Fetterman urges Minneapolis ICE op to stand down as city spirals to ‘ungovernable and dangerous’ levels

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Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman is calling for an immediate end to the Minnesota immigration crackdown after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti Saturday by federal law enforcement, he said in comment to Fox News Digital. 

"The operation in Minneapolis should stand down and immediately end," Fetterman said Monday in a comment to Fox News Digital. "It has become an ungovernable and dangerous urban theatre for civilians and law enforcement that is incompatible with the American spirit." 

"As a very pro-immigration Democrat and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Border Management, I believe our nation deserves a secured border and that we should deport all criminal migrants," he continued. "I also believe there needs to be a path to citizenship for those hardworking families who are here." 

Fetterman's comments on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation follow his vocal support of federal law enforcement officers, breaking with many Democrat colleagues who have called for the end to the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and for ICE overall to be defunded. 

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Sen. John Fetterman's wife, Gisele, took aim at ICE and Trump administration immigration policies in an X post. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

"Secure the border. Deport all the criminals. Stop targeting the hardworking migrants in our nation," Fetterman posted to X earlier in January. 

Fetterman added in his statement Monday that he continues to buck calls to defund ICE. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Fetterman's office Monday morning inquiring about his wife's X post blasting the Trump administration’s immigration policies, even as her husband has publicly backed federal immigration officers.

"For more than a decade, I lived undocumented in the US. Every day carried the same uncertainty and fear lived in my body - a tight chest, shallow breaths, racing heart," the senator's wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, wrote Sunday. "What I thought was my private, chronic dread has now become a shared national wound."

"This now-daily violence is not 'law and order.' It is terror inflicted on people who contribute, love and build their lives here," she continued. "It's devastatingly cruel and unAmerican."

Gisele Barreto Fetterman previously has discussed moving to the U.S. from Brazil as a child, including as an illegal immigrant for a decade.  

Alex Pretti, 37, was fatally shot Saturday by Border Patrol agents in Minnesota while filming federal officers on a Minneapolis street. Federal officials say Pretti approached agents with a 9 mm handgun and resisted disarmament, while witnesses have cast doubt on if Pretti, an ICU nurse, posed a threat to agents. 

President Donald Trump told The Wall Street Journal Sunday that his administration is "reviewing everything," surrounding the case, but did not say whether the agent who shot Pretti acted appropriately.

Sen. John Fetterman participates in a debate, June 2, 2025, in Boston. (Steven Senne, File/The Associated Press )

The fatal shooting, which follows the Jan. 7 fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good, has sparked outrage among Democrats and critics of the president who say Trump administration immigration policies are causing chaos for communities, while describing the shooting deaths of the two Americans as "murder."

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Former President Bill Clinton, for example, issued a searing rebuke of the immigration crackdown following Pretti's death, calling it an "unacceptable" tragedy that "should have been avoided."

A man arrested by federal agents moments prior escapes in handcuffs after tear gas went off, Jan. 21, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Angelina Katsanis/The Associated Press )

Fetterman said in comment to Fox News Digital that "Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti should still be alive" and that his "family grieves for theirs." 

"I've also spent significant time hearing many different positions on the funding bills and maintain that I will never vote to shut our government down, especially our Defense Department.

"Additionally, a vote to shut our government down will not defund ICE. DHS has $178B in funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which I did not vote for," he said. "I reject the calls to defund or abolish ICE. I strongly disagree with many strategies and practices ICE deployed in Minneapolis, and believe that must change."

"I want a conversation on the DHS appropriations bill and support stripping it from the minibus," he continued. "It is unlikely that will happen and our country will suffer another shutdown. We must find a way forward and I remain committed to being a voice of reason and common sense." 

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A Minnesota National Guard vehicle blocks off a road near the scene of a shooting earlier in the day, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Minneapolis.  (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Trump announced Monday that he was deploying White House border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota, and that he will report directly to the president. 

"Tom Homan will be managing ICE operations on the ground in Minnesota and coordinating with others on the ongoing fraud investigations," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox Digital Monday. 

Leavitt said Monday during a White House press briefing that the administration is calling on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to agree in order to bring peace to the Twin Cities. 

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"Number one, Governor Walz, Mayor Frye and all Democrat leaders should turn over all criminal illegal aliens currently incarcerated in their prisons and jails to federal authorities, along with any illegal aliens with active warrants or known criminal histories for immediate deportation," Leavitt said. "Number two, state and local law enforcement must agree to turn over all illegal aliens who are arrested by local police. And then thirdly, local police must assist federal law enforcement in apprehending and detaining illegal aliens who are wanted for crimes, especially violent crimes."

Walz and Trump shared what was described as a productive phone call Monday morning, with the state calling on the president to work together to quell the chaos, Trump said on Truth Social.