Rallies in Elmhurst Echo Nationwide Outcry After Immigration Escalations
A protester holds up a sign labeled “Trump is a Facist” at a protest in downtown Elmhurst on Jan. 31. (Sarah Matzkin)
More than 200 people braved cold temperatures on York Street outside Elmhurst City Hall on Sunday, Jan. 25, to rally for Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis a day earlier.
Organized by Progressives for Change in Elmhurst, the demonstration came amid growing backlash over federal immigration enforcement and prompted the Trump administration to rethink its initial rhetoric.
The rally was followed by another protest on Saturday to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as concerns intensify over immigration tactics and after Pretti’s shooting marked the second fatal shooting by federal agents in one month.
Lisa Anderson-Hartlage, who attended and helped promote Sunday’s event on social media, said the turnout reflected those who wanted to stand in solidarity with Minnesota.
“It’s important for every community to be involved at this point, and everyone should show their support for injustices they see that are going on,” Anderson-Hartlage added. “If we don’t all stand together and support each other in these horrible times, then who else is going to get these points across?”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initially said Pretti approached Border Patrol agents with a handgun. DHS Secretary Krisit Noem and others characterized Pretti as a “domestic terrorist,” alleging that he posed a threat to the officers involved in the shooting. Those assertions were disputed by a bystander video that appears to show him holding a cellphone. The video released so far does not show Pretti drawing his legally owned, concealed firearm.
As the official narrative was questioned by both families that knew Pretti and video evidence, the Trump administration began reshuffling leadership of its immigration enforcement operation the next day and scaled back federal presence in Minneapolis. Noem appeared to distance herself from initial claims on a later Fox News Interview, and Trump called the death “a very unfortunate incident.”
A series of comments by officials suggesting Pretti was at fault for carrying a weapon has created tension in Trump’s political coalition. The Tuesday after the shooting, Trump claimed protestors “can’t have guns,” among similar claims by FBI Director Kash Patel, who said no one “can bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest you want. It’s that simple.”
The National Rifle Association, which has supported Trump frequently in the past, warned against such an analysis. Vice President of Gun Owners of America Erich Pratt also spoke out against the narrative, telling CNN he has attended protest rallies while armed, with no one getting injured.
Conservative Elmhurst University student Jaileen Almonte questioned the intent behind bringing a gun to a peaceful protest, but acknowledged that both liberal-leaning and conservative-leaning demonstrations have a history of armed presence.
“You have to be equal on both sides, right? You can’t have one without the other,” Almonte said. “If it’s an American thing to bring [a gun] to a protest, it would be hypocritical of me to say ‘why would he bring a gun?’ because the same thing happened on January 6th. [People] will be doing things and thinking they’re not going to have any consequences for your actions.”
Constance Mixon, director of the urban studies program and professor of political science, said the political fallout from Pretti’s death does not necessarily signal a lasting fracture within the MAGA movement, but rather highlights situational tensions around gun rights and federal law enforcement.
“Republicans have long been supporters of the Second Amendment, and I think that complicates it,” Mixon said. “We can go back to the period during COVID, and you had MAGA supporters outside of state capitals with machine guns protesting lockdowns. Imagine if those individuals had been shot and killed because they brought a gun to a protest.”
“In the case of Alex, it doesn’t appear that he had pulled his gun out or had any intention of hurting anybody, and that’s very clear from the images,” said Mixon. “We can see with our own eyes that neither case required lethal force.”
Pretti’s death follows Renee Good’s on Jan. 7. The Department of Justice has decided not to open a federal civil rights investigation for Good’s death, but will open one to investigate Pretti’s. The DHS said that the FBI will lead the investigation.
