We are all Alex Pretti
Allison Silberberg's Plain Talk
We are all Alex Pretti
By Allison Silberberg
January 26, 2026
Alex Pretti should be alive today. Period.
He was murdered by ICE. Yet another unthinkable tragedy in Minneapolis. This was an execution.
ICE and the Trump administration killed Alex, whose life was dedicated to serving our critically ill veterans as an ICU nurse at the VA hospital. He was 37 years old. Alex Pretti’s job was to serve our country at the VA with his heart and compassion every day. Alex should be alive. So should Renee Good, who was shot and killed by ICE earlier this month.
Alex was standing on a street on Saturday morning after helping a woman to her feet. She had been knocked to the ground by ICE. He helped her up and was then taping the agents using his iPhone. He was bearing witness.
Alex did not brandish his holstered firearm, for which he had a license, as has been proven in multiple videos. What he did brandish is a cellphone as he videotaped the ICE agents. His other hand was empty and up in the air. A group of ICE agents pummeled Alex on the ground and then shot him 10 times. Right after he was shot, one of the ICE agents can be seen in the video applauding.
Someone needs to hold ICE accountable. All of us who love our country and Constitution need to stand up and condemn the horrific and despicable actions of these ICE agents. No one is above the law, not even ICE.
We are all Alex Pretti. This could happen to any of us.
ICE agents have been out of control for months and are demonstrating repeatedly a total disregard for the rule of law, process, and compassion. Those who were involved in the murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Good must be subject to a full investigation. And that investigation needs to include state and local officials, not only federal authorities.
Tonight, in a token response to political pressure, the Trump administration announced that Gregory Bovino, the brash Border Patrol official who often speaks on behalf of ICE operations, has been reassigned and will be leaving Minneapolis immediately, along with some of his ICE agents. Trump’s Border Czar, Tom Homan, will now be in charge of the president’s operations in Minneapolis. Many of the ICE agents will remain there. While we can applaud the removal of some, it is too little and too late.
To provide a small comparison, in Alexandria, our city has invested in de-escalation training for our police officers and other public safety officials for over two decades. Many other cities have done the same thing. Clearly, these ICE agents have had no such training for this role.
In the past year, ICE agents under Trump’s direction have demonstrated repeatedly their disregard for human life. The most recent example besides Alex Pretti’s death is the murder of Renee Good. And lest we forget, one of the ICE agents shot a priest in the head with a rubber bullet while he was protesting peacefully in Chicago.
ICE agents who are beating up people, shooting people, dragging people from their cars or homes, and spraying people in their faces with pepper spray are not de-escalating the situation at all. Actually, they have created a war zone, following orders with instructions from Secretary Noem and President Trump.
And now ICE has been told they can arrest or detain anyone without a warrant. They have been emboldened by Trump, Vance, and Noem. This is like the 1930s with the brown shirts. I don’t say that lightly.
This is Trump’s reign of terror in our own homeland. Even with this change of leadership on the ground in Minneapolis, Alex Pretti is still dead. And so is Renee Good. Thousands of residents have been traumatized by all the violence, and many have been detained.
Trump and his administration need to stop blaming the victims for ICE’s “mistakes,” as Vice President Vance phrased it the other day. ICE is responsible for its actions. Trump and Noem immediately shamed and blamed Alex Pretti right after he was killed and even before the video footage was publicly available, and they have held to this misguided nonsense despite the images and videos that have come forward. Trump, Noem, and others in the administration have called Alex a “domestic terrorist.” That is a lie. It’s absurd.
Alex’s family and community and millions of Americans are not having any of it. The videos of the tragedy show what happened. The American people can see how things transpired. It is despicable. It is unconscionable that these ICE agents are being paid by our tax dollars to harass, abuse, and murder fellow Americans as well as innocent immigrants.
All of us saw what happened last week with five-year-old Liam Ramos, as he was detained by ICE and forced to stand in the freezing cold with his backpack on. Liam and his father are now in a detention center when Liam should be in school.
This is a very dark and tragic time in our beloved country, which has lost her way, thanks to Trump.
The whole world is watching. Every person, even our children, can see what is happening. It is traumatizing and tragic beyond words.
Alex Pretti and Renee Good should never have been shot down like a rabid dog in the street. Where is the humanity in our country? It never had to be this way.
As I discussed in my previous Substack column, there is tremendous danger when leaders embrace “might makes right,” which Trump and Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, have asserted as the president’s philosophy of governance.
Trump has created an environment where anything can be justified, and he has emboldened ICE agents to believe in his “might makes right” philosophy, excusing any violent behavior.
Instead, the philosophy we should support and believe in is “might FOR right,” which means to fight for justice and for what is right. It’s an idea about using our might for noble causes, about being honorable, and living with a moral compass. In fact, Alex Pretti’s life’s work was an example of “might for right,” for his life was committed to making the world a better place.
What could better exemplify Trump’s dangerous credo of “might makes right” than ICE’s execution of Alex Pretti and Renee Good? How many more innocent people will die or be harmed under Trump’s reign of terror?
#Trump #ChaosInAmerica #SaveOurDemocracy #Constitution #NoKings #MoralCompass #MightForRight #AlexPretti #ReneeGood #ICE
Allison Silberberg is a writer and public affairs/public policy consultant. She served as mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, 2016-2019. Her work includes working on staff on Capitol Hill for Senator Lloyd M. Bentsen (D-TX). She is the author of “Visionaries In Our Midst: Ordinary People who are Changing our World,” which hit #1 on Amazon’s List for Philanthropy & Charity. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News, on PBS.org. To learn more, please visit: www.allisonsilberberg.com
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