Likelihood is, you’ve seen Richard Tsong-Taatarii’s picture. Taken Wednesday in Minneapolis, it reveals an unidentifiable protester face down on the bottom; two Border Patrol brokers are on high of him, holding him there, whereas a 3rd unloads pepper spray into his face from simply inches away.
Tomorrow’s entrance web page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 23, 2026
— Minnesota Star Tribune (@startribune.com) January 22, 2026 at 6:19 PM
The picture ran on the entrance web page of The Minnesota Star Tribune on Friday and already looks like a defining picture of the lengthy ICE incursion in Minneapolis—a strong illustration of how the company has acted, in broad daylight, with extreme drive and impunity.
This is only one instance of federal brokers terrorizing folks within the metropolis. There’s additionally the picture of a 5-year-old boy being detained outdoors his residence. There’s the video of an agent chasing a youngster by way of the snow on a residential avenue because the boy yells “I’m authorized” in Spanish. And yesterday, the world noticed footage of Alex Pretti, a nurse who labored within the ICU of a Veterans Affairs hospital, as brokers pepper-sprayed him, knocked him down, appeared to take away a legally permitted gun from his particular person, and fired at the least 10 bullets into his inclined physique. (Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino has claimed that the brokers had been the “actual victims” and prompt that they had been performing in self-defense.)
There are nonetheless unknowns on this case, as there are in most of the chaotic moments which have come out of ICE’s current surge in Minneapolis. However there are primary details: Pretti was serving to a lady when brokers swarmed him. He didn’t have a gun in his hand. Previously 18 days, brokers have used extreme drive towards quite a few folks in Minneapolis and killed two of them—first Renee Good, now Pretti. We learn about this violence—we will see it ourselves from quite a few angles—largely due to video and photographic proof taken by on a regular basis residents, a lot of whom have purposefully got down to be sure that they’re recording what is occurring for the world to see.
Tsong-Taatarii credit these volunteers, a lot of whom are attempting to guard their neighbors, for his now-famous shot. On Wednesday, Tsong-Taatarii had been following Bovino however realized that was “a wild goose chase,” and was alerted by a bunch to an escalating scenario in South Minneapolis. He drove over and bought the picture. After I spoke with him on Friday, he informed me that protest observers have arrange Sign group chats, which assist monitor brokers’ actions throughout town. He makes use of the chats to ensure he will be in the appropriate place on the proper time to doc what is occurring.
If it nonetheless isn’t clear why this issues, evaluate the documented actuality with the Trump administration’s blatant propaganda. The Division of Homeland Safety stated in an announcement yesterday that Pretti “needed to do most harm and bloodbath regulation enforcement.” Equally, White Home Deputy Chief of Workers Stephen Miller known as Pretti a “would-be murderer” who “tried to homicide federal regulation enforcement.” Video footage instantly contradicts these claims. It reveals Pretti holding a telephone in his hand, pointing it at an agent after one other shoved a lady. He was shot time and again whereas on the bottom.
The complete proof round Pretti’s dying has not but been launched. If he was certainly filming brokers earlier than he was shot, there may be seemingly first-person footage on his telephone. However Pretti’s final seconds had been captured from a number of angles, in sickening footage extensively distributed on social media and by information organizations. It is ready to be seen and dissected on-line exactly due to the observers who had been there to doc it, who watched as federal brokers piled atop Pretti and who didn’t drop their telephones when the gunshots rang out.
The work of observers and photographers in Minneapolis proper now’s as harmful as it’s essential, as a result of ICE’s presence in Minneapolis is frightening not solely bodily battle however an informational battle. Brokers themselves are pulling out their telephones throughout altercations with protesters. In accordance with The Washington Publish, the White Home has urged ICE to “produce movies for social media of immigrant arrests and confrontations to painting its push for mass deportation as vital to defending the American lifestyle.” Final week, President Trump posted on Reality Social that ICE should “begin speaking about” the folks they’re arresting in Minnesota, writing: “Present the Numbers, Names, and Faces of the violent criminals, and present them NOW.” When the footage doesn’t swimsuit the administration, it appears to haven’t any challenge doctoring pictures to swimsuit its alternate actuality, because it did on Thursday. Brokers had arrested an legal professional who was protesting at a neighborhood church, and the White Home posted a photograph of this lady that was altered, presumably by AI, to make it appear to be she was crying.
A darkish irony of our present age is that there’s extra video and photographic proof than ever earlier than, and but propagandists can coerce or persuade others to not consider what they’ll see with their very own eyes. (See additionally: January 6, 2021.)
If the reality is ever to win out over propaganda, it could actually solely accomplish that within the face of overwhelming proof, the gathering of which has turn out to be ever extra treacherous within the second 12 months of Trump’s second presidency. However the information and photographs of Pretti’s dying appears to have damaged by way of the standard informational chaos—at the least to some extent. On Reddit, Instagram, and Fb pages, the movies of Pretti’s final moments seem to have galvanized individuals who don’t usually interact or publish about politics. And it’s due to the bystander movies of Pretti’s killing that persons are making an attempt to carry the administration accountable. This morning, the CNN host Dana Bash referenced the footage in an interview with Bovino, asking him why Pretti was shot after being disarmed. “We’re not going to adjudicate that right here on TV in a single freeze body,” Bovino replied. “It’s not a freeze body,” Bash stated. “We’re exhibiting a video of one in all your brokers taking the gun away. And that occurred earlier than Pretti was shot.”
Minneapolis residents are risking their lives to doc what is occurring to their metropolis. In Pretti’s case, doing so price him all the things. We must always consider what we will see with our personal eyes. One can solely think about what Miller and the administration may need stated concerning the capturing and Pretti if there weren’t an abundance of footage. Fortunately, due to the observers, the world can see for itself.
