Gov. Phil Scott on Sunday urged a pause and “reset” of federal immigration operations following the latest killing of a protester in Minneapolis. In the absence of presidential action, Scott said that Congress and the courts may need to step up to rein in the executive branch and “restore constitutionality.”
“It’s not acceptable for American citizens to be killed by federal agents for exercising their God-given and constitutional rights to protest their government,” Scott wrote in a public statement. While the governor has never been a supporter of President Donald Trump, he has been reluctant to speak out against the president’s administration.
Alex Pretti, 37, was shot and killed after being surrounded Saturday morning by a large group of federal agents who beat and pepper-sprayed him. The Department of Homeland Security has said Pretti was armed with a pistol and threatened Border Patrol agents with it, but videos show he was holding a cellphone as he was taken to the ground and then shot dead. He had a permit to carry a firearm.
The killing came about two weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good as she drove away from a confrontation in Minneapolis. Good, 37, and Pretti, an intensive care nurse at a hospital for veterans, were both American citizens.
Pretti’s death also prompted impassioned responses on Saturday from Vermont’s three left-leaning members of Congress, who denounced the “murder” and “execution” of a man at the hands of masked federal agents run amuck. But the governor’s statement was a fiery — and striking — departure from his public approach to Trump’s actions in the 12 months since the president retook office. A moderate Republican, Scott had taken care to not antagonize Trump or attract his notice, which had frustrated many Vermonters, some of whom had voted for Scott — but not the president.
“At best, these federal immigration operations are a complete failure of coordination of acceptable public safety and law enforcement practices, training, and leadership,” Scott wrote. “At worst, it’s a deliberate federal intimidation and incitement of American citizens that’s resulting in the murder of Americans. Again, enough is enough.”
The Senate is expected to vote on funding for the Department of Homeland Security later this week, and both U.S. Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are no votes on the measure, which will need Democratic support to pass. If the package fails, there could be a partial government shutdown next month.
Welch on Saturday called Pretti’s killing a “shocking murder” and referred to ICE as “an agency that has become a paramilitary force terrorizing American communities.” Welch also repeated his call for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign. Noem said on Saturday that Pretti had “committed an act of domestic terrorism.”
“This must stop, immediately,” Welch wrote on X. “No more blank checks from Congress, and no more excessive force.”
Sanders, too, called Pretti’s killing a “murder.”
“All federal agents — ICE and Border Patrol — must be withdrawn immediately from Minneapolis and other cities,” he wrote on X. “NOW.”
Balint, in a statement, said she was “so full of rage, disgust and heartache. This man was executed at point blank range.”
“The evidence in the videos is much stronger than their fascist lies,” she wrote on X. “What will it take for Americans to admit our own government will kill us and lie about it?”
In Waterbury, some protesters turned out Sunday with signs such as “End ICE.”
“I live in a relatively safe state,” said Maggie Mae Anderson, “and this is the least I can do to be in solidarity with the people of Minnesota.”
Kevin McCallum contributed reporting.
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