U.S. border czar Tom Homan at a right-wing Turning Point USA event faced questions about immigration agents killing Minnesota resident Alex Pretti.
At a TPUSA event on Thursday, host Benny Johnson invited members of the audience to ask Homan questions. One young man demanded "accountability" for Pretti's killing.
"Out of all three speakers, you're the only one I didn't boo for," the man told Homan, noting that he had jeered Johnson and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). "So my question is specifically in response to the administration's response to the killing of Alex Pretti in Minnesota. My, the biggest issue that I have with that, obviously, beyond the actual act itself, which we all saw the video, right?"
"There was a protester, you know, upwards to 15 ice agents gathered around him," he continued. "They disarmed him about five seconds before he was shot and killed. That's extremely concerning to someone who believes in limited government and who believes in civil liberties. And the biggest concern of that was that day, like they didn't even try to investigate what happened."
The audience member recalled that White House adviser Stephen Miller had claimed Pretti was trying to do "maximum harm" to law enforcement.
"It reminds me of the quote in the George Orwell quote in 1984. The party told you to project your eyes and ears. We all saw the video. We all saw what happened. And the administration's gut response by top officials was to immediately deny any accountability for what happened," the man observed. "And I understand that he, you know, there's videos of him kicking cars. I understand that. All of that is irrelevant. The man was disarmed."
"We saw the gun taken off of his body, and then he, he was subsequently shot by upwards to 15 ICE agents around him," he added. "Is the administration ever going to take accountability? And are those ICE agents that shot and murdered that man ever going to be held accountable?"
Homan responded by declining to say whether the Trump administration officials would take accountability.
"Okay, so I can't speak for Kristi Noem, Stephen, I'll speak for myself," the border czar replied. "After those shootings, I get a phone call from President Trump, so that I need to go to Minnesota and fix some things and de-escalate."
"I can assure you the FBI is investigating," he insisted. "I'm not going to comment on ongoing investigations. That's a career cop, you just don't do that."
"The FBI has it, along with internal affairs from ICE, and they're running [the] investigation. But I stand by if someone violates the law, they need to be held accountable. And we'll see what comes out of the investigation."
