A Note on the Killing of Alex Pretti

Over the past year, over and over again ordinary people have stepped into an extraordinary role as civilian observers documenting immigration enforcement actions in real time. They are not required to be there. They are not paid. And yet, driven by their own conscience, sense of duty, and love of their neighbors, they show up to record, to bear witness, and to protect their neighbors.

Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse who cared for veterans, was documenting a federal immigration enforcement action when he was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents. He was doing what the Constitution allows and what democracy depends on, observing and recording government action in a public space.

What followed compounds the tragedy.

Instead of transparency, the government attempted something deeply offensive. It immediately labeled Alex Pretti a “domestic terrorist,” falsely portraying him as a violent extremist intent on massacring law enforcement. Video evidence flatly contradicted the lies coming from the highest levels of our government. Pretti acted as an observer. He tried to help another person who’d been shoved to the ground. And he was pepper sprayed, assaulted, and killed by government agents in seconds. The attempt to rewrite reality after his death is an insult to his family, his community, and the rule of law itself.

Civilian observers are not threats. They are safeguards. They document encounters that would otherwise rely solely on official accounts, which as shown in his own case, must be met with extreme skepticism. Observers like Alex Pretti preserve evidence when power is exercised behind a wall of secrecy. Their presence reminds enforcement agencies that constitutional limits do not disappear in the name of immigration enforcement.

Alex Pretti, along with thousands of other brave Minnesotans and other Americans throughout the country, are American patriots of the highest order. Their actions breathe life into Constitutional rights under relentless attack. And their willingness to protect their communities, even at risk of the ultimate cost, gives hope in these darkest of times.

As immigration attorneys, we know the fact that rights are written in the Constitution or statute is not enough. Where our government refuses to respect those rights, they can only provide protections if people demand and defend them. Civilian observers play a critical role in that defense.

We honor Alex Pretti not by accepting the lies told about him, but by telling the truth. He is an American hero. We stand with those who continue to show up, cameras in hand, conscience intact, refusing to look away.