On Wednesday, a new video of anti-ICE agitator Alex Pretti aggressively confronting federal agents 11 days before his death dropped. Naturally, many on the left scoffed at the footage and argued that it was irrelevant. But is it? I say it’s highly relevant, and I’m not only going to explain why, but I’m also going to prove that even the left knows it, too.
The footage, recorded on the morning of January 13, shows Pretti spitting at agents, cursing, and kicking out the taillight of their SUV before being forcibly taken to the ground during a violent struggle. The video also appears to show a firearm tucked into his waistband, though it remains unclear if the agents were aware of it at the time.
Chris Cillizza, writing on X, said he "truly" didn't understand how it impacts what happened on January 24.
I truly don’t understand how this impacts what happened Saturday?
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) January 29, 2026
Did the fact that he kicked a taillight out 11 days before mean he somehow should have been shot 10 times when he was already on the ground? https://t.co/g0aqAfwATH
But the video is 100% relevant, and the left knows it.
That’s pretty much what every other leftist is saying, so I won’t quote anyone else. Are they all really this obtuse? No, I don’t think so. I think they know exactly why it’s relevant.
Since the shooting, the media has been desperately trying to portray Pretti as a kind, selfless ICU nurse who would never hurt anyone and was allegedly killed by federal agents for absolutely no reason. We’ve heard from the expected slate of character witnesses who described him as "compassionate" and someone who "lived to assist others.” The narrative painted Pretti as a gentle soul caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, a victim of Trump's supposedly brutal immigration policies.
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We already knew that Pretti wasn't some innocent bystander. He belonged to Kingfield Signal ICE Watch, a Minneapolis "neighborhood cell" organized specifically to monitor and interfere with immigration enforcement operations conducted by Border Patrol and ICE. These groups use encrypted Signal chats to track agent movements, relay license plate information, and dispatch members to locations where ICE is operating. The FBI is now investigating whether these coordinated efforts cross the line into criminal activity.
On the day he was killed, Pretti intentionally inserted himself into an ongoing joint Border Patrol and ICE operation targeting a violent criminal illegal immigrant. He didn't remain a distant observer recording from afar. He arrived at the scene armed with a loaded 9mm semiautomatic handgun and two extra magazines, and chose to be an active disruptor rather than just a bystander. Federal agents attempted to disarm him, a struggle turned violent, and he was ultimately shot and killed during that encounter. Combine that with his aggressive assault on ICE agents a week and a half prior, and you have a pattern of violent behavior of someone who not only deliberately engages with federal law enforcement, but does so with a gun.
We've seen this playbook before. The left pulled identical stunts with Renee Good, spreading wild claims that she was just a scared bystander. The mainstream media told us that she wasn’t an activist. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) even described her as “This 37-year-old woman drops her kid off at school. Not involved in protest activity or anything. Seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Lies. All lies.
The truth was that Good was part of the same ICE Watch network, trained to disrupt ICE operations, and was actively involved in tracking and confronting agents. When an ICE agent shot her, officials said she had weaponized her vehicle and attempted to run over officers.
Context matters here because Pretti's and Good's deaths are being weaponized as propaganda against ICE and Trump's immigration policies.
If Pretti's pattern of aggressive behavior weren't relevant, the left wouldn't have worked so hard to portray him as a gentle soul. If Good's activism weren't necessary, they wouldn't have lied about her involvement in the protests in the first place. If these details didn’t matter, they wouldn’t have lied about them in the first place. Which means the effort to gaslight you is a de facto admission that these details undermine the narrative they’re trying to push.
