NEW YORK, CMC – Caribbean-American New York State Assembly member Brian Cunningham on Saturday denounced the latest fatal shooting by agents from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Reports indicate that ICE agents fatally shot Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurse Alex Pretti during an ICE protest in Minneapolis on Saturday.
“This week, the country watched news out of Minneapolis that should stop every person in their tracks,” Cunningham, the son of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the 43rd Assembly District in Brooklyn, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
“This tragic death follows yet another fatal shooting tied to immigration enforcement, in the same city, involving Renee Good, amid rising tension around increasingly aggressive federal operations,” he added. “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,” Cunningham continued. “When civilians are dying, and communities feel occupied rather than protected, democracy is being tested in real time.”
The Assemblyman said the Caribbean community and New Yorkers are “not treating this as distant.
“When federal immigration enforcement becomes increasingly unregulated and insulated from oversight, immigrant communities are hit first, but the consequences affect us all,” he said.
“Fear changes daily life. It discourages parents from sending kids to school, makes people avoid hospitals, and stops witnesses from reporting crime,” added Cunningham, a co-sponsor of the New York for All Act (S2235A / A3506A), which would restrict and regulate how state and local entities discover or disclose immigration status, including limits on questioning and information-sharing that can funnel families into civil immigration enforcement.
“That makes every neighborhood less safe, and it leaves room for abuse to grow in silence,” Cunningham continued. “As a New York State legislator, my responsibility is not only to speak clearly in moments like this. It is to use the law to protect New Yorkers and to set firm boundaries when federal enforcement operates without sufficient oversight.
“The Minneapolis shootings are not just Minnesota news; They are a warning about what happens when enforcement expands without clear limits, transparency, or accountability,” he said.
US House of Representatives Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries also said on Saturday that “[US President] Donald Trump and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are completely and totally out of control.
“Today, lawless and masked thugs masquerading as law enforcement officers brutally killed another American citizen on the streets of Minneapolis without justification,” said Jeffries, who represents the 8th Congressional District in New York, encompassing parts of Brooklyn and Queens.
“The coldblooded slaying of VA (Veteran Affairs) nurse Alex Jeffrey Pretti is a horrific, preventable tragedy,” he added. “The American people deserve a thorough, independent investigation without interference or obstruction by DHS.
“Every single federal agent responsible for the unjustified killing of another civilian must be held criminally accountable to the full extent of the law,” Jeffries continued. “DHS is misusing taxpayer dollars to brutalize American citizens and law-abiding immigrants with impunity. The American people reject this affront to our values.”
He said House Democrats mourn the death of Pretti and “stand with the brave people of Minneapolis during this increasingly difficult and uncertain time. “The operations of ICE and CBP (Customs and Border Protection) in Minnesota must cease,” Jeffries urged.
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