Topline
A growing list of billionaires, including Bruce Springsteen and Melinda French Gates, have commented on the death of Alex Pretti, days after the 37-year-old nurse became the second American citizen to be killed by federal agents this month in Minnesota.
Flowers are left at a makeshift memorial in the area where Alex Pretti was shot dead a day earlier by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
Springsteen released a song Wednesday titled “Streets Of Minnesota,” which he dedicated to Pretti, Renee Good, Minnesotans and “our innocent neighbors.”
In the song, he referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as “Trump’s federal thugs,” singing, “Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice. Crying through the bloody mist. We’ll remember the names of those who died. On the streets of Minneapolis.”
LinkedIn cofounder and Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman said now is the time for business leaders to speak up: “The theory that if you just keep your mouth shut, the storm will blow over and it won’t be a problem — you should be disabused of that theory now,” Hoffman said on a Tuesday podcast, according to Business Insider.
In a post on X, Gates, the ex-wife of Bill Gates, called the killings of Pretti and Renee Good “unconscionable” and said they were weighing heavily on “so many of our hearts.”
She said Americans should not have to be afraid of losing their life while peacefully protesting, writing, “There is nothing more American than exercising our rights and holding our government accountable. Our democracy depends on it.”
On X, hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio said the world is “watching to see which side will back down” following the recent Minneapolis killings: “Many people are waiting to see whether President Trump will continue to fight, which I believe would risk pushing us over the brink into a more clear civil war, or if he will make an attempt to pull us back from the brink by appealing for peace, promising and showing that the justice system will handle the shootings appropriately, and curtail ICE activities.”
Anthropic has some government contracts, but CEO Dario Amodei told NBC News recent events don’t “make (him) more enthusiastic” about ever working with ICE, writing on X that the Minnesota incidents have been horrific.
She said Americans should not have to be afraid of losing their life while peacefully protesting, writing, “There is nothing more American than exercising our rights and holding our government accountable. Our democracy depends on it.”
Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, said in an internal Slack message that he felt Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis were going “too far,” according to The New York Times.
He called President Donald Trump a “very strong leader” he expects will unite the country but told his employees it is part of “the American duty to push back against overreach.”
Businessman and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla described the Trump administration as being “conscious-less,” writing on X that the video of Pretti’s killing was “sickening to watch and the storytelling without facts or with invented fictitious facts by authorities almost unimaginable in a civilized society. ICE personnel must have ice water running thru their veins to treat other human beings this way. There is politics but humanity should transcend that.”
Anthropic cofounder Chris Olah said “recent events … shock the conscience,” writing on X that he feels “very sad” over Pretti’s death: “My deep loyalty is to the principles of classical liberal democracy: freedom of speech, the rule of law, the dignity of the human person. I immigrated to the United States – and eventually cofounded Anthropic here – believing it was a pillar of these principles.”
Tangent
Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, a pro-Trump commentator, donated $10,000 to the family of Pretti, according to the Wall Street Journal. His donation comes weeks after a controversial donation of $10,000 to support Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who fatally shot Good. At the time, Ackman said he would also donate money to Good’s family. “I don’t agree with the Gofundme that (Pretti) is an American hero, but his loss is tragic for him and his family,” Ackman wrote on X.
Key Background
In the days since Pretti was fatally shot by federal immigration agents, localized anger quickly expanded into broader opposition to ICE’s presence and tactics in Minnesota. Pretti’s killing has sparked large protests and solidarity rallies across the U.S., with demonstrators demanding accountability and an end to what they view as excessive federal enforcement. Pretti and Good’s killings have led to renewed support for ICE to be abolished or defunded, even among some Republican leaders. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., is among the Republicans who have condemned the killings, saying their deaths “show what the country has been doing is not working.”
