Amid the civil unrest due to anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 60 chief executive officers wrote a letter calling for the lowering of tensions in the city, along with pleas and hopes of returning to normalcy. The business leaders have called for cooperative efforts between Mayor Jacob Frey, Governor Tim Walz, and Trump administration officials in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by a Border Patrol agent on Saturday.
The letter was published by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and signed by the CEOs of companies and organizations such as Target, UnitedHealth Group, U.S. Bancorp, Minnesota’s professional sports teams, the Mayo Clinic, and Land O’Lakes, among others.
“The business community in Minnesota prides itself in providing leadership and solving problems to ensure a strong and vibrant state,” read the letter. “The recent challenges facing our state have created widespread disruption and tragic loss of life. For the past several weeks, representatives of Minnesota’s business community have been working every day behind the scenes with federal, state, and local officials to advance real solutions.”
“These efforts have included close communication with the Governor, the White House, the Vice President, and local mayors,” the CEOs wrote. “There are ways for us to come together to foster progress.”
The CEOs encouraged all parties to work together to find “real solutions” in the aftermath of the shooting. They each called for peace and expressed their desire to “build a bright and prosperous future.”
“With yesterday’s tragic news, we are calling for an immediate deescalation of tensions and for state, local, and federal officials to work together to find real solutions,” read the letter.
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“In this difficult moment for our community, we call for peace and focused cooperation among local, state, and federal leaders to achieve a swift and durable solution that enables families, businesses, our employees, and communities across Minnesota to resume our work to build a bright and prosperous future,” noted the CEOs.
Pretti was killed on Saturday during a confrontation with Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis who were conducting illegal immigration enforcement operations. He is the third person to be shot in Minneapolis this month by federal law enforcement officers during such an activity. Renee Good, a 37-year-old resident of Minneapolis, was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Jan. 7, as the agency was engaged in enforcement activities. Good was the first civilian fatality during illegal immigration enforcement campaigns in the state.