The Ann Arbor community and officials are responding with measures to limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old VA nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis during a protest, as reported by ClickOnDetroit. The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners has voted to pass a resolution prohibiting ICE from conducting enforcement activity on county property without a warrant or court order. District 7 Commissioner Andy LaBarre commented on the necessity of the measure, stating, "With the killing of Renee Good and now Alex Pretti, this is something sadly that we think is needed and necessary to protect our people here and our employees and do the county’s part to demonstrate this is not acceptable or within the bounds of decent government."
Moreover, Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor has voiced his concern, emphasizing that the city will "never cooperate with ICE, never authorize them to use City resources to support their lawless agenda of hate," as reported by MLive. Taylor's remarks come after the death of Pretti and Renee Good, both U.S. citizens who were killed by federal agents in separate incidents, the latter being an unarmed mother fatally shot in her car by an immigration officer in early January.
Local organization Ann Arbor Indivisible is taking to the streets to demand change in response to the violence. According to WEMU, the group is organizing a vigil for Pretti, remembered for his dedication to working with veterans and his tragic death during the Minneapolis protest. Gus Tescke, a member of the steering committee for Ann Arbor Indivisible, expressed the group's response: "We’re going to be organizing a vigil for Alex Pretti. We are going to be organizing to remember him, a nurse who was killed for no reason. And then, they started lying about it immediately."
