It’s been about two weeks since federal agents murdered Alex Pretti, a registered nurse working in the intensive care unit at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, which serves veterans.

This was the second fatal shooting this month in Minneapolis as a result of a major crackdown by federal agents. And Trump administration officials wasted no time demonizing him. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller accused Pretti of attempted murder, while Director of Homeland Security Kristi Noem referred to him as an illegal immigrant with a violent criminal history who attempted to assault ICE officials, despite solid evidence refuting such a claim.

ICE agents are fiercely and brazenly enacting their Gestapo agenda throughout the state of Minnesota. On Jan. 22 in Minneapolis, ICE’s detention of Liam Ramos, a five-year-old boy wearing a Spider-Man backpack, rapidly emerged as the definitive image of the Trump administration’s draconian immigration enforcement practices. A masked agent manipulated five-year-old Liam, a supremely innocent child, into knocking on the door of his own home before immediately shipping him across the country and incarcerating him. This is hardly an administration interested in tackling and targeting criminals.

Instead, what ICE is doing is designed to evoke and instill fear and terror within children and their families. The young child and his father are now in a detention center in Texas, while the mother and his brother remain in Columbia Heights, facing the dilemma of being a broken family. One can only imagine the intense psychological trauma this young child has endured because of our government’s overbearing, regressive tactics. Photos of tiny Liam bundled up against the brutal cold, looking clueless and frightened, would make even the most indifferent and heartless person perform some deep soul searching and repair their moral compass.

Amid all the sinister drama, the Trump administration has tried to depict its unjustified deportations as an evacuation of violent criminals from the nation. However, statistics demonstrate the majority of arrested individuals possess no criminal record at all. The administration’s attempts to discredit anyone who dares to criticize bands of inadequately trained federal thugs are bereft of any level of conscientiousness.

Despite such disingenuous efforts, there has been bipartisan criticism toward the administration’s stance.

Among the Republicans challenging Trump are Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Still, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, Kentucky Rep. James Comer, and former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, to name a few. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison referred to the administration’s narrative of events as flat out insane.

Independent analyses by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, CBS News, and other organizations conclude videos contradict the Trump administration’s description of the murder.

Maybe it’s working. Trump has signaled he’s considering scaling back ICE operations in Minneapolis and sent back Gregory Bovino, his commander-at- large, back to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Americans voted for Trump because he told them he would lower food prices, return manufacturing jobs to the nation, and provide affordable health care. He has failed to deliver on any of these, but he and his advisors have succeeded in managing to transform Minneapolis and St. Paul into cities where unrestrained chaos reigns. They have arrogantly dismissed the horrific murder of an innocent American mother and an intensive care nurse, referring to both victims as domestic terrorists.

My question to MAGA voters is was this the sort of violent, callous, monstrous activity you voted for or endorsed? Did you not see, in your mind’s eye, the frightened expression of a blameless child who was being dragged away from their family?

For a segment of diehard, nativist, and isolationist right-wingers, the administration is behaving exactly as they desire. They probably want ICE aggressiveness to continue. But what about the bulk of conservatives, who are generally anti-immigration and are put off, if not downright revolted, by such wanton Gestapo-like tactics? Some people would disagree, but I believe they must feel some degree of sympathy within their souls.

It has been three weeks since the horrific murder of Renee Good, a 37-year-old woman and a mother of three children, by an armed agent. Since then, footage of violent arrests and assaults by ICE operatives dispatched to specific states by an administration claiming to reestablish “law and order” has become disturbingly routine. Nevertheless, the dystopian images of an unarmed man having several bullets pumped into his body or a small child finding himself in the crosshairs of the Trump administration’s inhumane approach to mass deportations still have the ability to jolt the conscience.

I, like many Americans, are feverishly asking one question: When will such gut-wrenching carnage end?

Copyright 2026 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.