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ACCORDING TO LIZ - In video of I.C.U. nurse Alex Jeffrey Pretti in Minneapolis, he is seen filming an ICE agent with his phone, and then helping a protester viciously shoved to the sidewalk to safety as the agent throws a third person to the ground.
Pretti is holding his phone as the man turns to pepper-spray him and other Border Patrol agents wrestle the good Samaritan to the ground. In the scrum...
Ten shots.
As the ICE-men executed him in cold blood, the woman recording Petti’s last moments screams: “What the fuck did you do? What the fuck did you do?”
The VA hospital I.C.U. nurse had no drawn gun. He was only trying to help his fellow Minnesotans, something he did every day at work.
It “shows that the final act of his life was trying to help a woman who was being physically assaulted by the masked agents who would then kill him” underlined New Yorker journalist Susan Glasser when the video started to circulate.
Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib called out the killers: “Cowards.”
The video upended the Department of Homeland Security’s claim that Pretti had approached the marauding officers with a “semi-automatic handgun” and calls into question why the man recording ICE abuses is being smeared by White House officials as a domestic terrorist.
In a press conference, Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino doubled down on the Department of Homeland Security’s claim that Pretti had a gun, not a phone, in his hand and that the nurse was trying to “massacre” Border Patrol agents.
Bovino took only two questions then abruptly shut down the press conference.
“Why?” asked Jimmy Gomez who represents Northeast Los Angeles and parts of downtown. “Because he knows he can’t defend cold-blooded murder.”
Growing some balls, key Senate Democrats have now vowed to oppose any legislation that funds the Department of Homeland Security, putting the spending deal that recently squeaked through the House at risk and setting up another government shutdown.
One that enraged Americans may embrace to end the increasingly rogue activities of in-country paramilitary operatives to hold each personally accountable. And stop turning our cities into war zones.
**Intermission: Raise a mug of hot chocolate to members of the Minnesota National Guard, wearing yellow vests to stand apart from ICE agents, who brought coffee and doughnuts to those protesting on Sunday in sub-zero temperatures.
But just who is this Gregory Bovino?
Claiming his agents were the victims, Bovino told CNN Pretti wanted to “perpetrate violence, obstruct, delay or obfuscate Border Patrol in the performance of their duties in an active crime scene.”
Last June, Bovino was named tactical commander of the mass ICE raids across Los Angeles. He moved on to command Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, assuming the title of “commander-at-large” of the Border Patrol in October when Illinois Governor JB Pritzker called him out for deliberately inflaming tensions, telling CNN: “They want mayhem... [a] war zone, so that they can send in even more troops.”
Bovino has said “folks are free to criticize. They’re free to armchair quarterback. When they don’t walk a mile in the shoes of law enforcement, then they might want to think a second before full-blown criticism. I’ve heard a lot of that” and claims “Our officers act legally, ethically and morally in all law enforcement actions.”
But do they?
Last time I checked, Americans have a right to protest. They have a right to privacy in their homes and at work. They have a right not to be abducted and taken across borders.
Bovino is known for generating egocentric made-for-TV moments celebrating his pugnaciousness he can blast out on social media to MAGA fans waiting to lap up Border Patrol agents’ macho-man images in carrying out their perceived mission.
Sweeps in parking lots. Breaking down doors. Smashing car windows. Arresting law-abiding Americans who have darker skin or are speaking Spanish.
Sounds more like criminal activity by gangs, an American throwback back to Hitler’s Brownshirts.
Bovino calls his troops’ tactics “turn and burn” – rapid, aggressive. As reported on CNN, they “Break windows, go in, grab people... [so as] not to put …agents at risk, not to allow protests to develop.”
But protests ARE legal in the United States, especially against those who like Bovino and his ilk, flout the law and murder. On the street and in detention centers. Again and again and again.
Bovino has been hailed as a hero by supporters of the administration’s mass deportation schemes, and criticized by critics for excessive force, racial profiling, and creating the chaos on which the White House seems to thrive.
He was knighted a “commander at large” of the Border Patrol in an op-ed by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. A rank with no statutory basis that has allowed Bovino to operate outside any command structure, reporting solely to Noem.
Over 120 Democrats, including Lauren Gillen who last week voted to increase funding for ICE, are now demanding Noem’s impeachment.
Terrifyingly, according to Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, most immigrants arrested by ICE along the border are sent to an 1,800-bed detention center that has only four rooms for legal consultations guaranteeing that “most migrants never see a lawyer before the expedited fake legal process inside the jail results in their deportation.”
As happened in Perón’s Argentina, Texas border enforcement has become “effectively a campaign of disappearances.”
This exercise of domination and cruelty appear to be the goals of ICE under Bovino. If allowed to proceed unfettered by laws and accountability, what comes next?
Barbed wire? Bombing American cities into rubble? Destruction of infrastructure, the withholding of food, water and medical supplies? Torture and targeted assassination?
Only Americans can stop this travesty by forcing their elected leaders to rein in Homeland Security. Even Republican stalwarts are listening now. Republican Senators who will not run again are particularly persuadable.
But don’t sit idly by, thinking others will do the right thing.
Don’t give up, thinking you can’t make a difference. You can, but only if you act. Only you can help counteract heavy-handed influencers from the White House.
Call your representatives and make your voice heard. Push them to maintain their spines erect in the face of great evil.
Today. While the Constitution still guarantees the right to speak freely.
(Liz Amsden is a former Angeleno now living in Vermont and a regular CityWatch contributor. She writes on issues she’s passionate about, including social justice, government accountability, and community empowerment. Liz brings a sharp, activist voice to her commentary and continues to engage with Los Angeles civic affairs from afar. She can be reached at [email protected].)
