Editorial: Another senseless killing in Trump's senseless war against Americans

The Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jan 27, 2026

Published in Op Eds

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

“Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes … Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared … Everyone is scared … No one can keep out of the conflict … the end is nowhere in sight.”

— Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

Donald Trump’s masked marauders murdered another U.S. citizen in Minneapolis on Saturday, a senseless killing in a senseless war playing out in broad daylight on America’s streets.

Cell phone videos showed one of Trump’s immigration enforcement goons violently pushing a woman to the ground. As a man recording the agents tried to intervene, at least seven federal agents surrounded and dragged him to the ground as another beat him with a canister.

As the agents struggled to subdue the man, another agent appeared to remove a gun from the scrum. A Border Patrol agent then shot the man in the back from close range. A third agent pulled out his gun as nine more shots were fired within seconds.

Several agents scampered away as Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen with no criminal record, lay motionless on the street.

After the shooting, a crowd of protesters shouted profanities at the federal officers, calling them “cowards” and urging them to leave. One officer mockingly responded, “Boo-hoo.”

Pretti’s killing came two weeks after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis killed Renee Good — a mother of three and a U.S. citizen — as she tried to maneuver her SUV out of the street. A week later, a DoorDash delivery driver was shot in the leg by ICE agents in Minneapolis.

After the two killings, Trump and his loyal lieutenants tried to blame the victims and local Democratic leaders. But cell phone videos showed the truth: Trump’s jackboots have now plainly executed two U.S. citizens.

The American people can see the lawless mayhem with their own eyes.

Trump has unleashed a paramilitary of ICE and Border Patrol agents into American streets with a license to arrest, confront, detain, beat, or kill anyone who gets in their way — even if it is an off-duty police officer or a 5-year-old boy.

Any pretense of federal investigations into abuses by ICE or others doing Trump’s bidding is quickly compromised or shut down. Constitutional rights are ignored. The rule of law is now set by Trump’s morality, which appears to thrive on cruelty.

Federal immigration agents must leave Minneapolis and end their vigilantism. But who will stop them?

There are no checks on Trump’s power, as his administration is stocked with unqualified lackeys competing for his attention.

The Republicans who control Congress have abdicated their constitutional duty, while conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court continue to enable the president.

Sadly, justice left town after the U.S. Senate — including Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman and Dave McCormick — confirmed Pam Bondi, one of Trump’s personal lawyers, as attorney general.

The FBI has been decimated by Kash Patel, an unqualified incompetent, pushing conspiracy theories and vendettas. Kristi Noem has turned the U.S. Department of Homeland Security into a Bull Connor-like police force, led by Gregory Bovino in his greatcoat.

The architect behind the draconian ICE crackdown is Stephen Miller, an unelected and unconfirmed senior adviser and speechwriter with a history of white nationalist ties and bigotry.

Republicans enabled the surge in ICE man power and funding when they approved Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. If the GOP will not stop Trump, then voters must act come November.

ICE was supposed to go after the “worst of the worst” people who entered the country illegally. Instead, Trump and his lawless administration have occupied cities, caused civil unrest, and accomplished essentially nothing.

Tens of thousands of immigrants arrested have no criminal records. Others are collateral damage. After Good was killed, Trump said that “things happen.”

Pretti was among the best in America. He was a nurse in an intensive care unit that served veterans. He died trying to help a woman attacked by a masked thug.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey asked the question many want to know about the Trump administration’s growing domestic war: “How many more Americans need to die?”