President Donald Trump's immigration forces are revolting after the president put them in a "no-win situation," according to a new report.
Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein reported on Monday that immigration agents across the country are "fed up" with how they've been treated by the administration and the "information war being waged from Washington" over the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis over the weekend. Klippenstein said agents he spoke with strongly disagree with the administration's "lamboyant defense" of the shooters.
“As much as I support this administration, there needs to be more common sense in situations like this, not a knee-jerk damage control narrative that does not line up with the evidence on video,” one Border Patrol agent said in a private chat group that was shared with Klippenstein. “This individual was shot 8 to 9 times while unarmed.”
“We can’t always support what happens just because it’s one of us,” he added.
In the aftermath of Pretti's shooting, several Trump administration officials rushed to declare the slain nurse a "domestic terrorist" and to spread other falsehoods about the events that led up to his unfortunate death. The falsehoods have caused some advocates, including the federal government's largest union, to call for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the architects of Trump's deportation regime, to resign or be fired.
Those falsehoods have also caused internal chaos within Trump's immigration forces, Klippenstein reported.
“Lots of people are freaking out,” one ICE agent told Klippenstein. “Agents are getting seriously paranoid, afraid of being targeted by ‘retaliators.’”
“This is a no-win situation for agents on the ground or immigration enforcement overall,” another agent said in the private group chat shared with Klippenstein.
He closed on a plaintive note: “I think it’s time to pull out of Minnesota, that battle is lost.”
