These facts are incontrovertible:
Alex Pretti brandished a cell phone, not a gun.
He wasn’t a domestic terrorist, but a nurse who had joined a demonstration. When he tried to help a woman who had been violently shoved to the ground by a federal immigration officer, he was assaulted and dragged to the ground himself.
Other officers joined in, and as anyone wrongly treated would, Pretti struggled with his assailants. Moment later, they shot him to death.
Pretti had a handgun, for which he had a legal permit to carry, but the available video evidence does not show him brandishing the weapon. It does show an officer took the gun moments before Pretti was shot, including several rounds that were fired into his back, according to reports.
There were approximately 10 shots fired.
A bill introduced in the Iowa Legislature two weeks ago would force law enforcement officers in this state to cooperate with these tactics. The legislation, introduced by state Rep. Taylor Collins, a Republican leader in the Iowa House, commands that Iowa agencies and officers “shall cooperate” with immigration enforcement when requested. (Shortly before I published this post, I noticed the subcommittee that had been scheduled for the bill was cancelled.)
The bill gives local officers no option. No discretion. No choice. It demands they become an auxiliary force in an effort that has shocked the conscience of patriotic Americans; that has resulted in the killings of two American citizens in Minnesota this month alone.
Already, the Iowa Code forbids law enforcement agencies from discouraging the enforcement of immigration laws, and Attorney General Brenna Bird has interpreted this to mean Iowa police agencies must provide their “full and complete cooperation” with immigration authorities.
Collins’ measure, introduced after the killing of Renee Good this month, makes this explicit. It demands that “all law enforcement agencies and officers in the state shall cooperate” with immigration authorities. (Italics are mine.)
In other words, if ICE kills an American, Iowa law enforcement, “shall cooperate.”
If ICE officers prevent a doctor from giving aid to a dying American, Iowa law enforcement “shall cooperate.”
If ICE officers swipe kids off the street and spirit them away in violation of a court order, Iowa law enforcement “shall cooperate.”
If immigration authorities warn people, as they did after the killing of Renee Good, they should learn their lesson, Iowa law enforcement “shall cooperate.”
If federal officers hold down a defenseless man and shoot pepper spray into his face, as they did in Minneapolis last week, Iowa law enforcement “shall cooperate.”
I can’t believe Iowa peace officers would want to unquestioningly go along with this. Collins’ proposal disregards their professional judgment, training and, in some ways, their responsibility to do their duty.
Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx made it clear a year ago that, when it came to immigration enforcement, he nonetheless would continue to honor his oath to the Constitution.
For this, Bird and Gov. Kim Reynolds tried to punish him. Bird sued Marx, even demanding that he sign a public loyalty oath.
Marx, a Republican, steadfastly refused to back down and his GOP-leaning county came to his defense.
Eventually, Bird surrendered.
Americans everywhere are turning against ICE’s police-state tactics. For more than a year we have watched them grow ever more aggressive. A new YouGov Poll, which was published Sunday, even said that more Americans support than oppose abolishing ICE.
The Trump administration blames Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for these protests. But they clearly fail to understand this moment and the character of the American people; the character of America itself.
I know some of these protestors. They are family and friends. They aren’t marching at the instigation of some politician. They are following their consciences, informed by their upbringing, their faith and their sense of what is right and just. They are following in the honorable footsteps of their forebears who have, throughout our country’s 250-year history, reacted to wrongdoing by demanding it cease.
If Walz and Frey were to become obedient in every respect to Donald Trump today, the protestors would still be there tomorrow. They are patriots, and Trump, JD Vance, Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem and Greg Bovino will never understand this.
This is why they lie.
As Glen Kessler, a longtime fact-checker, expertly pointed out, after Pretti’s killing the administration reacted quickly to try to “manufacture reality.” They lied repeatedly about who Pretti was and what had happened. Even his right to peaceably carry a gun, a right they venerate for their allies, came under assault.
The Trump administration knows if they don’t tell these lies, even more Americans will turn against them.
Collins’ legislation is in league with this cause.
So far, ICE hasn’t launched any full-scale operations in Iowa, which is run by Republicans and whose agricultural economy is reliant on immigrants. Instead, the White House targets Democrat-run Minnesota, even though Republican-run states, such as Florida and Texas, contain much larger numbers of undocumented immigrants.
There is a reason for this selective treatment, and it has nothing to do with enforcing the law.
Still, ICE could come to Iowa in full force someday. The administration has set a deportation quota.
What then?
I think we know. We have already seen it. ICE agents will assault Americans again. They will violate their rights. In all probability, they will even kill again.
Shall Iowa law enforcement be forced to cooperate? Shall Iowans?
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Take a step back and what would your reaction be if you saw what was happening but didn’t know where it was taking place. If they had swastikas on their sleeves you know it was in Nazi Germany, or in Tiananmen Square in China, or in Moscow during Stalin’s rein you what immediately conclude it’s what authoritarians try to do to silence peacefully protest. You would think that with our constitution, Bill of Rights, three equal branches of government and locally supported police that what we would never witness a national police force taking over our streets in America and terrorizing and killing citizens. If you condone ICE conduct, the question you should be asking yourself is; if you feel our immigration situation is that awful, are you willing to give up everything America stands for including law and order to remove people from our country? Clearly we are no longer talking about the worst of the worst. Grabbing people out of cars, breaking into houses with no warrants, threatening people on the street and saying that protesters are domestic terrorists is not who we are as a country. While Stephen Miller created the strategy it’s under Trump’s direction and he alone can stop it now.
This is the direct link to post a public comment about this bill.
https://www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/meetingPublicComment?meetingID=41315&action=viewCommitteePublicComments