First Lady Melania Trump issued [1] a direct political plea today for the country to unify amid rising tensions in Minneapolis following the fatal shooting of protester Alex Pretti by Border Control during a federal immigration enforcement operation to apprehend a criminal illegal alien. Melania was interviewed [2] on Fox & Friends on Tuesday morning to promote her movie and said, ‘I’m against the violence, so please, if you protest, protest in peace.”
Melania stressed that President Trump had engaged in very good discussions with Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey recently to calm the situation and “make it peaceful and without riots.”
President Trump himself has addressed shootings tied to federal agents, saying his administration was “reviewing everything” after Pretti’s death and expressing that he “doesn’t like any shooting” adding “But I don’t like it when somebody goes into a protest and he’s got a very powerful, fully loaded gun with two magazines loaded up with bullets also.”
Pretti, a registered Democratic voter and anti-ICE protester who arrived armed with a loaded gun the day he was killed, is frequently described by the Left simply as an “ICU nurse” at a VA hospital. What’s often left out is his reported connection to an ICE Watch group operating through a local Signal chat [3]. These groups consist of organized activists who monitor ICE activity and mobilize to interfere with enforcement actions involving illegal aliens. Pretti’s ex-wife told the New York Post [4] that Pretti may have shouted at ICE officers in the past, she did not think he had been confrontational – an admission that suggests his participation in prior protests before the one that ended his life.
As outrage over federal immigration enforcement continues, Minneapolis remains tense even as some federal agents are reportedly preparing to leave the city. Against that backdrop of heightened unrest and national debate over how federal law enforcement is being deployed, Melania’s appeal for peace adds a distinct note of reconciliation and calm. Whether or not Melania’s advice will be listened to is another story, especially since many of the anti-ICE protests have been infiltrated by Antifa and incited by Democratic politicians who want an election issue to run on.