Hundreds of people braved bone chilling temperatures in Ann Arbor Monday night to protest the latest fatal shooting by federal immigration officers.
The killing of 37-year old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis Saturday has drawn outrage across the nation.
The ICU nurse was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents.
Pretti was among a group of protesters there to monitor the immigration officers. Many bystander video recordings documented agents throwing Pretti to the ground, assaulting him and then shooting him.
Pretti did possess a legally owned firearm. But none of the videos of the incident showed him “brandishing” it as claimed by Trump administration officials.
“He wasn’t a threat. They just executed him,” said Gus Teschke, with Ann Arbor Indivisible, one of the organizers of Monday’s event.
The growing protests against ICE and Border Patrol officers comes as the U.S. Senate will vote this week on the budget for the Department of Homeland Security.
Democratic U.S. Senators are vowing to oppose the DHS funding bill following the fatal shootings of Pretti and 37 year old Renee Nicole Good. The dispute increases the prospect of a partial government shutdown by the end of the week.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, in a social media post hours after the Saturday shooting, said that what is happening in Minnesota is “appalling” and that Democrats “will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.”
Schumer said Democrats want common sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security.
Six of the 12 annual spending bills for the current budget year have been signed into law by President Donald Trump. Six more are awaiting action in the Senate, despite a revolt from House Democrats and mounting calls for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s impeachment.
Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingell said, “We have to do something.”
“I have talked to enough Senate Democrats that I will tell you, they will not buckle,” said Dingell.
The White House press secretary said President Trump wants to see the spending package passed this week to avoid the possibility of a government shutdown.
