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Floor Speech

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Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, on Saturday, America witnessed another horrific tragedy in Minneapolis when Alex Pretti was shot and killed by Department of Homeland Security law enforcement agents.

By all accounts--all accounts--Alex was a dedicated member of his community. He served as an intensive care nurse at the Veterans Affairs clinic in Minneapolis.

On Saturday, he was simply exercising his rights as an American--the very same rights for those veterans that he fought to protect. He used his First Amendment right of free speech to show up for his community and record interactions between Homeland Security officers and his neighbors. When agents became violent with a female protester, he stepped in to protect her.

He also exercised his Second Amendment right to bear arms. Despite no evidence that he was threatening anyone or holding anything but a phone in his hands, officers still shot him repeatedly and killed him.

The American people have watched the videos. They have seen with their own eyes the evidence of DHS's unjustified behavior and excessive use of force. But mere moments after the shots were fired, DHS officials jumped to the claim that Mr. Pretti was a domestic terrorist and an assassin who wanted to massacre law enforcement.

I want to be very clear on this. Those statements are lies. They are lies used to justify the unjustifiable actions of some DHS officers.

The blatant lies of DHS leadership and misconduct by the officers involved in the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good are indefensible, and they cannot stand. They violate the public trust and stand in direct opposition to the values and the professionalism of many Federal law enforcement officers who follow the law and serve with integrity every day.

Since these tragic events, people from every corner of America have made their voices heard. My office has heard from thousands of Michiganders about their outrage at the fatal shootings of both Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

The American people's message is loud and it is clear: They are fed up with the Trump administration's mishandling of immigration enforcement, and they are demanding--they are demanding--that we do something about it.

Americans have every right to be enraged. I am outraged, and every Member of this Chamber should also be enraged. This is certainly not the country that I grew up in, and this is certainly not the country that we can leave to the next generation.

In this moment, we have no choice but to stand up for our communities, for Renee Good, for Alex Pretti, and for the very principles that our country was founded on. That is why I will be voting no on the bill before us unless--unless--DHS funding is stripped out or unless critical reforms are incorporated into the bill.

If the leader put the other five appropriation bills on the floor today, they would pass. They would pass with bipartisan support-- overwhelming bipartisan support. The DHS components have unique but important functions beyond immigration enforcement--securing our borders, combating human trafficking, seizing deadly narcotics being smuggled into our country, and facilitating trade and travel--but personnel from these components have been pulled from their core missions and have instead been pressured to focus exclusively on arbitrary quotas and removing immigrants from our country, even those who pose no serious threat to public safety.

This corruption of DHS's mission has directly contributed to the chaos and violence we have seen in Minneapolis and communities all across our country. That is why Senate Democrats are calling for commonsense reforms--reforms like ensuring DHS officers wear clear identification so people know who they are dealing with in law enforcement and can hold them accountable; requiring DHS personnel to wear body cameras so we have proper recordings of their conduct in immigration enforcement; and requiring proper investigations after tragedies occur like the recent shootings of both Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

These are just a few of the examples of commonsense practices that strengthen accountability and help ensure the safety of both law enforcement and our communities. Our local law enforcement personnel already follow them, and we shouldn't expect anything less from our Federal law enforcement.

There is no question that immigration enforcement is necessary, but we must conduct it in a way that is both humane and safe. Clearly, that is not how this Agency is operating today.

Now--now--is the time to act, and I urge our Republican colleagues to join us in putting real guardrails in place and not just acting as a rubberstamp for the Trump administration.

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