Minneapolis shooting: Barack and Michelle Obama call out Trump and ICE for ‘assault’ on nation’s core values

‘This has to stop’: Pretti shooting should be a ‘wake-up call to every American’ that core values are under assault, say Obamas

Former president and first lady Barack and Michelle Obama have called Alex Pretti’s killing a “heartbreaking tragedy”.

“It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault,” the couple said.

In a statement, the Obamas went on:

For weeks now, people across the country have been rightly outraged by the spectacle of masked ICE recruits and other federal agents acting with impunity and engaging in tactics that seem designed to intimidate, harass, provoke and endanger the residents of a major American city.

They add that the Trump administration“seem eager to escalate the situation” and have tried to explain the shootings of Pretti and Renee Good without “any serious investigation – and that appear to be directly contradicted by video evidence”.

This has to stop.