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analysis
The cold-blooded shootings of ICE agents upset Americans.
January 26, 2026, 2:00 p.mJanuary 26, 2026, 2:00 p.m
Thomas Friedman, a columnist for the New York Times, compares what is currently taking place in Minneapolis with what is happening in the Gaza Strip. In Minnesota, two innocent American citizens were shot and killed by ICE agents during peaceful protests. Three journalists were killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Hamas is staging public show executions.
“All of these stories have more in common than you might think,” says Friedman. “In my opinion, everyone is driven by terrible leaders who prefer simple, violent solutions to the hard work of negotiation.”
Church members protest against violence by ICE agents.Image: keystone
The Washington Post also comes to a devastating verdict for the Trump administration in an editorial commentary. She describes the shooting of a nurse last weekend as a “moral and political failure that has left American citizens outraged and unsettled.”
Even the conservative commentators at the Wall Street Journal come to the same conclusion. They write of the “worst incident to date that could become a moral and political debacle for Trump’s term in office.”
On the one hand, it is the brutality of the immigration police that outrages and disturbs at the same time, and that calls for comparisons with the Gestapo and the SA. On the one hand, this violence is the result of the ICE men being poorly trained – many of them have only had minimal training – but on the other hand, it is entirely intentional.
“Even though opinion polls show that the majority of Americans oppose ICE tactics, Trump seems to assume that the chaos in Minneapolis will benefit him in November,” Friedman notes. The brutality and the similarity to Nazi henchmen are therefore deliberately staged.
Deliberately brutal: Gregory Bovino, border control commander.Image: keystone
Gregory Bovino, the border control commander, was photographed wearing a coat and a pose reminiscent of the Gestapo. In Orwellian Newspeak style, he also denies what everyone can see on the numerous videos, namely that Alex Pretti, the orderly shot by ICE, was not holding a gun but a cell phone.
Nevertheless, Bovino maintains unmoved: “An individual approached the US Border Patrol agent with a 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol. The agent tried to disarm him, but he resisted violently. Fearing for his own life and that of his colleagues, the border guard fired shots in self-defense.”
As soon as the deadly shots had subsided, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff and mastermind of the ICE operations, made similar statements. They go so far as to call the blameless 37-year-old Pretti a terrorist. They also vilified Renee Good, who was shot dead a week ago, in the same way.
And how does the president react? He continues to spread the lie that the protesters are paid antifa agitators and blame others. “Democrats are running sanctuary cities and states,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday. “They refuse to cooperate with ICE and encourage left-wing agitators to unlawfully obstruct actions that serve to arrest the worst of the worst.”
Defending the brutal crackdown: Vice President JD Vance.Image: keystone
However, the Trump administration may turn out to be shooting itself in the foot. Critical voices are also being raised in the ranks of the Republicans, and not just among well-known Trump critics such as Senator Lisa Murkowski.
Representative James Comer, who is a Trump friend and is known, also said on Fox News: “If I were President Trump, I would think: OK, if the mayor and the governor don’t want to protect the ICE officers, and there may be more innocent victims, then I would withdraw my officers and let the citizens of Minneapolis decide.”
Meanwhile, Bill Cassidy, a very conservative senator from Louisiana, warns: “The credibility of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security are at stake. We need a careful and complete investigation of the case because we can tell Americans the truth.”
Commentators at the Wall Street Journal even say that the Republicans will be losers. “Miller’s mass deportations are turning immigration, the issue Trump has seized upon in 2024, into a political stumbling block for Republicans in 2026. Americans don’t want people shot in the streets and five-year-old boys arrested.”