Shockwaves from the shooting death of an anti-ICE Minneapolis protester over the weekend are reverberating throughout the Republican Party and even dividing conservative leaders within Florida — the most ICE-friendly state in the nation.

The cracks in the resounding GOP support for the Department of Homeland Security are both rare and a first under President Donald Trump, whose promise of mass deportations helped him win in November 2024. But the tactics employed to carry out that agenda have begun to raise concerns, even among the president’s most ardent of supporters.

“Distorting, politicizing, slandering — justifying what happened to Alex Pretti contradicts the American values the administration campaigned on,” Republican state Sen. Ileana Garcia posted on social media Monday morning. The Miamian co-founded “Latinas for Trump” in 2016.

“He was neither a domestic terrorist nor an assassin. … Allowing individuals like Stephen Miller, among others, who represent the government and make hard-line decisions, to make such comments will have long-term consequences,” she warned. “This is not what I voted for!”

This is the second time Garcia, the daughter of Cuban exiles, has criticized the Trump administration’s actions on undocumented immigration. In June, she similarly blasted Trump’s homeland security adviser, Miller, for his “inhumane” approach to mass deportations.

Other Republicans like U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar offered more muted criticisms.

“Washington’s failure on immigration is hitting our streets. Minneapolis is the result of Washington refusing to fix a broken immigration system and continuing to enforce outdated laws,” she wrote on social media, calling for an end to “chaos” and “tragedy.”

“There is precisely one bipartisan bill … that revamps our immigration system, including ICE enforcement policy, so they don’t need to be out in large-scale operations in our communities,” she added.

Florida Republicans have long-touted how the Sunshine State is the most friendly in the nation to Trump’s mass deportation agenda. This includes multiple state-run migrant detention centers, all 67 counties partnering with ICE, and laws (although contested) preventing undocumented immigrants from entering the state.

What happened?

On Saturday, 37-year-old VA ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed during a struggle with Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis. Pretti, who had a revolver stowed in his belt, approached an officer while recording. The agent had just shoved a woman to the ground, videos show.

Pretti was quickly swarmed by five officers. According to video footage, one officer appears to take Pretti’s revolver out of his waistband before another discharges his weapon and kills him.

DHS offered another version of events.

“An individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. The officers attempted to disarm the suspect, but the armed suspect reacted violently,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem claimed.

This was the second videoed death of an ICE protester in Minneapolis in a matter of weeks. On Jan. 7, 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by ICE while fleeing in her vehicle. Officials say she was attempting to run over an agent with her car, prompting the lethal action.

Growing call for action

Garcia isn’t the only Republican demanding answers. U.S. Rep. Andrew Garbarino, a New York Republican chairing the House Homeland Security Committee, is requesting ICE and CBP testify in front of his panel.

Other congressional members from Texas, North Carolina, Louisiana, Maine, and Alaska are also calling for an investigation. Even Sen. Pete Ricketts, a Nebraska Republican and staunch Trump supporter, has asked for a “transparent investigation.” Others like the National Rifle Association have criticized the administration in the surrounding chatter of Pretti’s death.

This came after FBI Director Kash Patel claimed, “You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest.” That’s false, and the NRA said as much.

But not all Republicans are breaking ranks. Gov. Ron DeSantis blamed Minnesota’s Democratic leadership for its “toxic environment,” although he didn’t mention Pretti’s death specifically. His office did not respond to a request for comment on Pretti.

“What we’re not doing is what people like [Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz] and what this Mayor are doing, which is basically trying to sabotage the enforcement operations,” DeSantis said during an unrelated press conference Monday morning. “
They’re creating a toxic environment where they’re really inciting people to go out and show hostility to the agents who are doing this. That is not a recipe for success. That is not the way that you do business.”

Pretti’s death has even been reflected into the looming Florida gubernatorial race. Democrat David Jolly, a former Republican member of Congress, called the shooting a “murder” and demanded Noem be removed from her post.

“We know what we saw. An American citizen practicing civil disobedience was disarmed and then shot 10 times in the street, and his body lay lifeless and he was murdered,” Jolly said during a campaign event, Florida Today reported.

But his opponent and favored candidate to replace DeSantis, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, saw the situation differently. On an appearance with Fox News, Donalds — endorsed by Trump — apologized to immigration agents for “having to deal with all these protests.”

“We stand behind you, we want you to continue to do your job on behalf of the United States of America,” he said.

A debate on racism, sexism, and in-context quotations erupted Tuesday over a bill that would make Charlie Kirk only the second person — after Ronald Reagan — to be comemmorated in Florida statute.

Republican Sen. Jonathan Martin would memorialize Kirk’s birthday, Oct. 14, as “Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance.” It comes three months after Kirk, a 31-year-old podcaster and right-wing debater, was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University.

It would slate him alongside Reagan as the only two people to have a special observance day in Florida law. Unlike holidays, observance days don’t allow for time off from school or work, and are generally just a day of recognition for a figure or event.

“I think that anybody who saw the video of Charlie Kirk getting — at his last speech, his last rally … ” Martin said before the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee, appearing to get choked up as he took a lengthy pause and cleared his throat. “… Would agree that it’s important to remember somebody who lived a peaceful life.”

He continued, “I think that Ronald Reagan would be 100% OK with a Charlie Kirk Remembrance Day in the state of Florida.”

Following Kirk’s assassination on Sep. 10, Vice President J.D. Vance canceled his 9/11 memorial visit to fly out west. A week later, President Donald Trump and top Cabinet members spoke at his memorial service, held at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

The political ramifications were massive. Teachers nationwide were suspended or fired for either applauding Kirk’s death or publicly claiming he was hateful. Some in the Trump administration, along with all of the Florida Cabinet, supported visa revocations for visa holders celebrating his death.

In Florida, pro-Kirk bills flooded in. Aside from Martin’s legislation, Rep. Kevin Steele — a candidate for chief financial officer — is sponsoring a measure to rename a road at every state university after Kirk. Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez and Rep. Juan Porras have proposed a “Charlie Kirk Memorial Avenue” in Miami-Dade County. And Rep. Yvette Benarroch is carrying an identical form of Martin’s bill in the House.

‘Does not deserve the honor’

Although Martin emphasized that his bill was designed to signal to Floridians that political violence is wrong, Democrats raised serious concerns about some of Kirk’s comments — which Martin claimed were “spliced” and out-of-context.

They included quotes deriding Michelle Obama, Joy Reid, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Ketanji Brown Jackson as lacking “the brain processing power” to be taken seriously; claiming “prowling Blacks” target white Americans; questioning whether certain Black people received a job because of affirmative action; asking Taylor Swift to “submit” to Travis Kelce; and suggesting some gun deaths might be worth it to keep the Second Amendment “to protect our other God-given rights.”

“If you have to go through such mental and verbal gymnastics to explain away what this man said, how does he deserve a day of remembrance?” Sen. Tina Polsky asked.

“He was a provocateur. He was a podcaster. He did go on these college campuses, and it’s great that he was debating with people — that’s what we do all the time, that’s fine. But he’s still responsible for his own statements, no matter how you try to justify it,” she continued. “He does not deserve this honor.”

The bill passed along party lines, and will advance to the Education Postsecondary Committee.

“I went back and watched the debates,” Martin said. “If you look at the context, there’s not a single thing that he said that would disgust any reasonable American. … I don’t arrive at the same conclusion that those in the media that were trying to attack Charlie arrived at.”