the Proud Boys, the Boogaloo boys," said Dan, who trained as a legal observer but asked to keep his last name shielded. "They’ve given them uniforms and let them run wild."

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is expected to keep her job after meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump to discuss her handling of the immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota that has led to the shooting deaths of two Americans.

The president is reportedly unhappy with Noem's response to the fatal shooting Saturday of 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents, and sources told CBS News that the DHS secretary was hit with questions about her leadership.

CBS reported that sources said Noem is not likely to be fired, but "her focus is expected to shift from immigration enforcement operations in the interior of the country to securing the southern border and other priorities."

"Noem and top aide Corey Lewandowski had elevated Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino and tasked him with overseeing highly publicized and controversial immigration raids in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans and, most recently, Minneapolis," CBS News reported.

"The move — intended to bolster President Trump's mass deportation campaign — marked a significant change in tactics because immigration matters in the country's interior have historically been handled by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, not Border Patrol."

Bovino was given a new title of "commander" and reported directly to Noem, which set off internal conflict over the aggressive campaign in the Minneapolis area. After the shootings of two 37-year-olds – Renee Good and Alex Pretti – this month, the administration removed him from the post and sent him back to California. He's expected to retire.

"One official said serious threats against Bovino in Minnesota, including death threats, factored into the administration's decision to pull him from the operation there," CBS News reported.

Trump dispatched his border czar Tom Homan, who reportedly has a chilly relationship with Noem, to lead the Minnesota operation, and government sources told CBS News they were not happy about remarks the DHS secretary and other top officials have made about Pretti's killing.

"When we gaslight and contradict what the public can plainly see with their own eyes, we lose all credibility and it's going to damage our reputation for generations," said one DHS official.

The internet had scathing reactions Friday to Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino's comments about a 5-year-old in Minnesota who was taken into ICE custody after agents targeted his father.

Bovino was speaking at a press conference in Minneapolis and confirmed that Liam Conejo Ramos was in his family's driveway when he returned home from school with his father and that both of them were taken away in a vehicle and sent to an ICE facility in Texas. Bovino attempted to argue that ICE has treated children well following public scrutiny over the agency's actions.

"The child is in the least restrictive setting with a family member. I don't think it gets any better than that," Bovino said.

Social media users had sharp responses to Bovino's comments:

"Does he think that being the size of a child makes him an expert on children?" Navy veteran Molly Rogers wrote on Bluesky.

"They are experts at dealing with the unarmed, that's true enough," Joan, an ADHD coach and Canadian, wrote on Bluesky.

"Dealing with children…is a chilling statement," writer and filmmaker Nicole Quinn wrote on Bluesky.

"All I can see is his soulless, dead eyes. The child should be at home with his mother and not in a restrictive setting, for Christ's sake," user Chidi wrote on X.

"If that's the situation, Commander Bovino, please allow the press and congressional members to visit and inspect this Texas camp along with other ICE facilities run by the Trump administration..." user DeSota Wilson wrote on X.

President Donald Trump responded to former special counsel Jack Smith's first public testimony by sharing a video of aide Stephen Miller shouting about "the Russiagate hoax."

As cable news stations fixated on Smith, Trump responded with a post on Truth Social.

"Comey, Clapper, Brennan, Obama, Monaco, all conspired together, all worked together to try to sabotage, undermine, unravel the democratic institutions and structures of this country," Miller rants in the video posted by Trump. "The Russiagate hoax, the Russia gate conspiracy and all of the assaults against our liberties that went with it."

"The pre-dawn raids, the handcuffing of innocent Americans," he continues. "The removal of his national security advisor, One fake indictment, one fake charge after another, the special counsel, all of it, was a unrelenting attempt to overthrow the government the American people voted for."

"I cannot find words harsh enough to condemn the conduct of these conspirators, these insurrectionists."

For his part, Smith insisted Trump "willfully broke the law."

"Rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 election, President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power," the former prosecutor noted. "After leaving office in January of 21, President Trump illegally kept classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago Social Club and repeatedly tried to obstruct justice to conceal his continued retention of those documents. Highly sensitive national security information was held in a ballroom and a bathroom."