By now, the death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis has been converted into a digital spectacle, parsed, dissected, meme-ified, and moralized across social media platforms.
One side is casting Pretti as a canonized martyr against federal tyranny, while the other is presenting Minneapolis as a city fast collapsing under activist recklessness and indulgent political leadership, and these narratives function less as explanations than as signals of political tribal affiliation.
In the midst of this rhetorical chaos, the U.S. bishops have attempted to speak with some moral sobriety. Archbishop Bernard Hebda of Minneapolis reminded the faithful that every human person bears the image and likeness of God, whether elected official, federal agent, or illegal immigrant, while Archbishop Paul Coakley called for calm, restraint, and respect for human life, emphasizing that public authorities bear a grave responsibility for safeguarding the common good. These statements represent an attempt to slow the socioemotional tempo of a culture addicted to outrage and instant judgment, even as many voices remain uninterested in listening.
At present, the public record remains partial and fragmentary; we need to be very honest about that. Video footage circulates widely, but until a formal inquiry, that just means no one has full moral knowledge of what transpired, since framing, perspective, and context shape interpretation in ways unseen by the casual viewer. Accordingly, exercising restraint in assigning legal and moral culpability remains the Christian moral obligation. Even the Scriptures demand verification of evidence, multiple witnesses, and careful inquiry before judgment, recognizing that justice collapses when haste replaces discernment (cf. Dt 19:15). Nevertheless, Christian moral reasoning does not require complete forensic clarity before speaking to the broader ethical issues of a situation.
What can be stated with confidence is that the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good were eminently avoidable. They emerged from volatile circumstances where passions ran high, authority was challenged at close quarters, and prudential judgment failed on multiple levels. They arose from a sequence of human choices, each carrying foreseeable risks, each narrowing the space for peaceful resolution. Christianity has always insisted that moral agency entails responsibility, since human beings act as reasoning creatures capable of deliberation rather than as passive instruments of historical forces.
Scripture situates human life within an intelligible moral order where actions generate consequences, and where freedom carries weight rather than immunity. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (Rom 13:1). In fact, from Genesis through the prophets, covenant life presupposes accountability. Ezekiel insists that each person bears responsibility for chosen actions. Moses places life and death before the people and urges them to choose wisely. This framework rejects the modern temptation to dissolve agency into grievance narratives that absolve individuals of responsibility once a political cause has been invoked.
In Good’s case, driving toward a protest zone where armed federal officers are conducting enforcement operations constitutes a moral choice. In Pretti’s case, closing physical distance with agents operating under heightened threat assessments while carrying a firearm (even though carrying a firearm lawfully is a constitutional right) constitutes another moral choice. Intervening physically or verbally in an active enforcement operation introduces predictable dangers, regardless of how seemingly good one’s intentions or motives. Moral seriousness requires acknowledging these realities without sentimental evasions.
Alex Pretti and Renee Good made profoundly unwise decisions. Their intentions may have been sincere. Their hearts may have been compassionate. Even so, wisdom evaluates actions according to foreseeable outcomes rather than interior sentiment alone.
At the same time, law enforcement carries grave moral duties. Officers swear oaths, wield coercive authority, and must exercise proportional judgment under stress. The Catechism affirms the legitimacy of public authority while demanding restraint and respect for human dignity in its exercise. (CCC 2238) “Those subject to authority should regard those in authority as representatives of God, who has made them stewards of his gifts.” These demands apply especially in chaotic environments where fear, confusion, and adrenaline impair judgment. We need to acknowledge honestly the potential for error in judgment in this environment. Accordingly, investigations must proceed with genuine seriousness and transparency, since the public trust now depends upon accountability grounded in truth that, one hopes, will transcend political ideology.
Yet the deeper fault line does not reside with the agents on the scene. Federal officers were executing lawful immigration enforcement within a jurisdiction rendered combustible by sustained activist agitation and irresponsible political rhetoric. Over months and years, activists, influencers, and elected officials have urged ordinary citizens to confront, obstruct, and resist federal authorities, often cloaking this encouragement in moralized language that disguises risk beneath slogans of social justice. In doing so, leaders with platforms insulated themselves from consequences while placing apparently well-intentioned citizens directly into danger.
When rhetoric escalates to the point where confrontation with law enforcement has become a civic virtue, tragedy is increasingly likely. Good intentions become instruments of chaos. Agents are forced into split-second decisions amid crowds primed for chaos and defiance. Citizens find themselves in life-or-death encounters they never fully anticipated. This dynamic represents moral negligence at the leadership and media level, where applause is constantly being harvested by spokespersons from afar while mortal consequences unfold on the ground in the lives of real people.
The Catechism speaks with clarity regarding the authority of nations to regulate borders and enforce laws for the sake of the common good, affirming that political communities possess the right and duty to govern migration according to justice and prudence. (CCC 2241) “…Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants’ duties toward their country of adoption.”
While methods of enforcement allow for prudential debate, the underlying legitimacy of the United States’ immigration laws is undebatable. Accordingly, civil disobedience lacks moral footing whenever it is directed against laws that serve public order and the common good. There is nothing intrinsically unjust about the immigration laws of the United States.
This distinction matters greatly. Civil disobedience is only morally permissible when resisting genuinely unjust laws, since an unjust law ceases to have the authority of law in itself. In the case of just laws, however, protesting enforcement officers and ignoring legislative processes is morally misplaced. The agents do not write statutes. The officers do not set policy. If anything, they execute the law under oath, often at great personal risk of life. Directing hostility toward them represents a profound category error, and when this is encouraged by political leaders who prefer spectacle over responsibility, it is morally abhorrent.
As Bishop Robert Barron stated verbatim:
As a resident of Minnesota and as bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, my heart is breaking over the situation in my home state. Violence, retribution, threats, protests, deep suspicion of one another, political unrest, fear all of it swirling around all the time. May I make a modest proposal for exiting this unbearable state of affairs? The Trump Administration and ICE should limit themselves, at least for the time being, to rounding up undocumented people who have committed serious crimes. Political leaders should stop stirring up resentment against officers who are endeavoring to enforce the laws of the country. And protestors should cease interfering with the work of ICE. And everyone on all sides must stop shouting at one another and demonizing their opponents. Where we are now is untenable. There is a way out.
His prudential proposal regarding only enforcing actions on violent illegal immigrants may invite legitimate moral debate, since moral doctrine allows for disagreement concerning application and emphasis in this area. Nevertheless, the remainder of Bishop Barron’s appeal expresses moral principles that are binding upon all Catholics, particularly the call to cease demonization, halt incitement, and restore rational dialogue within civic life.
Ultimately, mourning Alex Pretti requires sincerity and honesty. His death deserves sorrow, prayer, and remembrance, to be sure. A creature of God died. That is a sad affair.
But the situation also deserves truth. Bishop Barron is right: accountability belongs to where the flames were fanned, where the rhetoric deliberately displaced wisdom, and where moral responsibility was outsourced to political spectacle. In fact, peace will emerge only when leaders cease treating human lives as instruments of political, ideological theater and when citizens recover the courage and virtue to consistently choose restraint over knee-jerk performative confrontation.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Being unwise does not merit summary execution. The buck stops with Washington and its officials who used deadly violence immorally – and unwisely, because they did it for all to see in their enraged insolence, and because ICE is now seen to be chased out of the State.
You apparently understood nothing of this excellent piece, “particularly the call to cease demonization, halt incitement, and restore rational dialogue within civic life.”
The more we listen to and are manipulated by inflammatory language the more likely we are to see these sorts of tragic results.
No Minneapolis protesters were “executed.” That’s what’s going on in Iran. Not the States.
Don’t believe everything you read about Iran, a lot of which is propaganda including from the exiled Shah-in-waiting. https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/iran-protests-are-viral-atrocity-numbers-part-march-war The protests were peaceful for two days, protected by the police – but Mossad has itself admitted getting involved as did violent separatist groups who handed out guns and killed both police and innocent people. Hundreds of police and other security forces killed, hundreds of banks and mosques burnt, ambulances destroyed, nurse burned alive, seminarians raped and murdered. This didn’t begin as a riot – that was just how it ended. The original peaceful protesters had every right to protest, https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/we-want-change-not-destruction-iranian-protesters-reject-us-israeli-interference and actually, the original motive for the protest was economic distress largely caused by US sanctions and recent currency manipulation which the US just admitted to at Davos.
Agitprop.
Wow, Mr. Cervantes, THAT is what you got out of this profound reflection? Clearly you didn’t read it, or maybe you just skimmed it long enough to rush in with your pre-packaged, talking point response.
Seriously, this was a carefully thought out reflection that looked at all sides in a very, very clear and morally mature fashion. It deserved a response in tune with the way it was presented. By spewing out that reflexive response you proved Dr. Peter’s point. (And BTW you mind want to rethink which side descended on the city filled with “enraged insolence” and which side was simply trying to do its job.)
Thank you Dr. Peter. That was a thoughtful, insightful take on a complex issue.
Lying is a sin. Calumny is a sin. Sedition is a sin. You have much to repent of.
Ouch! Can’t find any flaw in your response.
Bingo.
I don’t think Dr. Peter is saying that Pretti merited ‘execution,’ though. The title of his article is “Alex Pretti didn’t have to die.” I also don’t think he would characterize Pretti’s death as ‘execution,’ tragic as his death and the whole situation is (and I would agree).
There have been no summary executions in Minneapolis. None. The deaths of Alex Pretti and are terrible tragedies, and I have praying for the repose of their souls.
It has been proven that the chaos in Minnesota is a well-funded, carefully organized ideological action. The leaders of this organization, as well as Walz and Frey, have blood on their hands. Again, the death of Alex Pretti is a tragedy. But what was he doing bringing a powerful and expensive weapon to a peaceful protest? He was carrying Sig P320 AXG “Combat” with a laser sight and three magazines of cartridges. As novelist Stephen Hunter writes on Powerline, “So equipped, a man could take out an enemy squad, drop a hostage-taker, or put 17 holes in a 4-inch circle at 25 yards. A man could also sweep a crowd of targets, press the trigger whenever the red dot passed over one, and in less than 10 seconds deliver 17 fatalities”. Alex Pretti had no ID or permit on him, so he was carrying illegally. Pretti’s decision to bring a killing machine with him on that fateful day was more than just “unwise.” His death was not the result of a summary execution. It was a an accident, a “fog of war” incident in which his carrying a weapon played no small part. Could the agents have acted differently? Perhaps. For my part, I’ll let the Lord judge the moral culpability of those who were involved.
Your thoughts are nothing more than opinion and extremely misguided and incorrect. You weren’t there in real time so any opinion on what prompted the officers’ actions is uninformed. I doubt he woke up that morning with a plan to shoot anybody but it happened so, right or wrong, he perceived a threat. Would have all been avoided if Pretti had simply complied. A presumption without the investigation being completed is a kindergarten-level cause-and-effect faceplant. If law enforcement shows up to stop a dangerous act, you don’t get to blame law enforcement for the danger that forced the response. By that logic, firefighters “cause” fires and paramedics “cause” overdoses. This situation is the result of an organized mob interfering with federal agents lawfully enforcing federal law and fueled by dangerous rhetoric. Those are facts. Every reasonable person wants to confrontation and violence to end. There is a simple way to facilitate that—Minnesota needs to follow the will of the people and federal law by permitting ICE access to the 1,300 criminals in Minnesota jails as requested. Freeze-frame activism doesn’t override real-time dynamics, and the law does not require officers to wait to be shot. This was a tragic—but lawful—use of force.
“Let the Lord judge” – perhaps you should take your own advice? Alex Pretti had a license to carry his gun, and kept it holstered; he was in the grip of multiple agents when one ICE agent removed it from him, very shortly AFTER which, it appears, he was shot multiple times by other agents. Panic? Error? God knows, but it doesn’t look good for ICE in terms of training or policy.
If you respect every human being, you should also respect the Federal Agents. Do you really believe a Federal agent shot Pretti knowing he was disarmed? There is absolutely no evidence of that and the cirrumstances strongly suggest the opposite conclusion.
I disagree. The shooting may have been legally justified. We don’t know and should not jump to conclusions. For example, the idea that because the gun was removed a couple of seconds before Pretti was shot does not mean that the other agents knew that. They knew Pretti had a gun and he made a movement that looked like he reached for his gun to use it. Sorry, we live in the real world.
Once again, Mr. Cervantes demonstrates that he has little to no interest in truth or accuracy, just toxic spin and duplicity.
My friend Carl, thanks for getting that off your chest. I have been duly punished for showing my contempt for the officialdom in Washington on this page. Of course, I’m only a nobody expressing an opinion, but high-ranking officials of the government in Washington like Noem, Miller and Bovino have lied by claiming the Pretti went to commit an act of terrorism or mass murder. Nobody in their right mind would believe that someone would shout, protest and do his best to attract attention if he intended such a thing. If he had planned to kill as many agents as possible, he went about it in the worst possible way. There is no getting around what the administration has done in defending these killings. If Christians join in the excusing, then the Leftist clowns have won a victory that will never be forgotten.
Punished? What a histrionic response. When you write something, it is subject to the examination and dispute. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Examination.
Opinions and interchanges expressed in CWR are not as in a court of law but your application of the hearsay principle hasn’t been always up to mark.
‘ The Pitchfork Rebel
January 10, 2026 at 10:22 am
If the Deacon heard a first party account from a credible party, that was testimony and it would be evidence. ‘
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2026/01/08/opinion-why-do-young-priests-leave/
I’m still here. I have no need to abuse anyone.
Dispute.
Lack of proportion and rational intervention after the 11 day cooling off period.
When you bring an exceptionally powerful handgun to a riot, it is obvious that some level of evil intentions are involved, possibly even to the point a desire to be killed in the process. It is not only Muslim terrorists who seek martyrdom. Only God and his soul giving his final accounting know his detailed state of mind.
I respectfully disagree. I don’t believe we can conclude that evil intentions were involved with respect to the use of the gun. I do agree that Pretti was motivated by evil hatred in general. The shooting was tragic, but the federal agents are innocent until proven guilty in my book. The circumstances suggest it may have been legally justified.
Thanks for commenting. I hear your thoughts, and I disagree on a few points. It is objectively disingenuous, premature, and unhelpful to label these situations “summary execution.” A formal inquiry will be conducted, and we ought to withhold final moral judgment until the findings are made public, which they will be. If you’re positing that the individuals involved have zero culpability, then that is objectively untrue as well, as I’ve pointed out in my article. The buck of the moral assessment is shared aplenty. The law enforcement officers are executing rightful instructions to the best of their capacities. We can acknowledge room for error without ascribing to tired and overused pithy talking points. We can also genuinely mourn the loss of human persons who have died in these encounters. These are real human lives that were lost. We also should not socially canonize them either.
One final important consideration about the issue in Minnesota is that ICE is actively working on operations in all 50 states in the US right now. And they did even more during the Obama administration. No other states have similar levels of issues, and the entire nation had no issue with ICE during the Obama administration. Hence, it is very clear that the problem isn’t ICE or its procedures or the just immigration laws of the US. It is the imprudence and chaotic methods of protesters in their interactions with federal law enforcement owing to incendiary rhetoric being spread by leaders and the media. The cost is being paid by real people on the ground.
Unfortunately, there are circumstances where an adult lack of wisdom can result in mortal consequences. Dealing with armed law enforcement imprudently is one such example. This isn’t isolated to the US. I’ve lived in 7 countries and I can tell you this is true across the board. Citizens across the world must be wise and prudent when dealing with law enforcement. If not, the result can be fatal.
Also, as I mentioned in the article, if legislation is the problem, citizens need to take it up with the people who actually have the power to change them, not law enforcement personnel who are doing their jobs. Tim Walz has recently communicated a desire to cooperate with the President on this matter, so it appears ICE is not being chased out of the state as of right now. Which menas what is needed is really for citizens to cease spreading polarizing and inflammatory talking points and to assess the situation objectively and calmly, acknowledging that, despite how we feel about it, the enforcement of just laws is, by itself, a just action. If reason can prevail, then the public discourse divide can begin to heal, and we can find common ground in truth and the common good. Once again, this might not satisfy emotions. But reason can conquer our emotions and moral judgment, as it should. Hope that’s helpful, Miguel.
Then, I’m sure you should find twice as repulsive the ambush and assassination of 2 ICE agents just 2 weeks ago, eh? The sad reality now presents that there is a political cabal in this country that will stop at nothing to effectuate their own personal political ambitions, even “Death be damned!”, anent their constant cravings for abortion-on-demand and now euthanasia. There is no question that the Bps. need to wade into these turbulent waters. Many of them have failed to condemn the obviously condemnable for so long they risk drowning themselves if they fail to keep their eyes on Christ! It’s principally on the failure of their office, as Princes of the Church to exercise their authority, that such a hellscape as Minnesota is now even a reality. So called “Catholic” NGOs have greatly contributed to this nightmare and to their eternal shame, many Bps. of the USCCB would rather mourn the loss of gratuitous money doled out by USAID than pursue holiness. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Prince with a Crosier and Mitre that wasn’t ages ago set down and replaced with the general ledger and calculator.
And not a word from the M&M’s on that matter. MorganD, Miguel & Morelli.
We’re the two ICE agents killed then?
Which incident involved premeditation??
The incident where Pretti screamed “f*** you” and kicked out a tailight of car, eleven days before he was killed.
Time to shove a big plate of crow into open maws of the people who are yelling Santo Subito!
Pretti was “known” to ICE agets. 11 days before, he was videoed being wrestled to the ground by them before freeing himself. In this video, Pretti is clearly see to be wearing the handgun, which he didn’t use. But out-of-control ICE agents had opportunity and motive 11 days later. Sorry folks. This looks more and more like a summary execution. ICE supporters don’t have to wear this however. It’s time to admit – we messed up.
Thanks for engaging. I want to address a few key points clearly and calmly so we can keep the conversation rooted in facts and reason rather than frustration and hyperbole.
First, wisdom isn’t an optional virtue for adults. It’s often a matter of life and death. From personal experience living in seven different countries, one thing is consistent: interactions with law enforcement almost everywhere demand respect and prudence. That isn’t an optional luxury; it’s a practical necessity. When individuals escalate or behave imprudently in high-stress confrontations with armed, trained officers, the odds of a tragic outcome rise dramatically. This is simply a reality of how law enforcement and civilian interactions unfold globally. Public adult decisions demand adult wisdom. This isn’t a secret. We know this intrinsically: driving, working machinery, dealing with flammable or dangerous circumstances, the list goes on.
Second, there were no “summary executions” here. The shooting of Alex Pretti and the earlier fatal shooting of Renée Good in Minneapolis occurred amid a legitimate federal immigration enforcement operation. These were fatal encounters during the course of duty and enforcement operations, not extrajudicial executions. Language matters: calling something a “summary execution” when that’s not what has been legally determined only inflames and misleads. It is at best disingenuous and at worst dishonest. 
It’s also important to recognize that this operation, and similar enforcement activities, aren’t confined to Minnesota alone. Federal immigration enforcement through ICE and related agencies operates in all 50 U.S. states as part of routine enforcement of federal immigration law. The overwhelming majority of those operations proceed without lethal force or widespread violence. The problem in Minneapolis is not ICE or US immigration laws, it’s that Minnesota is causing repeated confrontations with chaotic protestors and bystanders. That distinction matters if we want to be honest and not simply vent emotions.
It’s also worth noting that ICE conducted significantly more deportations under the Obama administration without the same level of national outrage or claims of systemic violence at every enforcement action. That historical context proves that the root problem are the protests and willful, unjust, unchecked civil disobedience.
On the specific point about Minnesota, claims that ICE is being “chased out of the state” aren’t supported by the facts. Governor Tim Walz and the White House have recently been in communication, and there’s new cooperation on the illegal immigration problem.
Third, moral responsibility isn’t one-sided here. It’s tragic that anyone died, but individual choices really do matter in high-risk situations. Imprudent decision-making — particularly around armed agents in a charged environment — directly contributes to risk. We should mourn that human beings died. And we should also be able to honestly acknowledge that prudent and wise decisions would have resulted in a different outcome.
Emotions and outrage are real and understandable, but they are not substitutes for rational truth. Strong feelings about justice, policy, or enforcement are personal sentiments, but if we want to build solutions that advance the common good, we must let reason and truth lead. Emotional narratives that recycle incendiary talking points don’t help clarify what happened. They only deepen divisions and anxiety.
I hope we can all strive for clarity and reason as we discuss this issue further.
Wow, nothing like toxic legalism to obscure moral duty. Jesus came with special attention to the vulnerable not for the interest of the state and particularly an authoritarian state. He was in fact nailed to a cross by legalism and toxic authority that failed to remember our only authority is God and the highest law is to love with special attention to the vulnerable, the stranger and the alien. Jesus was nailed to a. Cross beyond left and right where he said bring his good news to all of creation. He said be in this world not of this world. This is the one of the most of this world reaction one could have to a man executed for being a Good Samaritan. You have the hubris to judge him as unwise when you are lacking in the most basic attribute of love, not to mention wisdom. And yet you think you can judge his actions of unwise? You sound like one of the legalists who ridiculed Jesus for healing the man with the withered hand on sabbath, which ultimately led them to plan his death. This is the most anti Christian response to one do the post Good Samaritan actions. As Jesus taught we have to be willing to suffer and die for what is right especially in service to vulnerable. And yet you defend masked agents bashing out car windows, snatching people and even children from their homes and schools and places of worship, and suggest the wise thing to do is stay silent in the face of that and do nothing. That is how authoritarians turns into holocausts and loss of the most basic respect for our shared human dignity. It is repugnant that a Christian or Catholic magazine would publish this anti Christ message. May God tough all the that’s who are complicit in their silence and even worse in their false teachings. James had strong words for teachers and their words used for hard when we are meant to walk as children of the light n
So you believe it is “anti-Christian” to simply note not only imprudence but probable provocative violent intentions by a man carrying a loaded gun to a “peaceful” demonstration? And how do rapists, wife beaters, and sex traffickers come to be interpreted as “the innocent vulnerable?” Unless your intention is to usurp the life of Christ to endorse leftist virtue signaling that frequently ignores innate moral imperatives and easily turns to violence.
Jesus was not crucified as an antiauthority political figure. He was crucified by the evil intentions of everyone. Those who wanted Him to be a revolutionary came to hate Him when He refused. As the Son of God, He reminded us that truth never changes, and as truth is the exclusive reflection of the mind of God, truth is accessible to everyone of a pure heart. This does not sit well with the vanities of revolution nor false compassion for selected victim groups.
He challenged the love of money, and status.
Jenny, hard to follow your ramblings but I think I get the gist. The Good Samaritan wasn’t packing a 9mm and nor did he push the petal to the metal with another person in his sights. Please think.
Considering the bandits operating on that stretch of road, the Good Samaritan would have been wise to pack a 9mm.
🙂
He may have well been carrying a walking stick, common in those days or a knife or sheathe sword.
Fortunately, the only unnecessary violence was committed by the robbers.
Bishop Sheen preached on there being more sympathy for the perp than for the victim. I recently read that the young man who murdered the insurance executive in cold blood is now receiving marriage proposals.
Jenny,
I want to respond carefully, because the death of any person should grieve us, and Christians should always mourn the loss of human life. That sorrow is real, and it should be shared by all of us. Where we differ is in that I take everything Jesus said as important, and not a few small texts out of context, which is important.
First, sure, Jesus did command love of neighbor, especially the vulnerable. He also consistently affirmed the legitimacy of just civil authority. “Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and unto God what belongs to God” is a clear mandate from Christ. St. Paul is even more explicit: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God” (Romans 13). Scripture does not say that obedience to just law is legalism, in fact, it’s clear that Jesus makes civil obedience a Christian moral order.
Second, love in Christian teaching is never reducible to impulse or sentiment. That is such an important lesson so many must learn today. Charity is ordered to truth and the common good. Always. The Catechism teaches that political authority exists to safeguard justice and peace, and that citizens have a duty to obey just laws (CCC 1897–1900). It also teaches that nations may regulate migration in view of the common good, and that immigrants are obliged to respect the laws of the country that receives them (CCC 2241). Recognizing illegal immigration as a legitimate category of law enforcement is not hatred of the stranger. It is a moral reality rooted in Catholic social teaching for the past 2000 years. The only area of debate we can have is about methods and approach, but the law and the law’s enforcement themselves are just in the eyes of the Church. That’s not legalism either.
Third, wisdom and prudence always matter, especially for the Christian. Scripture repeatedly teaches that prudence governs action in dangerous circumstances. Jesus Himself told His disciples to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” Calling attention to prudence in high-risk encounters with armed law enforcement is not a denial of love. It is a recognition that love must conduct itself in sound prudence and wisdom. Public affairs are precisely where prudence is most required, because poor judgment can cost lives. Which is exactly what we have seen. The Catechism explicitly names prudence as the virtue that “guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure” (CCC 1806). Again, the voice of Scripture and the Church IS the voice of Christ. So all of this is in accordance with the teachings of Christ.
Fourth, invoking the Good Samaritan here badly misunderstands the parable. The Samaritan did not obstruct authorities, defy just law, or unjustly insert himself into an active enforcement situation. He aided a wounded man after unjust violence had already occurred to the man. There is a serious moral difference between mercy toward the injured and direct civil disobedience during a lawful operation. Deliberately sidestepping that distinction twists the intent of the Scriptures. As a brother in Christ, I urge you, please don’t do that.
Finally, fidelity to Scripture and the Church is not legalism. Christ is the Word made flesh. Sacred Scripture and the authoritative teaching of the Church flow from Him. To follow them is to follow Christ directly, not to oppose Him. Legalism is following the letter of the law even when it rejects Christ. But Catholic teaching IS Jesus’s teaching and it insists on love ordered by truth, justice, and wisdom. That is something very different.
We should grieve when people die. We should scrutinize the enforcement methods and that is why I keep saying, before passing emotional judgment, let us all wait for the inquiry to take its due course. We should all always insist on human dignity. At the same time, we should resist false compassion that confuses love with lawlessness and constantly paints true justice as fascism and authoritarianism. According to the teachings of the Church, there is nothing fascist and authoritarian about these operations. We do have room to debate on the method, though. The Christian tradition is richer, deeper, and more demanding than reductionistic arguments.
I hope that helps clarify some of your thoughts.
Christ was nailed to a cross by the sin of each human being, most especially yours and mine. Don’t politicize that.
The Pope should read that article. He has a lot to learn. The Catholic establishment has been corrupt during the child abuse scandal and has apparently learned nothing. They were seriously compromised by taking hundreds of millions of dollars from the Biden Administration for facilitating illegal immigration while losing tens of thousands undocumented children. This article gives me some faith that the Church can save itself. We need another John Paul II who is a spiritual leader not a financial and political minded disappointment.
Once the Biden Administration invited these people in, and they were now here, The Catholic Church merely did what they are Called to do, take care of those in need. They can only be facilitating illegal immigration if they had knowledge beforehand and did not speak out in public about the Biden Administration’s intentions.
It is certainly not unjust discrimination, to do a background check of those coming across the boarder.
I did not think Hate was a Catholic requirement. The Federal agents doing their job require our respect when targeting violent criminals. They are professionals not ass wipes. People need to stop this disgusting virtue signaling and get real. I want spiritual guidance from the Church, not political corruption or one sided biased tripe. This article is a blessing, the true word of God in my honest opinion.
This is a highly intelligent, courageous, and spiritually imbued, thoroughly honest article. I congratulate and thank the author. It is exactly what is woefully needed now. Read and learn to become a better person.
Look up the definitions of Summary and Execution before you use them next time.
it does require execution actually when someone violently suicides by cop
Unfortunately, the truth of the matter regarding the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in which both cases warranted restraint, is that there are too many of us who cannot handle the truth.
You weren’t there on the ground in either case, and you don’t have all of the information about what unfolded in those situations. You have no right to assume that restraint was necessary. If people interfere with law enforcement, bad things will happen. You’re actually the one who doesn’t seem willing or able to face the truth.
Who needs to have complete or direct personal knowledge when engaging in conspicuous moral preening?
We have video of unarmed Ashli Babbitt’s “summary execution”, but not a word.
You don’t play with guns, I was taught, directly or indirectly.
Enough of this!
Too many people (all of whom as we are reminded “weren’t there) are jumping to (opposite) conclusions.
ICE had administrative federal mandate to operate in Minnesota, and protesters in Minnesota had a right to peacefully bear arms without being shot. That’s what is known for sure for now. Political and administrative leaders, too many of them, have jumped to conclusions at least as quickly as we are tempted to do, in ways that may prove to have moral and legal consequences.
Except they weren’t peaceably bearing arms, they were bearing arms while engaged in organized effort at obstruction.
Enough argumentum ad temperantiam.
NO ONE SHOULD BE VIOLENT WITH GUNS AROUND FEDERAL OFFICERS
THERE IS NO ARGUEMENT FOR YOUR SIDE AGAINST THIS
What is “the truth” that you are alluding to here?
President Trump acknowledged there was ‘overkill’ in the shooting deaths by having direct talks with Walz and Frey. He smartly moved Commander Bovino to another assignment and is allowing local authorities to make investigations, pursue human rights issues.
He’s been fed piecemeal one sided reports and was wise enough to look closely, make adjustments. Unlike those who are convinced their lying eyes – were lying.
“Unlike those who are convinced their lying eyes – were lying.”
Or those that are selectively blind. Oh, the irony.
I would prefer the following, full disclosure this borrows heavily from Substacker Ben Bartee of Armageddon Prose.
Require banks to identify bank accounts held by illegal invaders, seize the money, and only return it only after they can certify their presence outside United States for a period of one year.
Illegals must remain outside the United States for two years prior to attempting a legal re-entry.
Cut off migration welfare services distributed through state programs by holding federal funding over sanctuary states’ heads
Cutoff funding to Catholic “Charities” and others who aid and abet the violation of the law.
Institute a 100% tax on foreign remittances, not the 1% that was enacted on January 1. Enough stripmining of our economy, often while reducing wages and relying on overextended public support programs. (Mexico alone received more than $64 billion in remittances last year — primarily from the U.S.).
Prosecute CEOS and CFOs especially executives of publicly traded companies who employ illegal and are required pursuant Sarbanes Oxley Sec. 302 to certify they are responsible for establishing and maintaining internal controls-compliance with applicable laws and regulations is an internal control requirement. If they are violating Title 8, they are violating SoX.
“We all know the reason these options will never be exercised, and it’s colored green.”
So we will face unpleasant choices.
TPR: Very reasonable ideas. Hit these illegal invaders in their pocketbooks. In fact, ALL private funds from the USA going to rogue foreign governments should be seized immediately. This illegal agitprop and anarchy must end. This is WAR!
According to my AI program, Trump did not use the word “overkill.”
When responding to the question, “Did Trump use the word “overkill” in relation to Minneapolis, AI further noted:
“While it is true that Trump has used strong language about Minneapolis in general, including calling for a heavy law enforcement response in 2020, there is no clear evidence from the sources reviewed that he used the specific word “overkill” to describe the situation there. Most direct uses of the term “overkill” in relation to Minneapolis reference actions by law enforcement officers themselves or critiques of their tactics rather than Trump’s own words.
If you are looking to confirm quotes or statements by public figures, it is important to rely on primary sources such as official transcripts, videos, or reputable media quoting direct statements. Speculating on or attributing words without clear evidence can lead to misunderstanding or misinformation.
For accurate and updated information, always consider checking verified news outlets, official statements, or fact-checking organizations.
I used the word overkill as an expression of Trump’s acknowledgement of excess, poor judgment, not that Trump used the term.
There is more involved that viewing images second hand. Auditory events also occurred as well as precipitous provocations. Both culpability and exoneration are never easy to ascertain.
For Athanasius. I’m compelled in conscience to respond to your comment. Realize that all are called to lay down their lives for their brother, as the Apostles Paul, John and Christ himself taught. You are not exempt. The measure that you measure me, all illegal migrants, and by which you measure others, including the two who were shot and killed, will be the measure you will be judged by at your Judgment before Christ.
You have a prejudged mindset that all migrants who entered absent of the emigration process, remember Biden gave them all free passage, are criminals that must be deported. Even those who have been here for decades and have integrated into the community, and are torn out, seen by friends and neighbors who sense an injustice.
Our bishops have to a man called for leniency in these cases, Bishop Barron appealing that we should limit removal to migrants with criminal records. I stand with the bishops on this issue.
Keep in mind insofar as judging others, scripture prior to the new testament states that all are to be judged with the same rule of justice, whether Jew, alien, slave, rich or poor. Every person as a right to life, which is indelible unless there is irrefutable evidence that they forfeited that right.
Pretti was packing a Sig P320.
Good hit the officer with her vehicle with enough force require hospitalization.
Along with your admission that you were judging people for reading their missals during consecration-and my question would be why your attention would be directed anywhere but on the Host-have you considered that you might want to have a discussion with your confessor or spiritual director?.
This is an organized insurrection. These people are there to disrupt, neither was unarmed and shot behind a door like Ashi Babbitt.
How long should “restraint” be exercised, Fr.? RG was a trained Marxist heckler who traveled out of state to agitate ICE officers, Pretti was a trained antifa operative. Should not this kind of malformation and moral deformation been rebuked from the pulpit ages ago? Talking of “restraint”: perhaps, if the Pope had not just ignored a simple request for a 5-minute prayer for the Conversion of Russia, we would not have had her errors spread. Restraint? I think not. I think it has been restraint, especially by the clergy, that has allowed every manned of ill-conceived behavior to manifest. Please Father, condemn the condemnable – we’re anxiously awaiting prelates with MORAL CLARITY again.
Mark. I’m not privy to your source of information that “Pretti was a trained antifa operative”. I submit it may be true as well as Renee Good’s “training”.
Whatever they were, they had rights protected by law. Hopefully, the DOJ investigation will give greater clarity to the shooting of civilians that appeared according to films inconsistent with Government DHS reports.
President Trump spoke with Walz and Frey and assured Walz:
“President Donald Trump and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had a phone call on Monday, where Walz’s office said the president agreed to talk to DHS about making sure the BCA [The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension] would have everything they needed for their independent investigation” (News Nation 1.26).
Let’s hope justice will be served and that this insurrection, initially motivated by the Left and Democratic Party will end. It was the left that refused cooperation with ICE and who are ultimately responsible. Nonetheless, we can’t prejudge the victims and are indebted by civil law as well as divine law to pursue justice.
Finally Mark. In this life we will not find perfection, nor complete justice. Like Christ our time spent in this foreign land is spent in suffering, for justice, for truth, for love of the others. To offer ourselves as an oblation imitation of Christ.
“Like Christ our time spent in this foreign land is spent in suffering, for justice, for truth, for love of the others. To offer ourselves as an oblation imitation of Christ.”
I hope you’re not referring to yourself and your defense of violent protesters/criminals here. Defending those who intentionally violate the law and seek to harm others has nothing to do with truth or justice. You are deluded in assuming that you occupy a moral high ground you do not and cannot occupy.
Father, the sad reality that presents itself in our age in manifold, disastrous ways directly implicates the hierarchy of the church itself. Locally, Bps. of the USCCB have advanced and encouraged lawlessness, the erasure of our borders and are apparently comfortable with the resultant chaos. These deaths, if not proximately, at least distally rest on their own shoulders. They have fomented the precursors that have now become just the opposite of peace in every regard! Had they ZERO foresight? I wonder what price they’ve been paid to turn their backs on all things ordered, right and true? (NGO money, anyone?) Where they should have been clear, they’ve lacked the spine to condemn, and where they have provided support, chaos has been fomented. Where are they getting their directives? It seems the “Left” and the Democrat party also includes the USCCB. Please don’t let me prattle on about Rome where those who wish to live in an ordered and law-based society are regarded as nothing short of anathema where they fail to make every reasonable (and unreasonable) effort to accommodate the poor, down-trodden “homeless” vagabonds – no matter their previous or current arrest and criminal record. It’s no small wonder that people who follow Christ have had no choice but to turn their backs on our Bps. No one who desires to follow Christ, but in very rare exceptions, has any choice otherwise. Were our Prelature as worried about pleasing God with right and holy, reverent and inspiring liturgy as they were about “Building the City of God”, i.e. an exercise in futility; were they given vision enough to see and ears open enough to hear the voice of Our Lord again through the long watches of the night in prayer, perhaps they’ll begin to fill the pews again with Catholic souls who will provide them support enough to prevent them from having to make political deals with corrupt politicians just to keep the lights on.
“Mark. I’m not privy to your source of information that “Pretti was a trained antifa operative.”
Freely available information, published in multiple outlets. Follow your own chide to read up. A multitude of far left organizations are using the Signal app to identify interdiction efforts and dispatch disruptors and spread technique.
Encrypted Signal messages show that anti-ICE “rapid responders” were actively tracking, broadcasting and summoning “backup” around federal agents outside Glam Doll Donuts on Nicollet Avenue, where the shooting happened. Local “rapid responders” made at least 26 entries into a database called “MN ICE Plates” in the critical hours before and after the killing, documenting the license plate numbers and details of alleged ICE vehicles they claimed to see around Nicollet Avenue.
You have persistently rushed to judgment while now admitting the obvious that you lack relevant information. Perhaps you show following your own injunction to read up.
Meanwhile, two hours from me on Kensington Avenue in Philadelphia, people die everyday. I don’t know how they became addicted, but I know they’ve lost the capacity to avoid further harm. Nobody cares, because there isn’t a vast mess of fraud to be protected as in Minnesota.
Catholic Priest Who Worked With Alex Pretti Says He Was Known for ‘Kindness’ (NCRegister).
Provide your sources that explicitly claim that Alex Pretti was a trained terrorist, that he belonged to a terrorist organization.
The Church collectively, and among individuals, have committed sins of omission in this vale of tears world. But the good Father’s consistent testimony in this forum is not part of the problem.
Omission and commission, Edward. The Bps. of the USCCB have been vocal about their condemnation of “wall building”, i.e. condemning borders, and exuberant about their embrace of “destroying walls” . . . even while, behind the great walls of the Vatican Francis touted (and Leo now does) the same. What is going on here? After all this is destroyed, what will be built? Anything? A Masonic “brotherhood of man”? A communist, atheistic materialism with a gaggle of elitists in charge? A world rife for the arrival of the “man of perdition”? I won’t participate. “The Lord in his MERCY, has given a law to sinners in the way” (ps.) and that law (so long as it is in harmony with Divine and Natural Law), if we are to live in a world of Peace must be respected and obeyed.
I never implicitly denied the sorry state of the Church including the secular material heresies that have taken hold. I agree with your post above. I merely contend that Father in particular does not need an implicit scolding given his long history of defending orthodoxy.
“Condemn the condemnable” is something he does frequently.
Regardless of what Father PhD has posted in the past, with regard to this issue, he is completely off the rails, here. He’ll chide interlocutors (me) to read up, but then admits that he isn’t “privy” to publicly available information. He says he isn’t seeking enemies but tosses passive-aggressive insults.
Above, he says” “Provide your sources that explicitly claim that Alex Pretti was a trained terrorist”, although nobody here said he was a trained terrorist. I don’t tolerate that sort of bait and switch disingenuousness from anybody and a collar or a mitre for that matter, isn’t immunity from bad behavior or criticism.
Nor is it relevant that a priest says he was “kind”. What is relevant was his obstructive activities. Pretti’s own father had enjoined him not to do anything “stupid”, and he was ‘known’ to feds, and had rib broken in anti-ICE revolt a week before he was killed by Border Patrol.
He was certainly operating among and organized effort at obstruction. However, since our cleric has raised the possibility, here’s the FBI’s definition:
“Domestic terrorism: Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature”.
Here he’s excusing, if not celebrating the condemnable.
It is certainly an enigma how someone “known for kindness” obviously exhibited such rage and hate against other human beings doing their duty, Perhaps he had serious mental issues. Doesn’t seem to be any excuse for such hatred.
Well he was in the state where the governor put tampons in male restrooms and had to suspend his campaign for re-election when massive fraud was discovered.
And just like that nobody is talking about the fraud or looking at the underwater part, so good thing for the rats all the cats are changing that nice laser dot. Never let a good crisis go to waste, and in the absence of one-make one.
I do feel sorry for Pretti’s family. Reports are that he lied to his concerned parents about what he was doing. I wish he had been arrested sooner. He was on a seemingly almost suicidal trajectory.
https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/2016700958315593760
For Edward J Baker. First, thank you for your kind words. My point in arguing for restraint [which also acknowledges sanctity of human life] is not in defense of what is now an insurrection. Apparently, a well funded, Marxist, ideological, organized attempt to spread chaos and cause the collapse of our nation.
Killing of citizenry by lawful forces provides martyrs for the cause, and it proliferates violence. A standard Marxist tactic. Killing our citizens when it can be reasonably avoided is not in our interests. Rather it strengthens the Marxist Left.
True, Father. Restraint is necessary when it comes to protecting all human life from harm.🙏
Also, regarding Alex Pretti. He was noted by priests as a gentle, loving person. The latest films of his extremely aggressive, threatening behavior against ICE agents show that he was indeed radicalized. His Family have authenticated that it was him.
How does an apparently decent person, Catholic, become so remarkably violent, opposed to law enforcement. It’s worth a study. Otherwise, it makes little difference whether one is good or bad, that in regard to the sanctity of life, and seeking to avoid killing them. Especially as said in context of an organized insurrection aimed at providing sacrificial victims on the altar of Marxist religiosity.
I would love to see people handling the truth. I see very little of it. The tragic death of Pretti is presumed to be legally justified, under circumstances of split second decisions. Whether improvements in handling such hooligans could and should be made. Yes. The culpability seems to be with Minnesota authorities who demonized people doing their job and didn’t carry out their duty of protecting the Federal agents from felonious attacks. The truth will set you free.
True. To a large extent of culpability.
Let’s be blunt. The insurrectionists are organized, funded, supported and trained. The left has no problem with the “Socialist Rifle Association”. These are not individual deaths to the puppeteers, they are casualties of war. Soros, Walz or Frey won’t get injured or killed, but a few of their wind-up toys might be broken.
Neither the generalissimos nor the hoi polloi of this movement give a murine posterior about what PhD’s living in nice homes or Catholic Bishops living in episcopal residences say about these matters.
The entire strategy of the world elites is to exhaust, overwhelm and replace native populations with foreigners who have no attachment and in many cases, are actively hostile to them. They certainly have no gratitude to the customs laws and traditions of the countries they invade and are the “civic burdens”. Eradicating Christianity, now nearly complete in Europe is a part of this effort.
One only need to remember the September incident where at a Dearborn City Council meeting, Mayor Abdullah H. Hammoud told local resident Edward “Ted” Barham, a Christian, that he was “not welcome” in the city after Barham raised concerns about new street signs honoring Arab American News publisher Osama Siblani.
If these foreign invasions continues, it won’t be words that show that they have no intention of respecting “with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.”
Silicon Valley and now Fed Ex shows that Indian ethno-nepotism will rule the day where it takes hold. A decent country would have “hizzoner” removed, permanently. Imagine a Christian mayor saying that to a Muslim or to any member of the accredited victim classes.
Meanwhile, corrupted by ideology or money or perhaps compromised in other ways, most Catholic Bishops insist, using linguistic deceptions like “undocumented” that there is no right to exclude anybody, illegal entry creates an ipso facto a right to remain and become a ward of the state (and to use those public dependencies to outbreed the people that are forced to support them).
It is utterly irrational and immoral to promote the idea that any people must engage in pathological altruism to the point of national suicide. This is a concoction of the same “shepherds” who countenance the rainbow flag and crush the traditional Mass using Francis’ pretextual boot.
If the Bishop wants to spend all his authoritative capital on illegals, I’ll donate to causes that care and actually work to further the Church. He can get his money from the “undocumented”, since I see no concern for me or my ability to pay. He’s nagged me quite enough about illegals.
When I go to Mass, I see most families have two, maybe three children. I wonder how many couples have succumbed to the temptation to limit their family size through chemistry because of the burdens and expectations placed on them. I also see very few teens and twenty-somethings-the age of the soft apostasy that now tends to ossify.
However, when I go to the local big store, especially on Saturday, there’s a lot of veiled women-and they sure as hell aren’t nuns-with more than three children and when it comes time to pay, they whip out that distinctive EBT card. This is welfare cuckoldry, not Christian charity.
Pretti was a victim of his own delusions. He was packing a Sig P320, no doubt because the weapon is used in modified form by LE and the military as the M17/M18. When selecting my own firearm, I considered this option. Ultimately, I decided against it, because of reports that it was subject to undesired discharge. Then again, I wasn’t buying something to play Che Guevara and obstruct LEOs.
I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that while I have no interest in civil war, civil war is interested in me.
You bring up an interesting point. The NRA appears to be against any and all gun regulations. Ditto the Republican Party. Well, how about illegal aliens, transgenders and rabid Leftists purchasing AR-15’s? Is that a good idea? A neighbor of mine who is very conservative and an NRA member is having second thoughts about 2nd Amendment absolutism. He now says that some “sensible restrictions” might actually be a good idea.
Interesting vectoring of 2nd Amendment thought.
The 2nd Amendment isn’t selectively applied per a citizen’s ideology. Gun rights are constitutional & legally carrying a weapon is everyone’s choice if their state offers that option & they’re eligible.
But where to bring a firearm & how to interact with law enforcement are key.Not understanding those can have tragic results.
I agree. Very good. Thank you.
I didn’t raise any “points” (points are mathematical representations of an infinitely small are of space, not matters of discussion) about the Second Amendment or the National Rifle Association.
It helps in discourse, if in an attempted response, you address assertions made and not hallucinate ones for the purposes of diversion.
There are “sensible regulations” that govern the misuse of firearms. In every state penal code there are prohibitions on the act threaten people with weapons, you may not use them in the commission of a crime.
So you claimed to be responding to an addressed matter for the sole purposes of riding your favorite hobby horse. The only question is are you threadjacking or hallucinating.
If you want to ride your favorite hobby horse.
Corrected:
I didn’t raise any “points” (points are mathematical representations of an infinitely small area of space, not matters of discussion) about the Second Amendment or the National Rifle Association. I mentioned the SOCIALIST RIFLE ASSOCIATION, which is not a gun rights group, but a gun violence group.
It helps in discourse, if in an attempted response, you address assertions made and not matters you hallucinate into the statements of others for the purposes of diversion.
There are “sensible regulations” that govern the misuse of firearms. In every state penal code there are prohibitions on the act threatening people with weapons and using them in the commission of a crime.
So you claimed to be responding to an addressed matter for the sole purposes of riding your favorite hobby horse (2A abolition) The only question is are you threadjacking or hallucinating.
Then again the leftist mind is a disorderly space, not particularly committed to anything other than its visceral reactions.
William: You spend so much time in a fantasy land of caricatures that you’ve never troubled yourself to know what your ideological enemies think and promote. The NRA has supported various levels of restrictions for their entire history.
Ditto, and well said. Your take on the Bps. is spot on. As a viable alternative for your monetary support, please consider donating to St. Isidore’s Catholic Church in Watkins, CO. where one can find the fulness (still) of the Catholic faith. They are making appeal for a capital campaign, the funds of which will provide needed repairs to their Gothic-style Church and expand their schooling facilities to accommodate all the young children that attend. The parish is bursting at the seams with young, large families that exemplify – like their rightly ordered worship – a deep and abiding faith in God. That’s where your funds are best spent; supporting the CATHOLIC CHURCH; the pre-VII iteration of the faith that’s wholesome, complete, uncompromising and, as a result, THRIVING.
This is Good News🙏✝️💕🌹
The truth is that these are not protesters; they are paid anarchists.
And just like the illegal invasion of our country by foreigners, this was a well-financed and orchestrated attempt to undermine America and, in the case of Europe, Western values.
Leftist anarchists are great at tearing down but look around the world to see what they build – NOTHING.
The Feds say ICE had gone on a “targeted operation”. Either Pretti was the target or he got in the way of the op. So the crucial contents of the matter remain as blanks.
In effect, ICE is using “deadly force to defend the border”, which presumably is underpinned by direct Executive orders/action. “Don’t be messing with ICE”.
A “targeted operation” means pursuing areas where there is a suspected concentration of high-risk (vilent) illegals, not targeting an individual-surely you are posturing and not that devoid of reason.
Then again, you aren’t American, so kindly worry about your own nation or at least tell us what it is so we can comment on it as freely as you comment on us.
You’re a crabby one. I was merely relating what has been reported and that it leaves a blank, as is indecipherable at least for me perhaps for others. My point was I could not read into it just like that. You read too much into things -sometimes- and put “intentionalities” and misgivings and other “negatives” where there’s nothing there to start with offering provocation or being provoked. Terrible. Last week Vance and Trump were saying that mistakes can happen; now from what I heard today they removed Bovino. They did that completely on their own initiative without any hint this time around from my homeland or me. Take up their decision with them.
“Don’t mess with ICE” remains a prudent course even if it carries with it a certain disappointment/regretfulness brought on from what can intuit as unneeded killings.
Really shouldn’t throw stones from glass houses. I’m not crabby because you are a foreign interloper not confining himself to his own country, whose ability to respond to criticism is limited to this:
“was merely relating what has been reported”
Then it’s hearsay that as a foreigner you have no competency to clarify.
MYOB.
You must feel that all comments must premise on nationality?
Thank you for sharing this Dr. Peter. I really appreciate your balanced and humane perspective. God bless.
Indeed This was a thoughtful (and a much better essay than the author’s prior ones) and I think it’s important to be as quick with praise as criticism, but I note here I failed to adhere to that standard.
ICE officers were pursuing criminal aliens. The crowd was pursuing conflict. Conflict carried the day.
A thirty-seven year old man arrives packing heat at a demonstration against law enforcement. His voluntary preparation and involvement bespeaks extreme emotional and cognitive deficiency. A martyr is his own mind. No one says he “deserves” what transpired. It is evident that his attitude and comportment created the circumstance that made it not impossible. He is ultimately responsible for the outcome.
During the social upheaval of the sixties when I was seventeen and getting my drivers license my father told me never talk back to a cop, if something is wrong it can be handled later. Mr. Petti apparently did not have the opportunity or the willingness to absorb that advice.
The chaos in Minneapolis is a deliberate enterprise with nothing to do with immigration. It is atheistic Marxist movement taking advantage of a situation deliberately confected by the previous Democrat administration, utilizing useful idiots to deconstruct society, the Church and the United States. The subversion has been at work for at least a hundred years and has found extraordinary success in academia, ecclesia and now with its demonization of President Trump making great stride in civil society.
Protracted adolescents need shed the blindfolds and the rose colored glasses and go undiluted adult or the outcome will be grotesque.
In the meantime obey law enforcement. If something goes wrong, it can be handled later.
I guess you never heard of the second amendment. Assuming you are in the US, perhaps it is you should be deported by ICE since you want to deny people their constitutional rights.
My comment did not say the Mr. Pretti broke the law by carrying a gun to the demonstration. It did say that he exercised a lack of reason and good judgement by carrying a weapon into the volatile situation.
It is reported today that Mr. Pretti illegally interfered in an immigration enforcement event a week before his death and endured a broken rib as a result of his actions. He was not arrested at that time. Obviously his is a record of acting out and poor reasoning skills.
The problem for our US Bishops is that they, as a corporate body, and as individuals in authority in manor metropolitan areas (with some few exceptions, no doubt) are themselves complicit in the industrialization of criminal illegal immigration, having ensured that “Catholic” Charities (and other “Catholic” entities in their jurisdictions) functioned as resettlement apparatus for the deliberate grand scale fraud of the political illegal immigration campaign, in exchange fir money to pay thousands of “Catholic” employees, and make millionaires out if the heads of “Catholic” Charities in the major metropolitan areas.
In this matter, as in other grave matters of the recent 10 or so years, they have rendered themselves politically useful, and morally bankrupt.
CiM: I’m wondering why our Catholic bishops insist on supporting
1. trafficking in minors
2. the importation of illegal drugs into the USA by criminal cartrls
3. the illegal invasion of our country by murderers and rapists
4. anarchists on our streets masquerading as protesters
Would that the cartels and criminal Somalians had been chased out of the state.
And then, is there’s the question of what comes after the fact, and before, about those other than “leaders”, and who are aiding and then exploiting these events and outcomes in order to destabilize what’s still left of this nation?
Those outside of and igniting the ambulance-chasing and flame-fanning media talking heads seeking greater prime-time market share (not unlike Stalin’s “useful idiots”).
Regarding my earlier comment on the complicity and zero-moral-ground of US Bishops, and their political apparatus called the USCCB, this article:
https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/the-outsourcing-of-catholic-immigration-policy-to-progressive-catholic-institutions
I was going to list that Crisis Anne Henderschott article as a companion piece – thank you Chris in Maryland for doing so.
I do not see the bishops’ statements listed as helpful, as they seem to say on the one hand this but on the other hand that. But then we have Cardinal Tobin who just said that ICE was “unlawful” (not true), had “kidnapped 5 year olds” (not true) and advocated defunding DHS.
An excellent point made by the author is, “Civil disobedience is only morally permissible when resisting genuinely unjust laws.” And, our immigration laws are not unjust.
Thirteen months ago the Vatican instituted new laws related to illegal entry to the Vatican. The punishment is now a fine up to $25,000 and imprisonment up to Four years. The United States policy of repatriating illegals to their country of origin seems merciful in comparison.
For those who do not read the Crisis article mentioned it documents the USCCB bishops and their staff members actions which did a great deal to bring about the present situation.
Tobin?
Of Night, night baby infamy?
You’re welcome Crusader.
As to the man known as Eminence Tobin, he was outed as having a known homosexual actor from Italy living with him in his Newark Diocesan apartment. When he got caught, after his infamous tweet “Night-night baby, I love you,” he was forced to have his suspected same-sex partner vacate the Archbishop’s residence.
Tobin is, like a number of key US Bishops promoted by the Pontiff Francis, a card-holding member of the McCarrick Cult.
Anne remains one of the best and most insightful writers out there.
Dear Bishop, if you had a wife or children, would you support criminals to endanger your loved ones.
Rule #1 – in a situation where there is a highly stressful situation, where protestors are violent and constantly attacking law enforcement, DON’T GO THERE. Stay away. Do not repeatedly interfere with law enforcement. Do not play the protector role between the police and other protestors. Politicians and leaders should counsel citizens to stay away rather than to run to protest. If you must protest, then learn what is and what is not a peaceful protest.
Rule #2 – review #1.
Could the lives of these two individuals have been spared? Absolutely. If both had not participated in protests and repeated attempted to interfere with law enforcement, they would be alive. If someone wants to attack law enforcement, then stop talking and become a member of law enforcement. Work under their conditions daily. Then come back and let’s talk.
If police cannot stand the kind of pressure that comes with their job, especially those who have to deal with emotional protests, then they MUST NOT be police.
what nonsense. as if anyone was hired on the basis that they could not deal with emotional protests.
No competent police force in the workd would be mad enough to use policemen who were not able to handle emotional protestors in such situations.
You don’t want people who are resistant to emotion, you want them to be blind to danger.
🙏
Indeed.
Our Lady of Fatima, Pray for Us.
Our Lady of Fatima, forgive the bishops for ignoring your request. Our Lady, please review the hearts of the bishops. Then remake them in the image of Your Son. Let your faithful not be brought to dust.
Amen.
Amen.
It is true, that both of these cases warranted restraint on the part of both the protesters and the ICE agents. Certainly being armed when attending a heated protest , even if the possession of the firearm is legal, “increases one’s culpability”. It would have been helpful if local Law Enforcement had cooperated in keeping the protesters at bay, by possibly erecting barriers, and arresting those who trespassed and were harassing agents.
It is precisely when a peaceful protest becomes one that displays violence physically, or through forms of harassment, that one should remove themselves as a participant in a protest, and thus not be culpable of inciting violence or harassment. When peaceful protests become unlawful, one would think the local authorities would not encourage such unlawful behavior least they themselves become culpable, and when the number of ICE agents become unreasonable, it could easily be misconstrued to be excessive, contributing to a feeling of unrest.
That being said, once it was clear that the protests were going to become even more heated, and lives may be in jeopardy, the responsible and necessary thing to do would be to regroup, and figure the best and safest way to move forward.
I am heartbroken for all the families involved, and the loss of life.🙏
“Alex Pretti and Renee Good made ‘profoundly unwise decisions.’ ”
For the adjective ‘unwise’ permit me to insert the adjective ‘stupid’.
Both deaths occurred in volatile situations, which begs the question – at what point (if any) does plain common sense come into the equation?
A day of silence and a day of prayer is needed – on both sides.
On ALL sides.
Permit to add another adjective, “knowingly” stupid.
The ICE agent who sot Good had already been injured by car used as a weapon against him by protesters. He had a split second decision to make when Good drove her car against him. ICE agents have been constantly attacked by protesters with bottles, spades, and thrown objects. Their hotel in NYC was destroyed by protesters. And the attackers, indeed insurrectionists, are egged on by media personalities and democrat politicians. And this is done against government agents who are risking their lives while enforcing the law, in an effort to capture and deport violators of the law, who in many cases have attacked, killed, raped, and stolen from the inhabitants of this country. At least 7 billions of dollars have been defrauded by illegals in Minnesota alone. California theft is even worse. See this
https://www.breitbart.com/crime/2026/01/23/jd-vance-california-fraud-dwarfs-theft-federal-funds-minnesota/
California Fraud Dwarfs Theft of Federal Funds in Minnesota
Vice President JD Vance revealed this week that about $7 billion worth of Small Business Administration (SBA) fraud has been discovered in California, an indicator the theft of federal funds across all departments in the Golden State could well exceed any other state’s. I think we have a fraud problem that is much worse in California than it is in Minnesota,” Vance said in an interview Thursday with Newsmax.
He continued, “I was talking actually to our small business administrator and I think she found probably a half billion dollars of fraud in Minneapolis and the broader Minnesota area. I think she’s found 7 billion dollars worth of fraud in California.”
Federal prosecutors have estimated that the total amount for Minnesota could top $9 billion in total, but that includes multiple federally funded programs such as food stamps, health care, and social services.
I was a government auditor and remain engaged with those issues.
Everywhere there is government money, there is waste, fraud and abuse. Even when a program technically meets requirements, there’s always people pushing the envelope.
Big piles of other peoples’ money (OPM) draws grifters like ants are drawn to a picnic. Witness the mess of the Vatican Bank.
From last week:
The director of a Los Angeles homelessness charity allegedly siphoned millions in taxpayer cash meant to combat homelessness — and used it to fund a lavish lifestyle that included a stay at the White Lotus Hotel in Hawaii, the feds said Friday.
Alexander Soofer, 42, boss of Abundant Blessings, was accused of pocketing $23 million in public funds, lining his pockets with at least $10 million of it, according to federal prosecutor.
“California is the poster child of rampant fraud, waste, and abuse of tax dollars,” charged First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli. “The state has facilitated the spending of billions of dollars to combat homelessness, with little to show for it and almost no oversight.”
Don’t interfere with law enforcement doing their duty even if you think you know better. Unless you see law enforcement actually committing criminal activity that you’re 100% sure is criminal activity you’re better off calling the other law enforcement in the area. Typically in the case of metro of there’s also the sheriff of the county. Even if you’re right and the LEO were committing crime, perhaps an unlawful arrest you’re not wise to try to interfere and stop the arrest especially if armed. Worst case in an unlawful arrest the person gets released and can sue. Not worth an armed confrontation
One can only conclude this is an extremely partisan article as it starts with blaming Good and Pretti for getting into those situations in the first place. Renee Good was only a couple of blocks from her home. Alex Pretti, as the video clearly shows, was attempting to aid a woman when he was pepper sprayed, tackled, subdued, disarmed and then shot 10 times in the back.
That the article quotes Bishop Robert Barron, a man tied to the Trump Administration and the MAGA movement, tips the authors hand. Barron released one of the weakest statements imaginable in a way that can only be called insulting and dehumanizing to the lives lost in this tragedy, well attempting to spread the blame. When read alongside statements by such people as (Trump ally) Sen. Dave McCormack who called for a full and impartial investigation into the shooting, and other Republicans who have called to end ICE operations in Minneapolis for the time being, Bishop Barron’s statement comes across less as a prelate, and more like a man desperately trying to maintain his own media career.
It should also be noted that Bishop Barrons statement, when compared to his own “Letter to a Suffering Church” falls short, when measured by the standard he set out there.
Ultimately Barrons response was insulting, dehumanizing, and motivated more by personal and partisan interest than the Holy Spirit or genuine faith.
Those with even the most basic understoanding of the facts know that both Good and Pretti interjected themselves into active law enforcement actions. Good, for example, blocked the road and refused to move. Try again.
“Renee Good was only a couple of blocks from her home.”
Geez, Claire that’s a non sequitur.
Is there some requirement to be a certain distance from before brandishing a motor vehicle and striking somebody enough to require medical attention is violent obstruction?
There was a reason why the works of Sr. Faustina were placed on the “Index” prior to the pontificate of JPII. If there has been one theological distortion that has gutted the church of her voice, relevance and authority, it has been the work of “Unconditional” mercy (something the church has NEVER believed in.) Now, “mercy, mercy, mercy” has emptied our confessionals, distorted our sense of justice and led to a Barque with a crew who has fixed its Sextant on Venus, rather than the COLD, DISTANT, and never-wavering North Star. At one time in the not-too-distant past, the church spoke with AUTHORITY. She needs to find her MORAL CLARITY again and give rise to men of great stature like the late, Venerable Fulton J. Sheen. He wasn’t “afraid” to tell the truth and follow Him wherever He led. What the Bps. of the church have become these days is loathsome: soft, weak, and advancing such foolish notions as “infinite dignity” while calling “confusing” such declarations as “Mary, Co-redemptrix” and “Mediatrix of all Graces”. I pray for a day when the Bps. of the church will pick up the staff AND THE ROD and become a bit more “clerical” again.
‘ ….. USCCB present Archbishop Paul Coakley issued similar remarks. “I prayerfully urge calm, restraint, and respect for human life in Minneapolis, and all those places where peace is threatened. Public authorities especially have a responsibility to safeguard the well-being of people in service to the common good,” he said. “As a nation we must come together in dialogue, turning away from dehumanizing rhetoric and acts which threaten human life.”
On Monday, a federal appeals court sided with the Trump administration ruling that allows ICE agents to use necessary force when dealing with protesters and riots in the state. Conservatives were furious when a lower court said that the officials could not detain, arrest, or use other means to control the crowd, causing some to encourage Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act in order to control the crowds. The ruling, which was handed down by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, places a stay on that decision, thereby enabling the agents to act as they see fit. ‘
https://www.lifesitenews.com/analysis/minnesota-upheaval-evokes-wide-range-of-reaction-from-conservatives-liberals-church-leaders/
When I was in college in the late 60’s, I attended an anti Vietnam War protest demonstration in Washington DC. I was peacefully standing in front of the Pentagon – face-to-face with armed soldiers. I was standing alongside another “protester” who today I would refer to as an leftist anarchist. This “protester” proceeded to spit in the face of a soldier carrying a bayoneted rifle. I immediately removed myself from the potentially incendiary situation. It was from that point that my conservative politics took firm root and I’ve never looked back.
Ms. Good & Mr. Pretti were both the victims of poor decision-making, their own and those who counseled and goaded them.
No one today remembers the three simple rules of life:
1) Don’t hang out with stupid people.
2) Don’t go to stupid places.
3) Don’t do stupid things.
All of the above are contained in the axiom – Play stupid games; win stupid prizes.
These simple rules should be instilled into the heart, mind, body and soul of every child born until they become automatic.
Both Good & Pretti, willingly, enthusiastically and unwittingly broke all three rules, racing headlong into confrontation with military personnel with loaded weapons.
The outcome of such behavior is as predictable as the dawn.
As they say in these and similar situations, those genes weren’t meant to be passed. Cruel? Yes. Truthful and accurate? Yes.
Hence, the need for the three rules.
I hear you. We can add that young men often tend to act stupid, despite or even as an opposing reaction to parents’ wishes. I know I did stupid things when younger, although never hateful like Pretti. It would be interesting to know what led to Pretti’s bad choices contrary to his parents’ counsel. What might have egged him on? What might have been done to dissuade him? It is a real mystery. I can only speculate that he had some deep seated emotional issues that needed to be addressed.
The Church collectively, and among individuals, have committed sins of omission in this vale of tears world. But the good Father’s consistent testimony in this forum is not part of the problem.
True.
In any country in Europe, Canada, Spanish America, Australia, New Zealand, police agents who were filmed and publicised for such killings would already be in jail awaiting trial. Why are Christians defending them? All police know they might be abused and hindered in the conduct of their duty, and laws everywhere provide appropriate remedies for this, including detention and prosecution. No law that I’m aware of provides for immediate executions. What happened in the good old days when police waded in to pub brawls to sort things out. They didn’t machine gun the pub in order no to get a broken fingernail. In the case of Mr. Pretti, agents were in the process of trying to detain an irregular migrant (a Mr. Hurtado), who they also claimed was a criminal. His main crime was “domestic violence”. Now if Mr. and Mrs. Hurtado had merely been throwing shoes at each other, it’s hardly so pressing that people should die in order to get him. People born in the US are far more likely, percentage wise, to be violent offenders than illegal immigrants.
The better question is why you are defending his actions which were avoidable. I’ll help you get a clue from the real Miguel. From an expert on use of deadly force:
– The moment he interfered with the enforcement and makes contact with that officer, he’s committed a federal felony good for eight years in a federal penitentiary.
– That’s why they were seeking to make his arrest because they saw him commit a forcible felony against a fellow officer.
– Then he’s noncompliant with arrest. He’s fighting them. Then they discover he has a gun…
– They take that gun. There are cries of ‘gun, gun, gun.’ The officers called to each other. He’s still noncompliant. They hear a gunshot go off. And Alex Pretty’s right hand comes from his waistline with a black object in his hand.
– That combination of facts is going to get you shot 999 times out of a thousand by law enforcement, and justifiably so.
-“They’re making all these perceptions, all these decisions in a violent, chaotic melee caused by Alex Pretti.
–They have to make all these decisions in a split second because that’s how quickly someone can use a weapon against you, and those decisions.
–They don’t have to be correct. The law of self-defense does not require us to make perfect decisions… The item taken from his waistband could have been a spare 9mm magazine or a cell phone but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that it could be reasonably perceived as a weapon which is well within the realm of reason.
It is much more likely that ICE agents had knowledge and motive for killing Pretti, because the video that has now surfaced shows him being tackled by them 11 days before. He manages to get away, and his gun, which he never uses, is clearly visible. For beyond the pale, ill-trained enraged ICE agents this is…
Why are some Christians so desperate to own this colossal mistake by ICE, Miller, Noem, Bovino and Trump?
You mean the video where he’s screaming curses, spitting at agents, and kicking out the taillight of their car? Demonstrating what a peaceful, harmless, law-abiding, even saintly person he was?
No, he didn’t deserve to die; people who do stupid, reckless, dangerous things don’t deserve to die. But by choosing to behave that way they put themselves in a position where even the meanest intelligence should realize death could ensue.
There’s bitter irony in the fact that these rioters and protesters are shrieking that ICE are Gestapo, are Nazis, are murderers, etc. Really? Then why do they seem so utterly unafraid of them? How many people in Nazi Germany do you think decided that because they hated what the Gestapo was doing they’d go out and carry signs, interfere with operations, scream insults, and spit at agents in the confident certainty that the odds were that very little would happen to them? It’s an insult to people like Sophie and Hans Scholl, Helmuth Hübener, Franz Jägerstätter, and others to compare the protesters to them.
No, except in Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia, even the meanest intelligence should realise that kicking our a car tail light is not likely to result in being killed.
Good old days? Wade into pub brawls? In these two instances an individual attempted to mow down a federal officer and the other was packing a gun. Your comparison is hollow. “Irregular migrant? That’s a good one I’ve never heard before. The correct term is illegal alien. Alien–that’s the term in the Immigration and Nationality Act…non-citizen, foreigner, outsider. Illegal? Because they violated the law. Combine them: criminal illegal alien. Precise and no room for relativistic relativism.
“In any country in Europe, Canada, Spanish America, Australia, New Zealand, police agents who were filmed and publicised for such killings would already be in jail awaiting trial.”
So what? In the UK they arrest you for posting online.
Or for praying silently.
I’m not sure the UK today is the best example of reasonable law enforcement.
People shoudn’t be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of your people.
It’s amazing to me that any Catholic publication can justify the shooting of a restrained, unarmed man 10 times.
David B: It’s best termed, “SUICIDE BY ICE”
It’s not only clear that the man was armed; it’s also clear that he refused to be restrained. Silly, most people who comply with the reasonable requests LEOs are shot 10 times . . . didn’t you know? 🤪
If he had been self-restrained he would not have required assistance to be restrained. He was unwilling to restrain himself while at home when he decided to bring a gun to an unrestrained demonstration of protracted adolescents. And then there is his history of unrestraint the week before he met his death when he interfered with law enforcement and got himself a broken rib.
Jim McCaskill, your thoughts regarding the outcome are nothing more than opinion and extremely misguided and incorrect. You weren’t there in real time so any opinion on what prompted the officers’ actions is uninformed. I doubt he woke up that morning with a plan to shoot anybody but it happened so, right or wrong, he perceived a threat. Would have all been avoided if Pretti had simply complied. A presumption without the investigation being completed is a kindergarten-level cause-and-effect faceplant. If law enforcement shows up to stop a dangerous act, you don’t get to blame law enforcement for the danger that forced the response. By that logic, firefighters “cause” fires and paramedics “cause” overdoses. This situation is the result of an organized mob interfering with federal agents lawfully enforcing federal law and fueled by dangerous rhetoric.
Freeze-frame activism doesn’t override real-time dynamics, and the law does not require officers to wait to be shot.
So let’s dispense with the fairy tales. This conduct qualifies as assault. It’s illegal. When it involves a federal agent, it can escalate very quickly into felony territory, whether anyone likes that reality or not. The law does not hinge on whether knuckles connect; it hinges on intent, intimidation, and obstruction. If you haven’t bothered to learn the distinction, that’s your problem — not the officer’s, not the court’s, and not the public’s.
You don’t get to engineer confrontations, force split-second decisions, then play innocent when the outcome doesn’t go your way. Get up to speed on the law, or stop pretending you’re shocked when it finally asserts itself.
Understand this plainly: Pretti’s actions amounted to assault. They can get you arrested, and they can get you injured — not because anyone is looking to harm you, but because you’ve deliberately engineered a situation where movement, authority, and resistance collide. When you force proximity, block progress, and manufacture a moment of unavoidable contact, outcomes stop being hypothetical. At that point, consequences don’t become possible. They become inevitable. This was a tragic—but lawful—use of force.
Hear Ye, hear ye, ICE victims are the reason for national turmoil!!!
Breaking News:
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller admitted Tuesday that the federal immigration agents involved in the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti may not have followed “protocol.”
ICE is out of control, and we know it. The cost to taxpayers as of December 2025 is a staggering $270 billion and counting. Amazingly, there seems to be fraud. Watchdogs have identified private‑prison companies and service contractors as entities poised to receive windfalls from detention expansion, while reporting also points to funding for immigration courts and new hiring, which would alter the administrative landscape of adjudication and enforcement.
Some comments here show an in-depth plague of wandering off topic and using many acronyms. (Trump at Davos).
Most of the comments here seem to ignore the status and quality of the victims of ICE violence.
Renee Good was the mother of three and was concerned with ICE tactics. Alex Pretti was an ICU nurse, dedicated and kind. He was warm and loving to all. His neighbor said he was a wonderful neighbor. I feel that both were summarily executed.
Excerpts:
“Until a formal inquiry, that just means no one has full moral knowledge of what transpired, since framing.”
>Contrast that with wild assumptions of Trump and Noem… “Renee Good dragged the officer under her car.” False! Officer Ross was seen walking away, shouting Renee was a SOB. Noem called her a “domestic terrorist,” lacking any evidence.
Bondi has refused to investigate the Good killing. However, she announced that the DOJ will conduct an investigation into Good’s background.
“It can be stated WITH CONFIENCE is that the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good were eminently avoidable. Alex Pretti and Renee Good made profoundly unwise decisions.
>What? The investigations have not begun! ICE Captain-at-large Bondino was ordered by Trump to leave the state.
“The deeper fault line does not reside with the agents on the scene. Federal officers were executing lawful immigration enforcement within a jurisdiction rendered combustible by sustained activist agitation and irresponsible political rhetoric.”
>What? You failed to mention innocent collateral damage atrocities! “Worst of the worst?” Hardly. ICE “polICE’ dudes piling on a weak woman. When I played football, piling on was a penalty! Not here.
>How could you? Many agree that we need to deport convicted aliens. National protests focus mainly on the cruel methods used by ICE. A 5-year-old child was separated from his father and sent to a detention center in Texas. Recently, Trump had a cruel notion to suspend federal funds from BLUE states. He had to use TACO again when his staff told him there are RED BABIES in Blue states. WOW!!!
The federal agents were overtaking the scene. Masked officers wearing military battle dress and brandishing powerful AF-47 style rifles. Subjecting a person to pepper spray in the eyes and smoke bombs. The cost to taxpayers is enormous.
If the Federal Government does not see the need to reorganize and streamline ICE, I do not want my tax dollars being appropriated for the status quo.
No ink left.
MorganD- Mr.TDS – has now weighed in. We can all sleep comfortably tonight.
“Alex Pretti didn’t have to die.”
True
Alex Pretti didn’t have to have a loaded gun in an obviously volatile situation
True
Ask yourself – do the people who are financing these riots (don’t even TRY to convince yourself that there is not BIG money behind them) care one whit about these deaths? I think not, in fact I would opine that they are glad of them, because they keep the unrest going.
Do the words ‘useful idiots’ ring a bell?
Where is your evidence that there are riots happening? Where is your evidence that such non-existent riots are are funded? By whom? People are protesting, that is their right under Constitution.
Obstruction is not protest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKxBVAlPCfY
Just to be clear, to all commenters and left-wing supporters who want the ICE operations to cease: what is your desired outcome, then? For all illegal aliens to remain exactly where they are? For their relatives and smuggled “children” to join them in the coming years?
Anyone wants to play, I’m turning this into a drinking game. I’ll take a shot of ice water every time someone types the phrase “broken immigration system.”
Obama deported more people than Trump without all this suffering and fear being inflicted upon American communities and neighbourhoods.
Obama (2009–2016):
2,749,706 deportations over eight years
Averaged 942 per day
First term average: 1,088 per day
Second term average: 794 per day
Trump (data available up to mid‑2025):
128,039 deportations between January and June 2025
Averaged 810 per day in that period — lower than Obama’s highest‑deportation years
What is happening here and now is more like something from past societies that lost their way and where their government terrorised them with zero regard to their dignity or the rule of law. What Miller and Trump are doing has got very little to do with immigration.
Were states & cities openly rebelling against the Obama administration’s deportations?
Contrarily, I do remember his administration suing Arizona for trying to crack down on cartel activity in their state. In fact, Democrats created the whole idea of a “sanctuary city” in response to Arizona’s efforts.
Sir, your British spelling gives you away. Are you American? Have you ever even been to America, let alone lived there?
You ad hominem attack gives you away my friend. I’m Irish. I didn’t think nationality was important on these pages, but perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps my Catholicism counts? Or am I not of your tribe? So much you forget my friend. Here’s a reminder. ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’
Mark, fix your own heathen country first.
I ask because foreigners have no idea. I’m from Tx. My in-laws are Canadian and they will never really comprehend the situation. Very easy to denounce the US when you have no idea what it’s like in a border state. Or what’s it’s like to share a large land border with a country that waves people through to your border.
I spell a few words the same way Mr. Mark. My teacher for First Grade was British & I like to spell “colour” the way she instructed us to in her memory.I think it looks prettier, also.
🙂
God bless!
Catholics, please awake. This is a Communist organized and directed effort, part of a long term design. See this report from a journalist with long experience of tracking even the murderous cartels, who points out he has seen nothing comparable to the organization of these insurrectionists; Communists have the kind of devotion to their cause and fearlessness that Christians used to have:
“I was inside what appeared to be a fully autonomous Zone. No police presence. The police were told to leave. I identified myself as Press and they said they will kill Press and will not let me leave. My skin was fully covered because it was so cold. But because they couldn’t verify who I was, they screamed and started throwing ice bottles at us. One hit,
, a marine who was with me. They patted him down like THEY were the authorities, attempting to confiscate any weapons. They were set to destroy our vehicle before we even got to it. I will have a full video report shortly. But the bigger picture here is more important. I am angry. But not at the agitators.
I find myself already angry at the people who don’t understand what we’re dealing with and will do nothing about it. When I got to the suburbs I felt like I was in a simulation. I believe the American people need to wake up. This moment is a warning about where we’re headed. Fear pushes people to care only about their money and their families—I get it. But when fear turns inward, when self-preservation and greed replace moral courage, evil goes unchallenged. And history shows that what we ignore today will come for all of us tomorrow.
Ironically and incredibly, I see that these Communists do not fear death in the same way most good people seem to. The only thing the Communists fear is exposure itself. And that’s good news because it may be our only option. I’m dead serious about investigating the prosecutors themselves if they don’t hold these Minnesota fraudsters and violent mobsters accountable for what they’re doing.
https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/2015260124932448533
Bishop Barron seems to have completely lost his way. Over the years, he’s gone from being a Catholic leader with moral authority to more of a MAGA supporter with a shaky relationship to the truth. His unwillingness to call out the Trump administration for its violence, divisive rhetoric, corruption, and disregard for the rule of law is glaring, especially given his silence over what many see as the public execution of a fellow Catholic in his own state. He’s offered no public condolences for Alex Pretti, no words of comfort for Pretti’s parents, and nothing to reassure the immigrant families in his congregation. His stance now stands apart from much of the Catholic Church, including other American bishops who have spoken out with courage. At a time when Catholics are mourning and looking for moral clarity, his silence is disheartening. Whatever the politics, a bishop’s job is to speak to dignity, justice, and compassion. Instead, his absence sends the message — rightly or wrongly — that protecting the administration matters more than providing spiritual leadership. And when he does speak, he often comes across as evasive at best, or like a Fox News Trump supporter at worst.
Bishop Barron is a lovely man & a wonderful Catholic. Things can appear differently per the particular media we’re exposed to. Everything seems politicized today or engineered to divide us.
I’ve heard from people who know Bishop Barron & they’ve shared some of the good things he accomplishes behind the scenes that he doesn’t receive credit or recognition for.
Fellow Christians, let us learn the lessons of history. See these words from Solzhenitsyn’s The Red Wheel and comments by a scholar who know very well the subject: WHY LENIN WON:
“Why is the Provisional Government so helpless? After all, it inherited the tsarist state, which was anything but powerless. Yes, but those were the bad old days before tyranny had been eliminated. Reasoning that free people don’t require force, the Provisional Government, believe it or not, abolished the police! It also released criminals on condition that they promise to behave, and so initiated a wave of murders and robberies. “Some ask: How do you govern the country?, You don’t even have any police,” Minister of Justice Aleksandr Kerensky paraphrases the obvious question. “But, comrades, we have no need of police, because the people are with us!”
With no means of enforcement, the Provisional Government had to implore people to pay their taxes. Nobody did. Solzhenitsyn quoted one appeal after another—soldiers, don’t desert! sailors, refrain from killing your officers! peasants, please do not seize land!—but the utter failure of rule by uplifting speeches and empty reports only leads to more speeches and more reports. “We have decided to take the most stringent measures,” one minister explains. “I shall appoint a committee of inquiry.”
When the patriotic general Lavr Kornilov at last offers to put his loyal soldiers at the government’s disposal, it reacts with horror. Even while a mob was besieging the unprotected ministers, one of them proudly declares: “No! Even if armed men were to find their way into this room, we should not apply military force to defend ourselves!” Another finds still finer words: “We’d rather sacrifice our own lives than spill a single drop of others’ blood!”
Most pathetic of all is the kindly Prime Minister, Prince Georgi Lvov, who attributes the prevailing chaos “to a single cause. The impossibility of meeting everyone personally, meeting their eyes with a kindly smile.” Using “the quietest of voices … and with one of his most bewitching smiles,” he asks: “Why the drama? Why make relations worse? … Everything will come right in the end.” When it becomes apparent that Lenin’s followers, who have already shot unarmed soldiers, plan to seize power by force, Lvov explains in “dulcet tones” to Minister of Defense Aleksandr Guchkov: “Where Lenin was concerned, the government should not precipitate events, for that might give rise to conflict.”
The Soviet Executive Committee, as Solzhenitsyn portrays it, is little better. Eager to hamstring the Provisional Government, its leaders refuse to assume power themselves because Marxist theory, in their view, holds that socialism can succeed only after an epoch of bourgeois liberal governance. Even though the Bolsheviks plan to use force against them as well as against the government, they will not resist, in part because they regard Leninists as fellow revolutionaries, but mostly because they differ from the government ministers only in the violence of their rhetoric. They, too, reject force against Lenin as “completely inadmissible. He must not be crushed or arrested. … We can combat ideas without using force, just argumentation.” Is it any wonder that Lenin and his tiny band of followers succeeded?”
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/why-lenin-won/
Please read this book. The Invisible Coup: How American Elites and Foreign Powers Use Immigration as a Weapon Hardcover – January 20, 2026
by Peter Schweizer (Author)
Mass migration has morphed into the most powerful political weapon ever aimed at the United States—one engineered by elites at home and aided by adversaries abroad
Please see how mass migration is a conquering weapon. For example, did you know that over a million Chinese anchor babies will be able to vote in 2030 after they return from being educated in China? Or that Mexican authorities are actively involved in a reconquest of US territory that once belonged to Mexico, by using the millions of Mexican migrants already in many US states and promoting the migration and organization of millions more? This book has the facts and the numbers.
The sinister faces behind the mask, as we all know, are George Soros and his antichrist son, Alex.
They have access to an infinite amount of money, since they have been on the receiving end of all of the fraud and corruption that has been draining our government for years.
In other words, they have been using American money to destroy these United States.
And so many “Americans” are taking their bribes and corruption money.
Follow the money and you will find the antifa big shots who organize the local protests. The NSA, CIA & FBI have known this for years.
The point is, America’s most dangerous enemies are within.
They are the liberals, the misfits, the lgbtq’s, the media, hollywood losers, the Chinese infiltrating immigrants along with everyone who hates God, County and Family.
In these times, as has become evident, we cannot defeat these combined forces of evil without the help of Almighty God.
It is to Him, and not our own strengths that we must turn in these dangerous times.
Isn’t it also evil to shoot people after they have been disarmed, and are held down, ten times in the back?
Miguel: Don’t be hysterical. It’s unbecoming a grown man.
You’re not upset by cold facts
So you don’t argue with what on the videos? You could just say what Washington has admitted after several days of telling fibs: the ICE agents messed up. Does that now make Trump, Miller, Naom Communist sympathisers?
Miguel, calm down. You’re speaking hysterically again.
It is evil to shoot people if you know they are disarmed. BIG difference. It is also evil to ignorantly demonize people.
This is a flagrant lie. No one was shot 10 times in the back.
ICE AGENTS FALLEN IN THE LINE OF DUTY SINCE JULY 2020: NINETEEN. These are not trespassers, fraudsters, rapists, thieves, murderers, and other violators of US law, but on the contrary, people trying to enforce the law and protect us from those who have broken the law. Please Christians wake up. See my previous posts on what is really going on with illegal aliens.
These are in NO WAY peaceful protesters. They are clearly paid ANARCHISTS.
The goal of any ANARCHIST is to eliminate the structures of society. Here is their modus operandi:
#1 They first attack the very notion andcm dignity of the human person. Here, they have been successful in turning the cultural mindset of pro-life to advocacy for the killing of the unborn. They also attack the very notion of the human person with their deranged transgenderism.
#2. Then they attack the very basic unit of society – family life and marriage. With no-fault divorce, men marrying other men, blended and chaotic families, and growing up without their biological father living in their home
#3. Then they seek to dismantle ans destroy besic institutions of society like the education of children, basic healthcare and religion. Perverse ideologies infiltrate the schools, killing human babies is termed ” women’s health”, removing healthy secondary sex organs is considered good medicine, and religion is perverted so than anyone’s version of the truth is no different than the next guy’s version of truth.
#4 Then they attack legitimate insitution s of government – the courts, the integritye of the electoral process, etc
This is premeditated ANARCHY.
yes, there is a substantial element of that. Many foolish, misguided, brainwashed, people as well. Generally well meaning folks driven by evil hatred. It is a hodgepodge, but you are correct I think about too much of the political motives.
Yes Deacon, it is planned anarchy creation, communist standard procedure. See above my post quoting the great Christian thinker Alexander Solzhenitsyn on WHY LENIN WON. See also then now number one NY Times best seller The Invisible Coup.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/01/28/peter-schweizers-the-invisible-coup-debuts-at-1-on-the-new-york-times-bestseller-list/
How many men and women have concealed carry permits in the USA? How many of them would want to be then described as, “someone with obvious evil intentions and possibly a desire to be killed as a martyr”simply for legally carrying? That would be zero. He was acting within the law observing in order to film. He helped direct traffic away. Mr. Pretti went to the aid of a female who had been thrown to the ground. He helped her to her feet and asked if she was okay. He was then illegally peppersprayed. Arms both up in the universal language of Stop and displaying his camera showing he was no threat, they in fact executed him after savagely beating him. ICE were the perpetrators, not people filming. To say otherwise is absolutely egregious mischaracterization and profound defamation of Mr. Pretti’s character.For the church representative to suggest that he played a role in his own death while merely exercising his Constitutional rights is as disingenuous as it has been to suggest the victims of pedophiles somehow asked for it.
Bringing a gun to a riot is asking to be killed. Plain and simple. Suicide by Law Enforcement
But that does miss the point in my estimation.
For 2 related reasons
1) Where were the state and local police? Is this the reason they stepped aside KEVIN BASS
I am horrified. I cannot believe it. I analyzed public databases and media reporting on violent confrontations with ICE over the past year. Just 9 counties accounted for TWO-THIRDS of violent confrontations with ICE in America. This is twice all violent confrontations in the remaining 3,134 counties COMBINED. A violent confrontation in these 9 counties was 590 TIMES more likely than any of these other 3,134 counties. 590 times. I plotted these 9 counties, and I found that all 9 counties are sanctuary jurisdictions run by Democrat politicians that resist immigration law enforcement. These violent confrontations are RARE in states and cities where local officials cooperate with law enforcement.
2) 11 days before there is video showing him spitting on and ICE vehicle and then kicking it all the while abusing the passengers and further on we see he has a gun in the back of his pants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA7h8xUK9M0
He didn’t have to die and that is an evil but the law enforcement was totally absent , he was packing , and he acted like a deranged psyco
I have a hunch that this article engendered more responses than any article in the history of CWR. A more important issue, however, is: What is the ratio of heat and light among them? Hard to say without reading through all of the postings. I, for one, am not up for it.
Wow. The man was shot 9 times.. by ICE. It was witnessed by dozens of people and videos was taken from many different sources.. and you still don’t believe what you have been witnessed to. Jesus, doubting Thomas lives!
Profoundly disappointing commentary by a Catholic platform. By that same logic, Jesus was also “unwise” in his mission. Certainly, if he had stayed in Nazareth and worked as a carpenter, he needn’t have been crucified. We are called to go forth and serve those who need it: the poor and oppressed. Alex Pretti and Renee Good were doing just that. If Jesus were here today, there is no doubt in my heart that he would have been standing with them and that is what he is calling us to do as well.
If you think there is nothing unjust about current US immigration law and its enforcement, you aren’t paying attention.
“Profoundly disappointing commentary by a Catholic platform.”
Not at all. Your comment is a profoundly naive and deeply flawed bit of commentary.
Vague emotional indignity.
Useless.
those who live by the “sword” die by the sword?
I don’t know a whole lot about this shooting, or the details surrounding it. There might be fault on both sides. We all know which side the liberal media is on.
But I stand with the men and women in law enforcement, including those in ICE.