TL;DR

• Former Minneapolis City Council president Andrea Jenkins says federal immigration agents are acting like a “modern-day slave patrol” as fear surges in the city.
• Her warning comes after two deadly ICE-related shootings: Renee Nicole Good earlier this month and Alex Pretti, a VA nurse killed while filming agents.
• Jenkins says Black, queer, and trans residents are being harassed and that Minneapolis feels under “literal occupation.”
• Locals now carry whistles to warn each other when agents are nearby as businesses shutter and families stay indoors.
• National leaders, veterans’ groups, and faith organizations are calling for investigations and a halt to ICE operations.

Federal agents accused of ‘modern-day slave patrol’ tactics as Minneapolis reels from deadly shootings

Former Minneapolis City Council president Andrea Jenkins has issued a stark warning about the escalating federal presence in her city, describing the behaviour of immigration agents as reminiscent of “a modern-day slave patrol.”

Jenkins — who in 2017 became the first out Black transgender woman elected to public office in the United States — spoke with The Advocate while attending the National LGBTQ Task Force’s Creating Change Conference in Washington, D.C. The event, known as the largest annual gathering of LGBTQ+ activists, became an unexpected place for quiet but urgent conversations about what many Minnesotans say is unfolding back home.

A city shaken by two deadly encounters in weeks

Just one day after Jenkins spoke, Minneapolis was again shaken by the killing of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 35-year-old U.S. citizen, Veterans Affairs ICU nurse and south Minneapolis resident. Pretti was fatally shot during a federal enforcement operation after he reportedly filmed agents interacting with a woman who had been pushed to the ground. According to Minneapolis police, Pretti had a legal concealed carry permit and never drew his holstered weapon before a masked agent seized it from him and opened fire.

Pretti’s death came less than three weeks after the killing of Renee Nicole Good, a queer mother of three shot by an ICE officer on January 6. Both incidents have ignited nationwide protests, calls for oversight, and heightened scrutiny of the Department of Homeland Security’s enforcement practices.

“A literal occupation”

Jenkins said fear was already widespread in Minneapolis prior to Pretti’s killing.

“I think it is completely un-American,” she said. “It is shameful what is going on in my community. It is a literal occupation.”

She rejected suggestions that federal operations are narrowly focused on immigration.

“A lot of people think it’s only Latino people who are being targeted, but that’s not true,” she said. “It is Black people, queer people, trans people who are being harassed, beaten up, physically assaulted.”

Jenkins noted that her neighbours have become too afraid to work, shop, or even step outside.
Food pantries, she said, have delivered more food in the past two months than during the height of the pandemic.

Community members now carry whistles as warning systems

The former council president pointed to a whistle hanging around her neck — a simple but telling symbol of the current atmosphere.

Residents now use them to signal when federal agents are approaching, creating an informal community alert system. Others follow enforcement vehicles to document encounters.

“Everybody in my community is walking around with a whistle,” Jenkins said. “People are alerting each other.”

As a disabled person, she added that harassment during Minnesota’s severe winter poses additional danger.

Growing national backlash

Reactions to Pretti’s killing have spread across the country.
Common Defense — a veterans’ and military families’ organization — called for a national suspension of ICE operations, describing the situation as “an occupation” and emphasising that Pretti “should still be alive.”

Colorado governor Jared Polis called the shooting “tragic and unacceptable,” warning that Americans are now experiencing “violence and intimidation by our own government.”

Faith groups have also joined the push for accountability. The Interfaith Alliance’s president recently returned from Minneapolis, where clergy marched alongside residents demanding an end to federal deployments.

A painful historical parallel

While some critics compare the federal actions to those of authoritarian foreign regimes, Jenkins said the roots are far more American.

“It’s less like the Gestapo and more like the slave patrol,” she argued.
“When people say, ‘This is not us,’ I say: No — this is us. America was the blueprint.”

For Jenkins, who helped lead Minneapolis through the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, the current moment feels devastatingly familiar.

“We are all unfortunately experiencing it again,” she said.