Name: Protesters in Minneapolis demand accountability for the shooting of man by federal agents | DW News
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Pressure is growing on US President Donald Trump to end his immigration crackdown after federal agents shot dead a second American citizen in Minneapolis.

Again, video footage appears to contradict the government's official account of what happened.

The incident is now facing bipartisan scrutiny, with a growing number of Republicans joining Democrats in calling for a thorough inquiry.

Trump says his administration is reviewing everything.

Crowds brave the cold to march through the heart of Minneapolis calling for justice after the shooting of Alex Pretty, a US Citizen killed by federal agents.

Preddy worked as an intensive care nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Hospital.

He joined protests against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in the city after Renee Nicole Goode was shot dead by an ICE agent in her car earlier this month.

Footage of Preddy's killing was recorded on video and spread.

Officials under the Trump administration claim he assaulted officers and forced them to act in self defense yesterday.

When someone makes the choice to come into an active law enforcement scene, interfere, obstruct, delay or assault law enforcement officers and, and, and

they bring a weapon to do that, that is a, that is a choice that that individual made.

Emerging footage appears to contradict that explanation.

Alex Prudy was shot in the back at point blank range when he was already subdued.

The claim that has been made that he was brandishing a weapon, that he was threatening ICE officers is totally implausible given that he was on all fours and officers were already controlling him.

it appears that that weapon had been clearly removed at the time of the shooting.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has also rejected the federal government's account.

We believe that Donald Trump needs to pull these 3,000 untrained agents out of Minnesota before they kill another person.

And we're up here telling another story of a Minnesotan just trying to live their life without the interference.

Several Democrat lawmakers have echoed that demand, as has former President Barack Obama, who described Preddy's killing on X as a heartbreaking tragedy and a wake up call to every American.

As this unfolds in Minnesota, people across America are watching to see what consequences it will have for the future of the country.

Scott Lucas is a professor of American Studies at the UCD Clinton Institute.

Donald Trump has told the Wall Street Journal his administration is reviewing everything about this shooting.

So could he step back and say, sorry, we got it wrong?

Well, it's a very, very small shuffle back.

I wouldn't say it's going to be an admission they did anything wrong.

I think the first thing to watch for here is, is that after the killing of Renee Nicole Goode just over two weeks ago, there was no investigation by the federal authorities.

In fact, they obstructed an investigation.

Now, initially, they were not going to investigate what is, from video footage and from witness statements, the possible execution of Alex Pretty by these federal officers.

However, there were some Republican legislators, only a handful, but

some Republican legislators who came out over the weekend and said, we need an investigation here to make sure that lines have not been crossed.

And I think that's enough just to means Trump has sort of taken this very small step back.

But again, remember, this is in the context of his officials throughout yesterday.

The head of Border Patrol, the Homeland Security director, his personal lawyer, who is also the deputy attorney general, continuing to push misinformation and disinformation by portraying Alex Preddy as a threat to law enforcement when in fact, he was not.

In other words, they have prejudged any investigation to make Alex Preddy and demonstrators the perpetrators rather than the victims of what appears to have happened on Saturday.

Could a fuller inquiry lead to the withdrawal of federal agents from Minneapolis at some stage?

If there was a proper inquiry, then, yes, because you would then have the question of legal accountability, at least for these officers.

But in fact, what has happened is that ICE has operated and Border Patrol have operated not only beyond legal accountability, they are not even operating with legal authority in Minnesota.

They are not operating with probable cause.

They have, in addition to these killings, also carried out beatings, carried out assaults on repeated occasions.

And there has been no attempt by federal officials to say, wait a minute, we need to get this onto a proper footing.

Far from cooperating with state and local law enforcement, they have actually threatened Governor Waltz of Minnesota, Mayor Fry of Minneapolis with prosecution, and

they have denied all evidence to state and local authorities.

So, in theory, yes, this could lead to ICE being withdrawn.

But at this point, there's no indication that Trump folks are operating on a legal basis.

I will say that there were a handful thankful of legislators, again, Republicans who did come out this weekend and said, maybe it's time to redeploy ICE elsewhere.

So ICE would still operate, but not in Minnesota.

Okay, so, Scott, all in all, how much support then would you say the president has in using these methods when you say some Republicans are beginning to join Democrats in calling for a stop to this, or at least to deploy these agents Elsewhere.

If we were talking about normal circumstances, if we were talking about a normal system with legal accountability, with political accountability, maybe there's a start of a movement to try to get this approach to immigration and this approach to US Citizens on a responsible basis.

The United States effectively has an authoritarian government right now.

They are operating beyond the legal framework.

They're operating without respect to Congress.

They are operating beyond state and local authorities.

So I'm not sure simply saying, oh, will there be actually a congressional pushback against the administration?

I think that's a normal way of putting something in an extraordinary situation.

We need to see a much more rapid mobilization of people coming out and saying, this is not the way America should operate.

And I'm afraid we don't yet have evidence that Republicans are willing to join what needs to be an urgent call, an urgent call to pull this violence back.

Just one more question, Scott, before I let you go.

Where do you see all this unfolding in the coming days?

I mean, you've got this growing, these growing calls.

Are things reaching a point that we could see things really change for Trump here.

I would make the argument here that this is the biggest domestic crisis the United States has faced since 1865.

And if you look that up, that's the end of the Civil War.

And I would say that because these Minnesotans, not paid agitators, not communists, as they have been called by Trump officials, but

these Minnesotans, who are residents, are saying, we will come out for our communities.

On the other hand, Trump officials have doubled down on sending more of their agents into Minnesota.

There has been more acts of impunity which have taken place, and

they have threatened to confront state and local officials.

We are at the point now where the Trump folks are talking about deploying the military under the Insurrection Act.

So what you have here is that authoritarian moment.

The American system is under greater pressure in peacetime than it ever has been since the end of that civil war.

And I can't tell you how that is going to proceed, because this is an unprecedented crisis and it sounds unnerving to say the least.

Scott Lucas, thank you very much for your analysis from University College Dublin.