Another American killed in Minnesota ICE crackdown. Kansas City leaders must act | Opinion
I don’t want a large presence of federal immigration and border patrol agents in Kansas City. And neither should you.
After seeing what has played out in Minneapolis this month, no one could ever convince me that Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration should be welcomed here.
On Saturday, I watched video footage of federal agents beating Alex Pretti before the 37-year-old Minnesota man was fatally shot. I am deathly afraid a similar tragedy could happen here if a proposed immigration detention and processing center is built in our backyard.
I encourage every elected official in the metropolitan area to continue to enact every law, ordinance and policy at their disposal to keep the government from setting up shop in our fair city.
Business and civic leaders should reject the government’s push to build a holding facility in our area, too.
On Monday, the board of powerful economic development agency Port Authority of Kansas City is expected to vote on ending its lucrative ties with developmental firm Platform Ventures. The Kansas City-based company reportedly sold a large warehouse to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to build an immigrant detention facility in the far southern part of the city.
After Pretti’s death in Minneapolis — he was apparently protesting ICE’s presence in that city — I don’t see how the Port Authority board could in good conscience continue to do business with any company connected to a government that is OK with fatally shooting American citizens.
Local officials must stop ICE
Under the Trump administration’s merciless approach to border security, I fear for the mental and physical well-being of our Latino brothers and sisters and other targeted minority groups. It seems nonwhite immigrants are bearing the brunt of this Trump-mandated enforcement.
Recently, the Kansas City Council approved a five-year moratorium that would potentially limit any plans to build a non-municipal detention facility in the city. That edict was a very important step in keeping our community safe from increased immigration patrol.
In nearby Cass County, I’d suggest fair-minded folks in our neighboring county to push back against U.S. Rep. Mark Alford’s plea for an ICE facility to be built there.
I’d also like to see restrictive action take place across the state line in both Wyandotte and Johnson counties.
In KCK, Wyandotte County Third District Commissioner Christian Ramirez recently announced a plan to introduce an ordinance that would limit special use permits on non-municipal detention centers until 2031. I remain hopeful that the proposal will come to fruition soon. I’d like to see Johnson County follow its neighbor’s lead.
Alex Pretti was no threat
Since before the watershed police brutality moment when George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in 2020, we’ve seen law enforcement officials in Kansas City, Overland Park, Independence and elsewhere needlessly carry out extrajudicial and lethal punishment more times than I could count.
From the footage I watched over the weekend in Minnesota, Pretti seemed to be protecting or helping a woman who was shoved to the ground by a masked agent. Agents converged on Pretti, a Veterans Affairs intensive care unit nurse, then pepper sprayed him before taking him to the ground, roughing him up and reportedly disarming and shooting him to death.
What I have not seen in the many videos circulating on the internet is a supposedly armed man trying to harm federal agents enforcing immigration laws, as Department of Homeland Security officials have claimed.
Both CNN and the New York Times analyzed smartphone footage of the shooting and concluded the government’s claims did not add up.
Pretti reportedly had a permit to carry a firearm. I have yet to see a video clip of him brandishing the weapon or anything close. I did see footage of Pretti holding a phone in his hand before he was taken down and killed.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey rightfully condemned this awful incident, which came on the heels of the senseless deadly shooting of Renee Good, a woman with ties to Kansas City. After Good’s death, I wrote she did not deserve to die for trying to flee from ICE agents — no one does.
After Pretti suffered a similar fate, my stance has not changed: American citizens who pose no threat should not be shot dead by law enforcement officials.
Kansas City leaders must do everything they can to prevent anything close to those deadly shootings in Minnesota from happening here.
This story was originally published January 25, 2026 at 11:29 AM.
