The two Department of Homeland Security officers involved in the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti were placed on immediate paid administrative leave for three days, an official with direct knowledge of the situation told MS NOW.
The officers were placed on leave after the shooting Saturday with the option to take additional time off, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because it is a personnel matter.
They have met with a mental health professional, in line with Border Patrol’s standard operating procedure for any employee involved in a fatal incident, the official said.
It’s unclear if they are back on duty as of Wednesday. Both officers will be placed on desk duty upon their return as the investigation continues, per policy, the official said.
Trump’s former Border Patrol chief, Greg Bovino, had said Sunday that the officers involved in the shooting were still working, though outside Minneapolis, sparking criticism from lawmakers.
Pretti’s death marks the second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by DHS officers in Minneapolis this month. MS NOW previously reported that the Justice Department will not open a civil rights investigation into the shooting; instead, DHS will investigate whether Customs and Border Protection officers followed agency protocol in the shooting, and, separately, whether Pretti himself broke any laws.
President Donald Trump initially scrambled to contain the political fallout from Pretti’s killing. But the ginger calming in rhetoric over the federal immigration operation in Minneapolis appeared to collapse Wednesday in a testy exchange between him and the city’s Democratic mayor.
Mayor Jacob Frey, who has repeatedly denounced the presence and the aggressive conduct of federal agents, met Tuesday with Trump border czar Tom Homan shortly after Homan arrived in the city. Trump’s deployment of Homan was seen as one of several steps aimed at turning down the temperature amid outrage over Pretti’s death.
Frey said in a statement afterward that he and Homan had a “productive conversation” which entailed the mayor demanding an end to the federal immigration operation.
“I also made it clear that Minneapolis does not and will not enforce federal immigration laws, and that we will remain focused on keeping our neighbors and streets safe,” Frey added.
Trump responded furiously Wednesday morning.
“Surprisingly, Mayor Jacob Frey just stated that, ‘Minneapolis does not, and will not, enforce Federal Immigration Laws,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This is after having had a very good conversation with him. Could somebody in his inner sanctum please explain that this statement is a very serious violation of the Law, and that he is PLAYING WITH FIRE!”
Frey immediately shot back with a reference to former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, whose tough-on-crime tenure as mayor of New York was also marked by his maintaining it as a “sanctuary city.”
“The job of our police is to keep people safe, not enforce fed immigration laws,” Frey wrote on X. “I want them preventing homicides, not hunting down a working dad who contributes to MPLS & is from Ecuador. It’s similar to the policy your guy Rudy had in NYC. Everyone should feel safe calling 911.”
Trump has also remained set on investigating what he alleges is widespread fraud involving Minnesota’s child care payments, which he has repeatedly attributed to the state’s Somali community. And he has continued to attack Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Somali American, whom he revealed is under investigation by his Justice Department on Monday.
Omar was accosted at a town hall in Minneapolis on Tuesday night. Asked about that, Trump criticized her instead.
“I think she’s a fraud,” he said. “She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
