A Statement on the Alex Pretti Murder and Current Situation in Minneapolis

For the second time in as many weeks, the tragedy of death at the hands of ICE agents has stricken the people of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Alex Pretti was helping another comrade who was being assaulted by ICE agents before being apprehended, pinned on the ground, disarmed by one agent of a legally carried, holstered weapon and then killed by another. All of this happened within a matter of moments. Once again, it was all filmed from many angles. The truth is there for everyone to see.

Before he was murdered, Alex Pretti was filming what was happening around him. He was not a threat. He was LEGALLY carrying a weapon while documenting the actions of ICE. Alex Pretti was murdered for exercising his First and Second Amendment rights.

For the last year, we have been encountered with new violations of the First and Fourth Amendments. The toll of these violations has already been fatal. Whether it is Renee Good or the unnumbered and unnamed who have perished in silent darkness at the hands of ICE. And now Alex Pretti has become the next tragic martyr in the struggle for equal rights.

Alex Pretti's murder is not just a tragedy and a crime. It is an attempt by this fascist government to assert a ban on the public to take up arms in its defense. The First Amendment and Fourth Amendment have already become the victims of fascist slaughter and now the Second Amendment, the material basis of a people's assertion of freedom, finds an axe sitting over its neck.

As the casualties of ICE's violence grow, the result of a bipartisan law enforcement strategy that prioritizes property rights over human rights, the Democratic leaders of Minnesota have responded with a shameful "defense" of its people. National Guard units mobilize to protect police while civilians remain in the crosshairs of an intensifying showdown between federal, state, and local forces. Local and state officials have legal authority to prosecute crimes in their city and state. Yet no action has been taken against the criminals whose actions are on film, whose names are spoken by every citizen bearing witness by the millions.  

The Socialist Party USA condemns ICE for its disdain for civil liberties, its brutality, and the naked injustice it is foisting upon our entire country. We condemn the Department of Homeland Security and the White House, the force behind this systematized terror, for their brazen lies and interference with the course of justice. We condemn the United States Congress for abdicating any responsibility to rein in this unhinged executive branch and the Supreme Court which has spent the last years inoculating the Presidency from any and all external accountability.

And most of all, the Socialist Party condemns the leaders of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party who have refused to mount a real defense for their citizens and a fight against this fascist force that has been growing in our society.

The Socialist Party USA calls for the state and local governments in Minnesota to prosecute ALL instances of murder or any other civil or criminal violations against Minnesota's citizens by ICE, other federal agents, and also those local and state law enforcement officers complicit in these crimes. We call for the federal government to move out of the path of local and state officials and to allow Minnesotans to pursue justice. We call for ICE to leave Minneapolis immediately.

Finally, the Socialist Party USA praises the people of Minneapolis and across Minnesota. We praise those across the country who have stood in solidarity with them and our Party proudly stands with them! Tens of thousands are braving unimaginable cold to meet fascists face to face and fight them back, out of their towns, cities, and states. Many risk severe injury and death, and they fight on all the same. A beautiful tradition of revolution fueled by a love of freedom, equality, and justice is alive and well in Minnesota! It is up to every one of us seeing events unfold to stand with them so they do not fight alone!

May Alex Pretti rest in peace and may we win the world he fought for!

The time to become a part of this fight is NOW! Every new addition to the fight for freedom counts. Find your comrades in the Socialist Party USA, and together we will win back the freedoms and the future that are being taken from us! 

passed by the National Executive Committee January 28, 2026