SAN DIEGO, CMC – The California-based Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) has condemned what it described as “lethal violence” by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents against civilians exercising their First Amendment right to peaceful protest.
HBA Executive Director Guerline Jozef told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that her organization is “devastated and outraged” by the killing of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old US citizen and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurse, who was shot and killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday during an ICE operation.
Pretti’s death followed the fatal shooting of another 37-year-old American citizen, Renée Good, a poet and mother of three young children, by an ICE agent in the same city on January 7, during another ICE enforcement activity.
In both cases, community and political leaders have challenged the Trump administration’s accounts of the incidents and called for independent investigations.
“Our hearts break for the innocent lives brutally taken. These tragedies show how federal immigration enforcement has become a mechanism of violence rather than protection,” Jozef said.
“The deaths of Alex Pretti and Renée Good are not isolated accidents — they are the product of unchecked federal power that prioritizes inhumane and deadly force over human dignity.
“We demand full accountability, community-led investigations, and an end to militarized immigration operations that terrorize civilians exercising their rights,” added Jozef, stating that HBA stands “in solidarity with the families of Pretti, Good, and all who have suffered under aggressive enforcement actions.
“We call on policymakers and community leaders to act with urgency and moral clarity. We demand independent state-level investigations into the killings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good, free from federal interference; immediate suspension of aggressive federal immigration enforcement operations in US cities where lethal force has been used against civilians; and Legislative reform to abolish ICE and reinvest in community-centered immigration and human rights protections.”
Jozef said HBA is also demanding the federal government’s “accountability and prosecution of officers involved in unlawful use of deadly force”; and “comprehensive civil rights protections for journalists, legal observers, and community members documenting enforcement actions.
“These deaths expose a systemic failure that demands not just accountability but transformation. Haitian Bridge Alliance will continue to uplift the voices of affected communities and fight for a humane immigration system that respects human life and constitutional rights.”
Caribbean-American New York State Assemblymember Brian Cunningham also denounced the latest fatal shooting by ICE agents in Minneapolis.
“This week, the country watched news out of Minneapolis that should stop every person in their tracks,” Cunningham, the son of Jamaican immigrants, told CMC.
“This tragic death follows yet another fatal shooting tied to immigration enforcement, in the same city, involving Renée Good, amid rising tension around increasingly aggressive federal operations. Two ICE agents, two fatal shootings, in less than two weeks, it’s unacceptable.
“No matter where you stand politically, federal force cannot become the default language of immigration policy. When civilians are dying, and communities feel occupied rather than protected, democracy is being tested in real time,” the Assemblyman said, adding that the Caribbean community and New Yorkers are “not treating this as distant.
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