Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Michael McCaul became the first Texas Republicans in Congress to call for an investigation into the actions of federal immigration officers in Minneapolis after a Border Patrol agent shot and killed an American citizen Saturday.
In an episode of his podcast “Verdict” posted Monday, Cruz discussed the Minneapolis shooting at length, saying “there needs to be an investigation” to determine what transpired in the confrontation between federal agents and ICU nurse Alex Pretti.
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McCaul called for an investigation Sunday in a social media post.
“I am troubled by the events that have unfolded in Minneapolis,” McCaul, R-Austin, said in a statement posted to X. “As an attorney and former federal prosecutor, I believe a thorough investigation is necessary—both to get to the bottom of these incidents and to maintain Americans’ confidence in our justice system.”
McCaul, who is retiring at the end of his term, added that he looked forward to ”hearing from DHS officials about what happened here and how we can prevent further escalation in the future” and reiterated a call for both sides to “turn down the temperature.”
On Saturday, during a confrontation with a group of protesters, Border Patrol agents tackled and fatally shot Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, as he moved between law enforcement and a civilian and attempted to help the civilian up from the ground. Department of Homeland Security and Trump administration officials have portrayed Pretti as a would-be assassin and said federal agents acted in self-defense. Pretti, who had a permit allowing him to carry a concealed firearm, had a gun holstered on his hip, but video footage of the incident shows he was not holding it and that agents appear to have disarmed him before shooting him multiple times. He approached law enforcement officers holding only a phone.
Pretti’s killing marks the second time federal law enforcement officers have killed a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis this year. On Jan. 8, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot Renee Good in her car, after which the Trump administration said she was attempting to use her vehicle as a deadly weapon and local officials said she was trying to leave the scene.
The Trump administration has surged immigration enforcement personnel to Minneapolis and been met with mass protests from Minnesotans demanding ICE leave the state. The two killings have further inflamed tensions and drawn massive condemnation from Democrats.
After Pretti’s killing, a handful of Republicans, including McCaul, called for investigations. Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-New York, called on senior immigration enforcement officials to testify in front of the House Homeland Security Committee, which he chairs, in the wake of the shooting.
McCaul, a former Homeland Security chairman, was the first Texas Republican to take that step. He is not seeking reelection after more than two decades in Congress’ lower chamber.
Cruz called for “everyone” to “ratchet the anger down”, criticizing people on both sides of the aisle.
“On one side, they view every shooting as an absolute tragedy, as evidence that America has become Nazi Germany,” Cruz said. “On the other side, you see some people that seem pretty eager to celebrate a violent and lethal confrontation with law enforcement.
He added that there have now been two U.S. citizens “who have been killed in confrontations with law enforcement, who from all appearances are not violent criminals.”
Cruz said both killings are tragedies, as is the case “any time you have an American who is killed in a confrontation with law enforcement.” He called Democratic politicians in Minnesota “reckless and irresponsible” for calling federal law enforcement “Nazis” and encouraging citizens to get in the way of ICE. But he also said the Trump administration needs to be more measured in its response to the killings and acknowledge the tragedy.
“What I think the administration could do better is the tone with which they’re describing this,” Cruz said. “That immediately when an incident like this happens, they come out guns blazing, that we took out a violent terrorist, hurray. And the problem is, particularly for someone not paying attention, if you’re being told this is a mom of three and there’s no indication — she’s not waving an ISIS flag or doesn’t have a suicide vest around her. Escalating the rhetoric doesn’t help, and it actually loses credibility.”
Cruz also said that while people have a right to protest and to bring guns, he would advise people to “leave your damn gun at home” if entering an environment where there is a possibility of violent confrontation with law enforcement.
“Just ‘cause you have a right to do something doesn’t mean that doing it in those circumstances isn’t stupid,” Cruz said.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, said immigration officers should remain in Minnesota and argued that if Democrats refuse to fund the federal government as part of their opposition to the shooting, Republicans should use a procedural tactic that would allow them to fund the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense for the rest of Trump’s term without needing Democratic support.
Senate Democrats have said they will refuse to vote for a government funding package that includes appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security without reforms to rein in ICE. The government will partially shut down Friday if no deal is reached, given that appropriations bills require 60 votes to pass the Senate and Republicans only hold 53 seats.
Roy also criticized conservatives who have said the use of lethal force was justified because Pretti was carrying a firearm.
“We do have the right under the Second Amendment and under our state laws to carry weapons so we can defend ourselves,” Roy, who is running for Texas attorney general, said Saturday in an interview on Fox News. “But when you’re going to go agitate with police, when you’re going to go create an environment like that, then you have a duty to make sure you say, ‘Hey guys, I’ve got a weapon. Let’s figure this out.’”
Others have called for calmer heads to prevail but not for specific actions. Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Tyler, said “all involved” should practice “responsibility, respect and restraint” in the interest of diffusing “the political tensions and growing animus” sparked by the confrontations.
Some Texas Republican politicians asserted that ICE should double down on its efforts and blamed Democrats for the violence.
Houston GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt, who is running for Senate, said Trump should reject calls to pull agents out of Minnesota.
“If the President of the United States caves to Democrat pressure and anti-law-enforcement tantrums, then we’ve abandoned sovereignty altogether,” Hunt wrote on social media. “We must stop capitulating to Democrats.”
Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Flower Mound, said Democrats “set the stage for violence” and that Republicans “cannot respond with weak-kneed capitulation or cowardice.”