Trump's Death Squads
Two murders in Minneapolis. Sadly, they likely won't be the last.
Is the title hyperbole? Almost certainly, at least at this point. But to shy away from one of the possible paths that this administration is taking is not responsible. We are where we are today because far too many people believed the lie that “it can’t happen here”. There are a multitude of things happening right now that most Americans could not fathom happening in their country, or on the world stage in their name. Even those that tried so valiantly to raise the alarm about just what Trump would do in a second term would likely admit that things are far worse today than even they imagined. I know that I feel that way, and I had a pretty dark outlook on our future last November.
Note: This is a long piece, with images, video, and embedded BlueSky posts. If you are reading it in your email client, it may get cut off. In order to best enjoy it, I recommend viewing it on the website or in the Substack App
Unless you are a master at divorcing yourself from the reality of America in 2026, you know that an unarmed1 American citizen was murdered on Saturday, in broad daylight, in front of dozens of witnesses and on camera from multiple angles. This was the second such murder in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the span of 17 days. In between the two murders, ICE/CBP agents in Portland, Oregon shot two other unarmed civilians. Trump’s Secret Police have shot four unarmed people in under three weeks. To date there have been no investigations2 into any of this violence. In fact, the government has doubled and tripled down, blaming the victims and the Democratic leadership of both Minneapolis and Minnesota for the crimes of the Federal government.
Death Squads Throughout History
Sadly, the concept is not new. The Wikipedia page (yes, yes, I know) for “Death Squads” is depressingly long, especially when you consider the term was first used in the 1930s with the bulk of the historical examples dating only back to the 60s. While not specifically government-backed or affiliated, even the United States has some dark history with the concept, such as the Bushwackers and Jayhawkers, pro- and anti-slavery groups, respectively, who fought each other during the 1850s in the run up to the civil war, a time referred to as Bleeding Kansas. After the civil war the Ku Klux Klan rose in popularity as well.
History has seen these groups, often paramilitary, government-aligned forces, across the globe. In the mid 1900s there was a certain group in Europe that is pretty famous, but people get uncomfortable with those comparisons, so I will allow you, sensible reader, to fill in that particular blank.
Latin America
The 1960s saw the somewhat rapid spread of this kind of political violence throughout Latin America, including forces that were either overtly or covertly financed, trained, and supported by the United States. In Guatemala as many as 60,000 people were killed by death squads between 1966 and 1982. In Honduras, Battalion 3-16 was trained by the US CIA under the guise of national security. The initial mission was to gather intelligence on the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, but the organization killed hundreds of Honduran civilians in the early 1980s. El Salvador was home to Escuadrón de la Muerte, a group that, during the Salvadoran Civil War, “contributed significantly to the staggering human toll of the conflict, which claimed over 75,000 lives”. This is but a small sampling of the groups that have been, or remain to be, active in Central and South America.
Other Notable Squads
The Tonton Macoute in Haiti, formed by dictator Papa Doc Duvalier, murdered between 30,000 and 60,000 Haitians. In Chile, the United States supported a 1973 coup that toppled the constitutional Socialist government and installed Augusto Pinochet. His government went on to kill or “disappear” an estimated 2,600 to 3,400 Chilean citizens between 1973 and 1990. More recently, upon his election in 2016 Rodrigo Duterte promised "If I make it to the presidential palace I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, holdup men, and do-nothings, you better get out because I'll kill you." He did just that.
The 'death squad' began work on the first day of Duterte's Presidency on July 1, 2016. Twelve people were killed on the first day and the next six months saw over 5,000 people, including 2,041 drug suspects, get killed in police operations, according to data gathered by Al Jazeera. Many bodies were found bound in polluted creeks, garbage dump sites and grasslands. The campaign went on for another six years pushing the toll to over 6,200 people, including women and children.
It should be noted that, throughout his reign, US President Donald Trump actively and often supported Duterte, who has since been arrested by the Philippine government and placed on trial at the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
The Minnesota Murders
Renee Good
“That’s fine dude, I’m not mad at you. I’m not mad at you.” Those were the last words of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who was legally observing the actions of ICE agents on the morning of January 7th. Seconds later she would be dead, gunned down by a 10-year veteran ICE agent named Jonathan Ross. By now the world has had the opportunity to view the last moments of her life, including the moment where Ross fired three shots at her from point-blank range, including 2 through her open window as she drove by.
I have only seen the videos, so I do not know what she was doing before those videos start, but I DO know that she was NOT doing what DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said she was. The ICE agents were not trying to get a stuck vehicle out of the snow. Good was not impeding their progress. And, most certainly, Good did not “weaponize her vehicle” and try to run over Ross3. One may be able to claim that Good’s car impacted Ross as she tried to drive away, but even that potential contact is not a capital offense and Ross was not qualified to serve as judge, jury, and executioner.
President Trump, again without any evidence to support his claim, immediately bleated out that Good was "very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defense". He went on to say that he found it "hard to believe [the agent] is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital". None of this is true. Good did not run over Ross. While Ross did go to the hospital, he was treated and released. On the video from Ross’ phone, he (or someone else nearby) can be heard saying “fucking bitch” after the shots that took her life were fired. Ross was then seen walking around the scene of the murder in the immediate aftermath before getting back into his vehicle and driving away.
The lies that came after the shooting were chilling, because they were an Orwellian attempt to tell people to disregard what they were seeing with their eyes and believe instead what the government is telling you has happened. Even after multiple videos surfaced that disputed the government’s claims, including the video that was filmed by Ross himself, Trump, Noem, and the T2.0 administration doubled down. It was, in fact, the administration that released Ross’ footage, likely believing that it supported their claims. One does have to wonder why they did not edit out the commentary at the end. Unless, of course, one believes that the administration wanted that part to be amplified.
Perhaps most concerning is that after initially freezing the local police out of the crime scene under the guise of this being a federal investigation, the government has since stated that there will be NO investigation of the killing. At least six attorneys at the Department of Justice resigned rather than investigate Renee Good and her wife, and a judge denied the government’s request for a search warrant that claimed that Good was a suspect.
In the aftermath of Good’s murder, the cosplaytriots of ICE/CBP appeared to be emboldened, likely because both JD Vance and Stephen Miller expressly stated that they had “absolute immunity” when carrying out their terror. Perhaps that explains why there were multiple instances of confrontations featuring ICE/CBP using chillingly threatening language:
(Credit: Curtis Lovejoy)
As we moved further away from Good’s murder, it seemed that perhaps things may cool out a bit. But the people of Minneapolis were not cowed, and continued to stand up for their neighbors. Sadly, that meant that it was only a matter of time before another family was torn apart.
Alex Pretti
This past Saturday Alex Pretti was standing in the middle of a Minneapolis street, cellphone camera in one hand while he used his other to direct traffic around a CBP vehicle that was involved in an arrest. Two women were also observing the activity, standing between Pretti and the agents. After a moment, the agents approached Pretti and confronted him. Pretti took a few steps back but stayed in front of the agents. An agent then violently shoved one of the women to the ground and pepper sprayed her. At this point Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse at the VA hospital, tried to help the woman get back to standing. While he was doing so he too was pepper sprayed. Multiple agents then grabbed him from behind and drug him into the street, where several of them piled on top of him and at least one was seen to be striking him in the head or face with an object.
Pretti had, in a holster on his belt, a legally permitted 9mm pistol. One of the agents cried out “GUN!” and video shows an agent reach into Pretti’s holster and remove the gun. Seconds later another agent fires into Pretti’s back. This leads to two agents firing at least 10 more times into Pretti’s lifeless body.
None of this is in dispute, despite the fact that, once again, the government immediately issued a statement that was simply a lie, from top to bottom. The statement claimed that Pretti “approached agents with a 9-mm handgun” and intended to inflict “maximum carnage” on officers. Pretti never had his gun in his hand. He never even reached for his gun, as has been evidenced by multiple organizations that have broken down the videos from several angles.
The multiple video angles of this killing show that, in my opinion, this is even clearer a murder than in the case of Renee Good4. Yes, he was armed. But as is clear in every video, he did not instigate the confrontation with CBP. The only thing he pointed at the agents was his camera as he filmed them. He was shot, multiple times and at point blank range, after being disarmed and while on all fours, the only thing in his hands his phone.
Once again, the government was quick to lie about what happened. Faced with the facts, they changed their tune more quickly this time, although the amount of MAGA talking heads stating unironically that Pretti shouldn’t have been carrying a gun at a protest is amazing to me. These are the same folks who lionized Kyle Rittenhouse for doing the exact same thing. Except, of course, Rittenhouse actually killed two people. Apparently, the protections of the Second Amendment are only for MAGA and folks that they approve of…
In perhaps the vilest of the lies from the government a claim was made that responders immediately began performing CPR on Pretti. This is not the case. It is not borne out by the videos, and the following excerpt from an affidavit sworn out by a physician who lived nearby and attempted to render aid tells us the far darker truth:
“the ICE agents appeared to be counting bullet holes”
Let that sink in.
Before the sun went down on Saturday, Alex Pretti’s family released the following statement:
“We are heartbroken but also very angry.
“Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the hero term lightly. However his last thought and act was to protect a woman.
“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed.
“Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.”
Note that in both murders there is little chance that any of the killers will be brought to justice. The Deputy Attorney General of the United States said days after the Renee Good killing that there would not be an investigation because “we all saw the video”. With regard to the Alex Pretti murderers, the Feds once again attempted to keep Minneapolis PD out of the crime scene, forcing the local authorities to go to court to stop DHS from destroying evidence. As to the murderers, well…
Other Extrajudicial Killings
While the murders of Good and Pretti have gotten all of the headlines and have resulted in extended conversations about DHS’ activities5, we should keep in mind that these are not the only people that have been killed by ICE/CBP:
ICE has also killed a Black man named Keith Porter, a Cambodian named Parady La, and five Latinos named Heber Sanchaz Domínguez, Victor Manuel Diaz, Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz, Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres, and Geraldo Lunas Campos.
Further, a record number of people (at least 30) have died in DHS custody since the start of 2025. Another six have died in 2026, including one in an El Paso facility that has been ruled a homicide by the medical examiner. Of course, we don’t have all of these deaths on video6 so they are not as visceral to most Americans. I am sure the families of the deceased are not exactly comforted by this though.
Even when we have video, the reactions are sometimes muted, even by those who purport to care about these things. We as a population seem to have already desensitized ourselves to the fact that our government has bragged openly about killing over 120 people in over 35 strikes on alleged drug running boats. Remember, not once has the government provided any information or evidence that these boats are carrying drugs, and even if they were, drug trafficking is not a capital crime. AND even if it were, these people are still entitled to due process. Or at least they should be, and would be, if the government was acting within the law.
Is It Really That Hard to Believe?
I am not ignorant of the fact using language like “death squad” is inflammatory and perhaps accelerationist, but is it really all that far a stretch? Time and again we are seeing rhetoric from the government calling the legal observers domestic terrorists. The MAGA talking points continually harp on blaming Democrat leadership by saying that they should just comply, just “accept the help of DHS”. The narrative they are driving is that these evil Dems are keeping the fine patriots of ICE/CBP from doing their jobs. After all, they are only going after the worst of the worst. Like this guy, grabbed up just last week:
I wonder if Liam is in the new Worst of the Worst website that the government recently unveiled.
Last Fall I wrote about a National Security Presidential Memo (NSPM) that was quietly released and generally ignored.
In this document the President lays out his case that anyone who exhibits "anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality” should be investigated as a potential domestic terrorist. We have already seen the admin successfully mitigate extrajudicial killing (the boat strikes) by wrapping it in language stating that the “targets” are members of a Designated Terror Organization (DTO). The NSPM is, to my understanding, a very clear tool for painting American citizens with that DTO brush. We have even seen Secretary of DUI Pete Kegsbreath chime in:
Thank God for the patriots of @ICEgov — we have your back 100%. You are SAVING the country.
Shame on the leadership of Minnesota — and the lunatics in the street.
ICE > MN
Follow the link above (gift link) for a Tom Nichols article in The Atlantic that does a better job than I can explaining why this is a Bad Thing. Taken together, it seems clear to me that this administration is taking steps to create permission structures for orders to the US military to kill Americans.
As all of this continues, and likely continues to escalate7, keep in mind that members of this administration, such as Vice President JD Vance and Presidential Ghoul Stephen Miller are hoping for a response. They are the ones turning up the heat with their rhetoric. I am convinced at this point that they want an ICE agent to be killed by a civilian. This would grant them the pretext that they so clearly desire: to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minneapolis as a template for doing so in other cities. Why? The Bondi letter to Tim Walz spilled their goal. This is how they hope to rig the midterms, knowing that it’s likely the only chance they have to retain control of Congress, and knowing what two years of hearings and investigations by a Democratic House (and possibly Senate) would look like. They know that they likely have but 11 months to finish what they have started. They are also hell-bent on publicly arresting Democrat leaders such as Tim Walz and Jacob Frey, and “One of Theirs” being killed would likely grant them the premise to do so.
For the last decade Trump’s sycophantic supporters have derisively accused his critics of suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome or TDS. The events of the last three weeks have bestowed that acronym with a chilling new meaning; Trump’s Death Squads.
Take Care and Stay Strong, Together.
Yes, I know he was carrying a pistol. I also know, because I have eyes and have seen it from multiple angles, that he had been disarmed by the ICE thugs before he was shot and killed. Hence, unarmed.
FBI Director Kash Patel claims that the second murder is under “internal investigation”. I am sure he has his best men on it, and that whatever they find will be a crystal clear example of an unbiased determination of the facts on the ground.
Additionally, Ross should NEVER have been in front of Good’s vehicle. LEO are trained to not do this, as if a driver DID intend to run them over, no bullet in their gun is going to stop a 4,000-pound missile if it’s pointed at you. At best you will kill the driver, changing it from a smart to a dumb (unguided) missile.
Only because we live in a world where the government uses “weaponization of a vehicle” as the default rationale for use of deadly force, facts be damned.
Not to mention countless written pieces with a lot of words… what?
And the victims are not white.
Since it appears that there will be no consequences for either Good or Pretti’s murders, I can only imagine that ICE will continue to escalate. Someone is eventually going to lose it and fight back.