DENTON, Md. — The killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis last Saturday has enraged many people across the country. But some Trump supporters have sided with the agents and say they still back the president’s sweeping enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws.
Earlier this week, NPR traveled to Denton, a town of about 5,000 on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It is the county seat of Caroline County, which voted for President Trump by a margin of more than 2 to 1 in the 2024 election. In interviews with more than two dozen people, some Trump voters blamed the violence in Minneapolis on protesters, not federal agents.
“I think the protesters have a huge problem,” said Allistaire Lawrence, who was renovating the attic of a house in this picturesque town that was first settled in 1781. “They’re no longer protesting. They are impeding justice. Protesting is standing off to the side and not interfering.”
Pretti stood in the middle of a street in Minneapolis last Saturday taking video of the agents, who were with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Then he helped a woman after one of the agents shoved her to the ground. Lawrence said Pretti should’ve stayed out of it, especially since the agents were armed.
“They’ve been put in other situations where their life has been at stake,” said Lawrence. “They’re probably on edge. They’re probably a little jumpy.”
Pretti is the second U.S. citizen killed in Minneapolis this month, following the death of Renee Macklin Good.
Lawrence, 39, said everyone should have to abide by U.S. immigration law – even his own family. His mother is from England, and he says that after Sept. 11, 2001, she failed to keep her immigration paperwork up to date and was deported back across the Atlantic.
“Paperwork’s important,” Lawrence said. “That’s why we have it.”
Jennifer Barrow, 43, is a hairdresser who lives about a half-hour away in the town of Easton. She also backs the president’s immigration crackdown and says she’s less focused on the safety of activists and more concerned about immigrants committing violent crime.
“I have a 12-year-old daughter, and if I were to happen to witness my daughter being raped by an illegal immigrant that has committed crimes over and over and again and not being deported … that’s not OK,” Barrow said.
She said she doesn’t know the number of violent crimes undocumented immigrants commit in the U.S., but said she often hears stories about them raping and murdering women and children.
There have been heavily publicized cases of immigrants committing violent crime. In 2024, for example, an undocumented Venezuelan man killed Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student. However, research shows undocumented immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than U.S.-born citizens.
While a lot of people in Denton had seen many videos of federal agents shooting Pretti, many said they hadn’t and didn’t know much about it. Destiny O’Neal, 25, who works as a manager at a restaurant in town, said she’d heard about Good’s killing but didn’t know about Pretti’s.
She said she gets a lot of her information from social media and the resulting algorithms don’t deliver much news.
“I like cosmetics, beauty stuff, Tubi movies and stuff like that,” she said. “I go to my phone to escape my world.”
A block down the street from the restaurant, Jeff Wright was busy chipping ice off the sidewalk from a snowstorm that struck on Sunday. Wright, a 73-year-old retired real estate broker, thinks both Pretti and the Customs and Border Protection agents made mistakes.
“He shouldn’t have been carrying a gun in that situation, even though he has a permit to do so,” said Wright, who added that the agents had “probably overreacted.”
“Did I want him to see him get killed?” Wright said, “No!”
Pretti was an intensive care nurse who worked at a VA hospital. He had a concealed carry permit, but there’s no evidence he ever drew his weapon.
Soon after the shooting, Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, called Pretti a “would-be assassin.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called him a “domestic terrorist.”
Wright said that bothered him a bit and that the officials should’ve done more research and probably spoke too soon.
As to why they made such claims, Wright said, “They’re doing what their base wants to hear.”
Transcript:
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis last Saturday has enraged people across the country. We wanted to know what supporters of President Trump’s immigration policy think about the shooting, so NPR’s Frank Langfitt hit the road to find out.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: I’m on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on my way to Maryland’s eastern shore and heading to Caroline County. And in 2024, people there voted for President Trump more than 2-to-1.
ALISTAIR LAWRENCE: A.J. Lawrence. Alistair, if you must.
LANGFITT: Alistair Lawrence is redoing the attic of a house here in Denton. It’s a rural town of about 5,000. He sides with the federal officers who shot Pretti and blames protesters in Minneapolis for the conflict on the streets.
LAWRENCE: The protesters have a huge problem – they’re no longer protesting. They’re impeding justice. Protesting is standing off to the side and not interfering. ICE is here to do their job by order of the president. Regardless if you like him or not, you live in this country? He is your president.
LANGFITT: Pretti was videotaping the agents who work with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Then he helped a woman after one shoved her to the ground. Lawrence says Pretti should have stayed out of it, especially since the agents were armed.
LAWRENCE: They’ve been put in other situations where their life has been at stake, so, yeah, they’re probably on edge. They’re probably a little jumpy.
LANGFITT: Pretti is the second U.S. citizen killed this month, following the death of Renee Macklin Good. Neither killing changes Lawrence’s support for broad immigration enforcement. He says he has personal experience with it. A family member from England ran afoul of U.S. immigration law years ago.
LAWRENCE: My mom. My mom. She was…
LANGFITT: Is she English?
LAWRENCE: She is. She was married here. And after 9/11, her paperwork wasn’t up to date, so she got banned from the country.
LANGFITT: She got deported?
LAWRENCE: She got deported.
LANGFITT: Was that fair?
LAWRENCE: At the end of the day, yeah. She was not – she didn’t have her paperwork in line. You know, like, paperwork’s important. This is why we have it.
LANGFITT: Two blocks away, I run into Jennifer Barrow outside the courthouse. She’s less focused on the safety of protesters and more concerned about immigrants committing violent crime.
JENNIFER BARROW: I have a 12-year-old daughter, and if I were to happen to witness my daughter being raped by an illegal immigrant that has committed crimes over and over and over again and not being deported, like, that’s not OK.
LANGFITT: How many illegal immigrants are raping people in America? Do you know?
BARROW: I don’t know the number, but I do hear the stories very often about whether it’s raping or murdering.
LANGFITT: There have been heavily publicized cases of immigrants committing violent crime. In 2024, an undocumented Venezuelan man killed Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student. However, research shows undocumented immigrants are less likely to be convicted or incarcerated for crimes than U.S.-born citizens.
I spoke with about two dozen people in Denton yesterday. Many said they hadn’t seen videos of Pretti’s killing and didn’t know much about it. Destiny O’Neal works at a restaurant in town. She gets a lot of her information from social media. The resulting algorithms don’t deliver much news.
DESTINY O’NEAL: I like cosmetics, beauty, Tubi movies and stuff like that. I go to my phone to, like, escape my world.
LANGFITT: Do you follow any news sources or – just curious.
O’NEAL: No. No, not really, no.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHIPPING AT ICE)
LANGFITT: A block down the street from the restaurant, Jeff Wright is chipping ice off the sidewalk. He thinks both Pretti and the border protection agents made mistakes.
JEFF WRIGHT: He shouldn’t have been carrying a gun in that situation, even though he has a permit to do so. I think it was stupid to be in a situation where there’s ICE people there. Did I want him – to see him get killed? No.
LANGFITT: After chatting with Wright, I began to walk away, and then I remembered a question about Trump’s deputy chief of staff and the head of Homeland Security.
Do you remember that Stephen Miller said this guy was a would-be assassin and Kristi Noem…
WRIGHT: Yeah.
LANGFITT: …Said he was a domestic terrorist? What do you think?
WRIGHT: Well, they probably speak too soon (laughter). They need to do the research a little bit more.
LANGFITT: Did it bother you that they said that about it?
WRIGHT: Probably a little bit. They should have wait.
LANGFITT: Why do you think they said that?
WRIGHT: They’re doing what their base wants to hear.
LANGFITT: Pretti was an intensive care nurse. He worked at a VA hospital, looking after people who have defended the United States. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Denton, Maryland.