The almighty algorithm deity suggested I should watch this specific video, and so I did. In it, a US Afghanistan veteran carefully examines video footage of the recent scramble in Minneapolis, where Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old US citizen, was shot and killed during an action of ICE, the anti-immigration crackdown force of the Trump government.

By Sid Lukkassen
Other sources might examine the same event from different perspectives, using different cameras. Still, for this article, I am not focused on the exact legal reconstruction of the event. I am interested in the ethical implications and their socio-political consequences. For this reason, I will follow the Afghanistan war veteran's account.

The situation: Alex Pretti Dies
It starts with Alex Pretti, phone in hand, being guided by an ICE operative to the sidewalk, to which he complies, even as he is gently shoved. So far, ICE's behaviour is easily defensible. Then, seemingly unprovoked, the ICE operative pulls out a can of mace and begins to spray Pretti. A group of operatives gathers, and Pretti is brought to the ground. Then it is discovered that he carries a holstered pistol, which he is legally entitled to do, given that concealed carry is legal. The weapon is taken from him. Here, it is dubious whether it was truly necessary to pile up on him with so many guys, as Pretti showed no signs of resistance. But then, on the ground, disarmed and overwhelmed by the team, someone decides to shoot Pretti, killing him.

While studying the video evidence, the Afghanistan war veteran makes the point that even in war, after you disarm an enemy combatant, you are not allowed to kill the other person, or you will go to jail. In a scenario where this happens to your own citizens, how could there not be serious repercussions? But instead – he argues – ICE believes it has free rein, due to specific statements by Vance, Trump and others in recent media appearances.

He also shows a clip of the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, who stated that Pretti had been “violent” and that the shots had been “fired in self-defence” – both statements which video evidence reconstructs as untrue. Pretti made no attempt to use his weapon, and concealed carrying was legal – the authorities cannot make that right disappear on the spot.

Now we get to the exciting part: the ethical and socio-political scenarios that unfold from this event.

The consequences: different tangents of the right collide
Given that Noem has already issued statements on behalf of the government, it is hard to see how they could be retracted. It would do catastrophic damage to her career, so, in her position of power, she has an apparent reason to repress the facts. To Trump, who is known to be unapologetic in his approach to politics, retracting the statements would probably be experienced as a form of defeat, as giving ground to leftists and to political opponents. They would use the admission of failure to further denounce and delegitimise the Trump administration.  

This effectively means that the Trump administration is now facing perilous tangents. Yes – the promise to deliver immigration crackdowns and to effectively deport illegal aliens is an essential fundamental of Trump’s mandate. But there is also the libertarian tangent, which holds it to be important to keep the government’s authority in check, that personal autonomy should be respected, and that carrying a weapon does not mean operatives may just disarm you if you are not resisting, let alone be killed.

These two tenets of the American Right are now about to come into confrontation with each other. For US Constitution adherents, it is also probably important that the government provide transparency, admit mistakes, and restore law, justice, honour, and integrity as much as possible when the individual rights of citizens are unjustly infringed.

But then, in the political universe as Trump and his closest allies experience it, there is good reason not to admit any mistakes. And to frame Alex Pretti as another unruly instigator and to cast anyone who stands up for Pretti as an anti-ICE protestor, with other words: as a leftist sympathiser who is pro-demographic replacement.

Because if we take a step back from the tragedy that is Pretti’s death, there is a bigger picture to consider. If not enough deportations take place, leftists will continue to transplant Republican districts with new voters, and this will seriously upset the already fragile political balance that underpins the United States as a nation. So Trump, Vance and Noem really do have good reasons to stand behind ICE and to boost their power.

As Europeans already know, demographic replacement is a real fact. If you don’t act quickly, your cities and institutions will have been taken over before an effective political response can even be mounted. The last thing the Trump team needs is for great “stand down and reassess” programs and investigations to slow down their immigration policy.

The aftermath: are there solutions?
The responsible thing to do is probably to pinpoint the person who fired the shots, killing Pretty, to give public accountability and due process. But as Trump and his allies have already learned, this will lead to another George Floyd situation, creating an effective martyr for anti-conservative forces to rally behind. Doing this will come at serious political costs for the Trump movement.

But at the same time, ignoring the problem – allowing ICE to escalate, downplaying media that acknowledge new cases such as Pretti’s, politically vilifying people who continue to bring him up – will set the US down an authoritarian path that it will become impossible to recover from.

It is also not guaranteed that the Republicans will continue to win elections, and Democrats – especially the radical groups, such as those who back AOC – are poised to do similar things once they acquire political power. Far-Left pressure groups and Antifa would take the role of ICE, doing anti-constitutional things with the backing of the bureaucracy and legal institutions.

The further we go down the drain of not acknowledging the Alex Pretti situation and taking it head-on, the greater and more irreparable the damage will be.

Ladies and gentlemen – we live in interesting times.  

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