Manitoba’s premier says he’s reached out to his counterpart in Minnesota again following the killing of another American citizen by federal immigration officials, calling on U.S. President Donald Trump to stop the violence.
Wab Kinew said he sent Governor Tim Walz a message of support and shared his outrage over the death of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse killed by immigration officers in Minneapolis Saturday morning.
“You could be over here. You can even be a Trump supporter. I don’t think anybody wants to see people shot in the middle of the street,” Kinew told reporters during an unrelated news conference Monday.
“I don’t think anybody wants to see people shot in the back. So we got to show support.”
Trump administration officials rushed to defend the shooting over the weekend, saying Border Patrol agents shot the man “defensively” despite bystander videos contradicting that narrative.
Kinew said he hopes American conservatives recognize it’s time for “moral clarity.”
“Mr. Trump, stop killing American citizens,” he said. “The idea of trying to protect Americans from the bad parts of immigration by killing American citizens doesn’t make any sense.”
The comment was in response to a question on what sort of plans the province has to deal with potential U.S. tariffs after Trump threatened to slap a 100 per cent levy on Canadian goods if the country “makes a deal with China.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney said over the weekend the government is not pursuing a free trade agreement with that country.
“We’re going to get a trade deal. We’re going to do business with the U.S.,” Kinew said.
“But we also have to be able to speak with integrity and look at ourselves in the mirror at the end of this. And at a time when we’re seeing terrible things happening like are happening right next to us, we have to speak out.”
Pretti’s death comes two weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three. Protests against a federal immigration crackdown in the U.S. city flared up in the aftermath of the shooting.
Kinew previously said he spoke with Walz shortly after Good was shot, offering to provide whatever assistance it can to the neighbouring U.S. state.
