Protesters at a demonstration Friday, Jan. 23, 2025, outside the Graduate by Hilton hotel near UC Berkeley. Credit: Karen Hughes
The fatal shooting of Veterans Affairs nurse Alex Pretti on Jan. 24 by federal agents has sparked outrage from many Americans, even while Trump administration officials have attempted to claim — in defiance of the video evidence — that the deadly use of force was justified.
In Berkeley and the East Bay, the reaction from community leaders has been one of outrage and opposition to the continuing mass deportation operation, led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, which set the stage for Pretti’s killing.
The Berkeley City Council adopted a resolution Tuesday night that demands “an end to ICE and CBP surges in Minneapolis and across the country,” and calls on federal lawmakers to abolish ICE as part of a wider restructuring of the Department of Homeland Security.
Two other American citizens were killed in the weeks before Pretti. Renee Good was shot by an ICE agent on Jan. 7, and Keith Porter was shot by an off-duty ICE agent on New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles. The latest protests follow a wave of demonstrations that took place earlier this month after Good’s killing.
Two other people have been killed by federal immigration agents since September: Silverio Villegas González, a father originally from Mexico and working as a cook in Chicago, was shot, reportedly while trying to flee, and Isaias Sanchez Barboza, a Mexican citizen, was killed in Rio Grande City, Texas, while agents were detaining him.
Berkeley expresses support for leaders and people of Minnesota
The Berkeley resolution, which was approved unanimously, states that the City Council supports local leaders and “all the people of Minnesota who are peacefully protesting the lawless surge of ICE and CBP agents in their state, which is undermining public safety, harming and killing local residents, and taking an immense economic and psychological toll on residents.”
The resolution also calls for a long list of changes to immigration enforcement nationally, including an end to federal agents wearing masks, the firing of Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino and White House adviser Stephen Miller, and for the officers who killed Pretti and others “to be held fully responsible for their actions by the judicial system.”
“As the first sanctuary city in the country, the city Berkeley stands in solidarity with Minnesota and the Twin Cities, and will do everything it can to support them in protecting their communities against this unprecedented federal intrusion,” Mayor Adena Ishii said at Tuesday’s council meeting.
On social media, Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas called ICE and Customs and Border Patrol’s operations “lawless violence” and “sickening.”
“These agencies must be held accountable and they must leave the Twin Cities and all of our communities immediately,” she wrote. Bas also called on Alameda County residents to support county plans to create “ICE-free zones” and a response plan in case agents conduct similar operations here.
Rep. Lateefah Simon issued a statement hours after Pretti was killed, saying she supports Senate Democrats who are planning to vote against a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. She voted against the bill when it was before the House.
“ICE is killing American citizens,” Simon said. “Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem have enabled a system of abuse of government power, militarism, and unchecked state violence where communities are treated as disposable.”
Simon was in Minneapolis earlier this month for a hearing, “Kidnapped and Disappeared: Trump’s Deadly Assault on Minnesota,” where she heard from residents about the impacts ICE and CBP operations have had on local communities.
People protest against ICE at a demonstration in North Berkeley on Tuesday. Credit: Matthew Raifman
Anti-ICE protesters hold demonstrations in the East Bay
Residents have held several protests against the Trump administration’s mass-deportation campaign around the East Bay over the past week.
The day before Pretti was killed, people protested outside two Berkeley schools and in the Southside neighborhood. An estimated 1,500 people rallied the same day in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood with the message “ICE out of everywhere,” according to KTVU. Unions including UNITE HERE Local 2, UAW 4811, UAW 2320, the California Nurses Association, UC American Federation of Teachers 1474, Oakland Education Association, the Committee of Interns and Residents, SEIU, and the Alameda Labor Council endorsed the rally.
The National Nurses Union called for a week of action in honor of Pretti, who worked as an ICU nurse in a Minneapolis VA hospital. “ICE messed with the wrong profession,” the union wrote in a statement. “We nurses will fight to abolish ICE and bring about a vision for a healthy society based on nurses’ values of caring, compassion, and community.” One nurse protest took place at Oakland’s Kaiser Medical Center on Monday.
People also demonstrated in North Berkeley and at Emeryville’s Huchiun Park on Tuesday. And organizers have called for a rally against ICE operations at Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
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