Shutdown Odds Soar After Second ICE Killing: A Capital in Crisis
By ice killing Washington USA blog news today live
The specter of a government shutdown has returned to Washington with a vengeance. Just as Congress appeared to be finding a narrow path toward funding the federal government through the end of fiscal year 2026, the streets of Minneapolis have once again become the flashpoint for a national political crisis.
The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, by federal agents on Saturday morning has not just sparked outrage in the Twin Cities—it has detonated the fragile consensus on Capitol Hill. With the Friday deadline looming, the chances of a partial government shutdown have shifted from “unlikely” to “all but certain,” as Senate Democrats vow to block any funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the wake of what local leaders are calling an “execution.”
The Incident That Changed the Calculus
Alex Pretti was not a stranger to the tensions in Minneapolis. An ICU nurse at the local Veterans Affairs hospital, he had reportedly become increasingly distressed by the surge of federal immigration enforcement in his city following the killing of Renee Good on January 7.
On Saturday morning, at the intersection of 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue, that distress turned into a fatal encounter.
The Administration’s Narrative vs. Witness Video
The Trump administration was quick to frame the shooting as a matter of self-defense. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and White House advisor Stephen Miller immediately labeled Pretti a “domestic terrorist” and a “would-be assassin,” claiming he approached officers with a 9mm handgun.
However, the rapid release of bystander video has painted a starkly different picture:
- The Phone: Verified footage shows Pretti recording the agents with his cellphone.
- The De-escalation Attempt: When an agent shoved a woman near him, Pretti stepped between them to shield her.
- The Disarming: Multiple agents tackled Pretti. In the scuffle, video appears to show one agent removing a handgun from Pretti’s waistband and moving away.
- The Shots: Less than a second after Pretti was disarmed and pinned to the ground, another agent fired a volley of shots.
Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry and no criminal record. To his family and colleagues at the VA, the administration’s characterization is nothing short of “sickening lies.”
A Legislative Stranglehold
Before Saturday, the House had narrowly passed a DHS funding bill with the help of a few centrist Democrats. The plan was to bundle it with other more popular appropriations bills to force the Senate’s hand.
That plan is now in tatters.
“Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer declared over the weekend.
The math is simple and brutal for Republican leadership. They need at least 60 votes to break a filibuster in the Senate. With Democrats now united in their refusal to fund an agency they describe as “out of control,” the $64.4 billion DHS bill—and potentially the rest of the $1.2 trillion funding package—is dead on arrival.
The “OBBBA” Factor
Complicating matters is the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) passed last year. Because Republicans front-loaded nearly $75 billion for ICE in that tax and spending bill, a “shutdown” might not actually stop ICE operations. Paradoxically, a shutdown would shutter “essential” services like FEMA, the Coast Guard, and the TSA, while the very enforcement actions Democrats are protesting would continue to be funded by the OBBBA “blank check.”
Minnesota on the Brink
In Minnesota, the rhetoric has reached a fever pitch. Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey have dropped any pretense of cooperation with federal authorities.
- Obstruction Charges: The Justice Department has already subpoenaed Walz and Frey, accusing them of obstructing federal law.
- Evidence Control: A federal judge had to grant a temporary restraining order to prevent DHS from destroying evidence related to the Pretti shooting.
- Local Defiance: Mayor Frey’s message to ICE was blunt: “Get the f** out of Minneapolis.”*
Walz has signaled that the state will no longer allow federal agencies to lead investigations into their own conduct, stating, “The federal government cannot be trusted.”
What Comes Next?
As the clock ticks toward Friday night, three scenarios remain:
- The Decoupling: Senate Republicans could strip the DHS funding from the package to keep the rest of the government open. However, this would be seen as a massive defeat for the Trump administration’s “Metro Surge” policy.
- The Full Shutdown: Congress fails to agree on anything, and the government enters a broad shutdown, further inflaming an already volatile national mood.
- The Executive Pivot: President Trump may attempt to use emergency powers or further OBBBA funds to bypass Congress entirely, potentially triggering a constitutional crisis alongside the fiscal one.
For now, the vigil at 26th and Nicollet grows larger. The pine cones arranged by mourners to read “Long Live Alex Pretti” are a quiet contrast to the storm brewing in D.C. If the “shutdown odds” continue to soar, it won’t just be the lights going out in federal offices—it will be a sign that the divide between the states and the federal government has reached a point of no return.
