At least six people have died during the Trump administration’s intense immigration enforcement campaign in the U.S., the latest being a 37-year-old man who was shot by a Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis.
Federal authorities immediately described Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen, as an armed agitator who was a threat to immigration officers. But videos showed Pretti’s hands were only holding a phone when a masked Border Patrol officer opened fire on Jan. 24.
Gov. Tim Walz denounced as “despicable” the comments that federal officials made about Pretti.
Pretti, who worked as a nurse, was permitted to possess a handgun in Minnesota. In video of the shooting, an officer appears to pull a gun from Pretti’s waist and step away. That’s when the first shot was fired, followed by more shots. Pretti was on the ground when he was killed.
His death was the second in January in Minneapolis. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a woman who used her vehicle to block a street and was slowly pulling away.
Last September, Immigration and Customs Enforcement fatally shot a person outside Chicago. Two people have died after being struck by vehicles while fleeing immigration authorities. And a California farmworker fell from a greenhouse and broke his neck during an ICE raid last July.
No officers have been charged.
Driver shot behind the wheel of an SUV
Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, was repeatedly shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. Videos show she was turning the wheels of her Honda Pilot away from officer Jonathan Ross when he opened fire. Trump administration officials have repeatedly defended Ross, claiming his life was at risk.
“I’m not mad at you,” Good, 37, said before Ross fired his gun.
Good’s death caused a firestorm in Minnesota. The U.S. Justice Department said it wouldn’t share information on the shooting with state authorities.
State and local officials subsequently sued to try to stop the immigration sweeps, which have involved thousands of federal officers. Protesters with whistles have trailed officers who, in response, have deployed tear gas and other chemical irritants.
Cook from Mexico shot during a traffic stop
ICE agents fatally shot Silverio Villegas González during a traffic stop Sept. 12 in suburban Chicago. Relatives said the 38-year-old line cook from Mexico had dropped off a child at day care that morning.
At the time, the Department of Homeland Security said agents were pursuing a man with a history of reckless driving who was in the country illegally. They alleged Villegas González evaded arrest and dragged an officer with his vehicle.
Homeland Security said the officer opened fire fearing for his life and was hospitalized with “serious injuries.” However, local police videos showed the agent walking around and dismissing his own injuries as “nothing major.”
Homeland Security has said the death remains under investigation.
Farmworker fell from greenhouse roof during ICE raid
Authorities were rounding up dozens of farmworkers July 10 at Glass House Farms in southern California when Jaime Alanis fell from the roof of a greenhouse and broke his neck. The 57-year-old laborer from Mexico died at a hospital two days later.
Relatives said Alanis had spent a decade working at the farm, a licensed cannabis grower that also produces tomatoes and cucumbers in Camarillo, about an hour east of Los Angeles. They said he sent his earnings to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
During the raid, Alanis called family to say he was hiding. Officials said he fell about 30 feet (9 meters) from the greenhouse roof.
Homeland Security said Alanis was never in custody and was not being chased by immigration authorities.
Man struck on California freeway after running from officers
A man running away from immigration officers outside a Home Depot store in southern California died after being hit by an SUV while he tried to cross a freeway on Aug. 14.
Police in Monrovia, northeast of Los Angeles, said ICE agents were conducting enforcement operations when the man fled to Interstate 210. He was running across the freeway’s eastbound lanes when an SUV hit him and died at a hospital.
The man was identified by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network as Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez, 52, of Guatemala.
Homeland Security said Montoya Valdez wasn’t being pursued by immigration authorities when he ran.
Gardener from Honduras killed on Virginia interstate
A pickup truck fatally struck Josué Castro Rivera on a highway in Norfolk, Virginia, as he tried to escape authorities during a traffic stop on Oct. 23.
Castro Rivera, 24, of Honduras, was heading to a gardening job with three passengers when ICE officers pulled over the vehicle, according to his brother, Henry Castro.
State and federal authorities said Castro Rivera ran away on foot and was hit by a pickup truck on Interstate 264.
Homeland Security said Castro Rivera’s vehicle was stopped as part of a “targeted, intelligence-based” operation and that Castro Rivera had “resisted heavily and fled.”
His brother said Castro Rivera worked to send money to family in Honduras.
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Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. AP reporters Ed White in Detroit; Sophia Tareen in Chicago; and Michael Biesecker in Washington contributed.
