Deportation Was Always Political
From its beginnings, deportation has been a tool used to threaten, suppress, and break dissent. ICE’s targeting of political enemies like Mahmoud Khalil is no exception.
Mahmoud Khalil serves as a transitional object for ICE and CBP, a way for them to move from brutalizing undocumented migrants to brutalizing documented ones and, finally, disposing of citizens like Alex Pretti who stand in their way. (Adam Gray / Getty Images)
Eleven days before immigration agents shot Alex Pretti dead in the street — before they fired four bullets into his back, paused, and then fired six more into his motionless body — they’d had a prior altercation with him.
Pretti, a thirty-seven-year-old intensive care unit nurse, had raised his boot and kicked out the taillight of an unmarked SUV. Agents stopped their vehicle in the middle of the street, slammed him to the frozen asphalt, breaking his rib, and then fired pepper balls at shocked onlookers. Video of the incident shows Pretti was carrying a legally registered handgun, the same one that was taken from him moments before he was fatally shot, but he never reached for it either time.
After his murder, it was reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had previously exchanged information on Pretti, possibly adding him to a database the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is compiling of protesters in 2026. Speculation then quickly spread online that Pretti had been targeted by agents and publicly executed for daring to kick their vehicle.
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