Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche joined "Meet the Press" Sunday morning to discuss the shooting of anti-ICE activist Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, and made some great points while enduring gaslighting from host Kristen Welker.
Welker started by asking, "What exactly do you see in that video that posed a threat to law enforcement?" Of course, that video doesn't show much of what leads up to the shooting, where a targeted operation to apprehend a criminal illegal alien who is a convicted felon is being obstructed by activists role playing as "legal observers." Blanche replies:
"Well, I’ll tell you what I don’t see. And I don’t see protesting happening. And this narrative that what was happening on that yesterday morning was protesting interrupted by ICE is not what we see."
An affidavit filed by a woman who filmed the shooting detailed what happened. I'll quote some relevant portions; the full affidavit can be read here.
"At about 8:50 a.m. I was getting ready to go to work when I heard whistles outside. I knew the whistles meant that ICE agents were in the area, so I decided to check it out on the way to work.
"There was an agent by a car across the street. Two observers were a few feet away from the agent, blowing their whistles. One was wearing a backpack.
"An agent approached and asked us to back up, so I moved slowly back onto the sidewalk."
So, those whistles are used to call the activists out of their homes to impede federal agents. The self-labeled "legal observers" get within feet of the agents and blow whistles in their faces. That prevents the agents' freedom of movement and can put "observers" at risk, which is why the agent told them to back up. This woman paid attention and complied, and she's alive today.
"The man stayed in the street, filming as the other observers I mentioned earlier were being forced backward by another ICE agent threatening them with pepper spray. The man went closer to support them as they got threatened, just with his camera out..."
That is not peacefully protesting.
Blanche pointed out that we're not seeing this level of agitation and disruption in any other city in the United States, and that's because many jurisdictions actually work with ICE. In fact, Blanche said, the government deports ten times the number of illegal aliens out of Texas than they do out of Minnesota, yet we don't hear about similar problems in Texas:
"I’m very confused about why the conversation’s about -- what you’re talking about instead of focusing on what really matters, which is why, in one city, in one place, do we have these problems. We deport ten times the number of illegal aliens out of Texas than we do out of Minneapolis. Why do we hear nothing out of Texas about any of the same problems that we have in Minneapolis? I’ll tell you why. Because in Texas we have the cooperation and support of local law enforcement so that we can do these operations safely, keeping U.S. citizens and others protected and safe. That is not what we have in Minneapolis. And the fact that it’s the administration that’s being blamed for the utter failure of leadership in Minneapolis is not right, it’s not appropriate, and it’s also not true --
Good Sunday. Todd Blanche on Meet the Press: "We deport 10x the number of illegals out of Texas than we do out of Minneapolis. Why do we hear nothing out of Texas? ... Because in Texas, we have the cooperation and support of local law enforcement so that we can do these… pic.twitter.com/seS7kKhhwU
— AJ Huber (@Huberton) January 25, 2026
Blanche reminded Welker that the sanctuary policies of states like Minnesota and California and Oregon put both ICE officers and the general public at risk:
"Remember, there’s a much easier way to do this. When these violent criminals who are here illegally are ready to get out of prison, the mayor could just let us know, we could go get them from prison and deport them. They refuse to do that. And so the result of that is that ICE officers have to go out onto the streets and make arrests, and that is tough work."
If the leaders in Minnesota actually cared about their citizens, they'd be telling people to stay home, or to observe from a distance and not harass federal agents. But, their actions show that they do not care about the safety of their citizens and would like them to be martyrs. As Blanche said:
"Yes, yesterday’s shooting was a tragedy, and yes, we feel a ton of sympathy for the family and friends of the deceased. But make no mistake about it, this was entirely avoidable if we had a governor, if we had a mayor, if we had leadership in Washington and over in Minnesota that actually cared about their citizens."
The deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti are sad, and they leave behind family who will mourn them for the rest of their lives. But, they were avoidable, and Tim Walz, Jacob Frey, Keith Ellison, Ilhan Omar, and all of the leftists who have stoked the flames of insurrection have blood on their hands.
Editor’s Note: Democrat politicians and their radical supporters will do everything they can to interfere with and threaten ICE agents enforcing our immigration laws.
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