First lady Melania Trump speaks in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo) First Lady Melania Trump has called for unity following the fatal shooting of US citizen Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by a federal agent over the weekend and addressed the unrest in Minnesota over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.
During an interview to Fox News on Tuesday, the first lady mentioned the call between US President Donald Trump and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and said, “We need unity. I’m calling for unity. I know my husband, the president, had a great call yesterday with the governor and the mayor, and they’re working together to make it peaceful and without riots.”
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Pretti, who was among the protesters rallying in Minneapolis against Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, was fatally shot by a Border Patrol officer on Saturday.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has defended the actions of federal agent and said he fired on Pretti in “self-defence”.
However, the DHS account doesn’t matches with the bystanders videos which shows that Pretti had a phone in his hand but the DHS said he had a gun.
Adding to her call for unity, Melania Trump said, “I’m against the violence, so please if you protest, protest in peace. We need to unify in these times.”
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Donald trump had earlier said that he had a “very good” and “very respectful” calls with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. During an interview with 77 WABC Radio, the US president said that if Minneapolis hands over the criminals to authorities, the ongoing immigration operation could end soon.
Trump said, “What we need is their criminals. You know, they have criminals. And all I said, ‘Just give us your criminals. And if you give us the criminals, it all goes away.’ They’re there to pick up murderers.”
The protests in Minneapolis took a violent turn after when a 37-year-old US citizen Renee Good was shot dead by an ICE agent earlier this month.
