PHOENIX — Hours after the killing of Veterans Affairs I.C.U. nurse Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, protesters assembled outside the Department of Homeland Security’s Phoenix field office. The message: No more.
In protests against federal immigration enforcement happening regularly in Phoenix, the “tactical frivolity” of Fall’s “No Kings” protests has been replaced by a harder edge. Colorful inflatable costumes have made way to cowbells and whistles, symbols of direct resistance to the Trump administration’s deportation agenda.
In a statement made earlier in the day, Pretti’s family said “We are heartbroken, but also very angry.” His killing was the second of a U.S. citizen by federal immigration agents in a little over two weeks, following Renée Good’s killing on January 7.
Outside the Phoenix DHS field office, a protester said repeatedly into a megaphone that if federal agents arrived, protesters should be prepared to respond with force. (At the same location earlier in the week, physical altercations broke out between protesters and federal agents, who detained a U.S. citizen.) The man behind the Facebook page “American Government in Exile” hosted a livestream from the protest in which he shouted into his phone: “This could be the beginning of the second American Revolution … we need a community defense force.” Boomboxes played music by Rage Against the Machine and Zach Bryan.
After an hour, a second group that had marched north on Central Avenue from Civic Park was met by cheers at the D.H.S. field office. The merged protest returned to Downtown Phoenix, passing cheers from packed outdoor bars and restaurant terraces. Vehicle drivers honked in support, including tram drivers and a mail carrier.
