Rand Paul slams DHS and ICE over Minneapolis shootings, urges officials to ‘restore trust’

PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA: Sen Rand Paul, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement must “restore trust” following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. 

Paul, speaking on '60 Minutes,' criticized the Trump administration’s handling of the incidents and scheduled a public hearing in Minneapolis to examine what happened. He said he does not trust the administration’s investigation after top officials failed to tell the truth about the shootings.

Rand Paul’s critique of DHS, ICE and Minneapolis shootings

Paul told correspondent Scott Pelley that questions of “Who can you kill?” and “when can you kill them?” were central after the deaths of Good and Pretti at the hands of Department of Homeland Security officers.

Paul said he watched video of the Pretti killing multiple times and saw no evidence that he was assaulting officers. He described Pretti as retreating to the side of the street and later trying to help a woman being pushed down when federal agents grabbed him from behind.

Paul said that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s characterization of Pretti as a "domestic t*rrorist" who attacked federal officers was not supported by what he saw in the video. 

He added that misstatements by other government officials, including the commander of the Border Patrol operation and others who labeled Pretti as a violent threat, reflected poor judgment and “incorrect conclusions” that damaged trust.

The senator acknowledged the lack of trust in federal law enforcement, saying “without question” trust is broken. He emphasized that the Minneapolis operation, which deployed roughly 3,000 Border Patrol and ICE officers, five times the size of the local police led to inflamed tensions.

Protesters clashed with agents, blowing whistles, blocking streets, and pushing against what Paul described as the limits of the First Amendment right to peaceably assemble. Paul also noted that residents of Minneapolis and officials there have resisted cooperation with federal authorities, complicating efforts to restore confidence. 

Investigation, accountability, and restoring trust according to Rand Paul

While he criticized certain actions and rhetoric by the administration and federal agents, Paul said the way forward includes holding hearings and examining testimony from responsible officials, who are scheduled to testify on February 12.

Paul said that the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, which is reviewing the Pretti shooting, has been significantly weakened, losing over 75% of career nonpartisan attorneys. 

He and others interviewed questioned the transparency and coordination of the federal investigation, noting that state investigators have been largely shut out. The lack of shared evidence between federal and state investigators, according to experts cited in the segment, sends a message that federal agents are above the law and undermines public confidence in rule of law.

Paul also said that while protest is not illegal, he would advise against actions like spitting on police or escalating confrontations. He said that de‑escalation by all sides could have prevented the violence in Minneapolis and that there were “off‑ramps” that neither side chose. 

In the  segment, he also indicated that independent investigation and full transparency, including the release of officers’ camera footage, are needed to rebuild trust in the DHS and its enforcement components.