(NEW YORK) — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Monday called for the Trump administration to terminate its immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis, following the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents.
“A fundamental responsibility for government is to keep people safe, and part of the way you keep people safe is by building trust between law enforcement and the community,” Shapiro said in an interview on “Good Morning America.”
“What Donald Trump and the federal government are doing is eroding that trust, is making people less safe, and it is time to terminate this mission,” he said.
The Pennsylvania Democrat called for an independent investigation into the killings of Pretti and Rene Good to be led by the state of Minnesota.
Some Republicans have called for a thorough investigation of Pretti’s killing, after videos of his killing raised questions about Trump administration officials’ initial characterizations of the incident.
“This mission in Minnesota is compromised. It’s been directed by Donald Trump and [Vice President] JD Vance and [Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem in a way to wreak havoc on a community, in a way that is very clearly violating people’s constitutional rights each and every day, and has led to two tragic killings in the streets of people who were not a threat, I believe, to law enforcement,” Shapiro said.
Americans cannot bring a loaded firearm to protests, according to FBI Director Kash Patel.
“You cannot bring a firearm loaded with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want,” the FBI Director said after being asked by Fox host Maria Bartiromo about his message to those who are outraged about the shooting. “It’s that simple. You don’t have that right to break the law and incite violence.”
Asked if he endorses calls by a growing number of Democrats to refuse to fund the Department of Homeland Security this week — and risk a partial government shutdown — Shapiro endorsed the position of Nevada Democratic Sen. Katherine Cortez Masto, who called for the Senate to fund the rest of the government while pushing for changes to DHS in the wake of the shootings in Minneapolis.
Noem has defended the agents’ actions in Minneapolis.
“This individual went and impeded their law enforcement operations, attacked those officers, had a weapon on him and multiple, dozens of rounds of ammunition, wishing to inflict harm on these officers, coming, brandishing like that, and impeding their work that they were doing,” Noem said this weekend.
Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino also defended the actions of agents amid the protests.
“I believe the fantastic training that our law enforcement partners have, the fact that they’re highly trained, prevented any specific shootings of law enforcement,” Bovino told CNN this weekend. “So good job for our law enforcement in taking him down before he was able to do that.”
“The challenge here … is the direction that these federal agents are receiving, the direction that’s coming all the way from the top, from Trump and Vance and Noem, that is compromised,” Shapiro said on Monday. “I would not continue funding this and giving the president a blank check to wreak havoc and undermine people’s constitutional rights.”
In his memoir out Tuesday, “Where We Keep the Light: Stories from a Life of Service,” Shapiro reflects on his life in public office and grapples with the 2025 arson attack on his home.
“One of the core principles you enunciate in your book is that we have more that unites us than divides us. You see what’s happening in Minneapolis. You see what’s happening in the streets of our country. And does it challenge your thesis?” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked Shapiro on Monday.
“I would hope that even in these serious moments, even in these moments where I know we are consumed by this darkness, particularly coming out of Minneapolis right now, let’s not forget that there are people in the world doing good, bringing light each day,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro said politicians need to “speak and act with moral clarity.”
“Part of the point of my book is to encourage more politicians, particularly those who enable this president on a daily basis, to take their cues, not from the division that exists, you know, in our society, and sort of pushed even more so by social media, but instead, take their cues from good people who are doing good things in our communities each and every day, and that’s where I find the light,” he said.
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