{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreidadhyoeuussu63iqls5qivdyt57f2xbqmshxkfzqwit2l4z75nty",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:qefo6jhzy4lvocnzakfk7rbi/app.bsky.feed.post/3meosn6mtfss2"
  },
  "coverImage": {
    "$type": "blob",
    "ref": {
      "$link": "bafkreibfmqi4feod6fymll3a6gomnqpisxwlglycmtelpv6l4ld6xle7cm"
    },
    "mimeType": "image/jpeg",
    "size": 104220
  },
  "path": "/post/206520/maga-senator-minnesota-attorney-general-alex-pretti-renee-0",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-12T16:36:05.000Z",
  "site": "https://newrepublic.com",
  "tags": [
    "Breaking News",
    "Politics",
    "Republican Party",
    "Donald Trump",
    "Senate",
    "Ron Johnson",
    "Immigration",
    "Deportation",
    "Mass Deportations",
    "Arrest",
    "Immigration Detention",
    "ICE",
    "Police Violence",
    "shooting",
    "Minnesota",
    "Minneapolis",
    "Alex Pretti",
    "Renee Nicole Good",
    "attorney general",
    "Keith Ellison",
    "said",
    "literally chased agents out of town",
    "announced",
    "warned",
    "unable to reach a bipartisan consensus",
    "10 demands"
  ],
  "textContent": "A MAGA lawmaker is blaming ICE’s heightened violence on local Minnesota leaders.\n\nSenator Ron Johnson tore into Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison during a Senate hearing Thursday, accusing him of causing the deaths of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, both of whom were shot and killed last month by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.\n\n“I, as a government official, would have said, ‘Back off. Let us work with ICE. Let’s cooperate with them. Let’s see if we can’t deescalate this,’” Johnson said. “But you, attorney general, did the exact opposite.\n\n“Two people are dead because you encouraged them to put themselves into harm’s way!” Johnson said. “And now you are exploiting those two martyrs. That was a tragedy. It never should have happened.”\n\nThe Wisconsin Republican then claimed that activists in the region were being “trained” and “deployed” to escalate the situation with federal officers, citing instances in which protesters—such as Pretti—were captured on film kicking ICE vehicles.\n\nOn the ground in Minneapolis, that level of fabricated insurgency doesn’t seem necessary—locals are so irate with federal law enforcement and immigration agents that they have literally chased agents out of town.\n\nBut federal agents’ unwelcome presence, in Johnson’s view, not only precipitates but also apparently warrants the agents’ impulsive violence.\n\n“Is it any wonder they’re at hair-trigger alert?” Johnson continued. “A tragedy was going to happen, and you encouraged it, and you ought to feel damn guilty about it.”\n\nThen, after Johnson concluded his time speaking, he raised his voice again: “Yeah, sit there and smirk. Smirk. It’s sick! It’s despicable.”\n\nGiven an opportunity to respond, Ellison said that Johnson’s “theatrical performance” was “all lies.”\n\n“You disgust me,” Johnson spat back.\n\nAfter more than a month of protest and pushback from residents and local officials alike, Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan announced Thursday that ICE would withdraw from Minnesota. But Homan warned that “quick reaction forces” would remain in the state to go after so-called “agitators.”\n\nMeanwhile, in Washington, Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come to another impasse over DHS funding, which is set to expire February 13. The two parties have been unable to reach a bipartisan consensus on whether to reform the violent agency.\n\nDemocrats have agreed to pass the package so long as Republicans concede to 10 demands on how to reel in ICE agents, such as requiring them to identify themselves, take off their masks, and obtain judicial warrants before forcing their way onto private property.\n\nGOP congressional leadership, however, does not seem willing to change the status quo at all, decrying the seemingly bare minimum stipulations as “impossible” and “totally unrealistic.”",
  "title": "MAGA Senator Says Minnesota AG Caused Alex Pretti, Renee Good’s Deaths"
}