Critics Say CBP’s History of Excessive Force Left Agents Unprepared for Minnesota

Lead

Federal immigration agents deployed to Minneapolis in January 2026 have faced intense public backlash after two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens and widespread unrest. President Trump replaced Operation commander Gregory Bovino and sent Border Czar Tom Homan to oversee the response, but critics say leadership changes do not address a deeper problem: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers lack urban policing and crowd-control experience. Video and eyewitness accounts show heavy reliance on chemical irritants such as pepper spray during demonstrations, and one of the fatalities was 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti. State leaders and policing experts warn that tactics developed for remote border environments do not translate safely to dense city protests.

Key Takeaways

• Roughly 3,000 federal agents were deployed to Minnesota; CBP appears to be the largest single contingent among them.
• Two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens by federal agents sparked the deployment controversy; one victim identified as Alex Pretti, 37, an intensive care nurse.
• President Trump removed operation commander Gregory Bovino and sent Tom Homan to lead the surge in response to public outcry.
• Academic research based on interviews with more than 90 CBP officers finds a border-centric mindset shaped by remote, desert operations.
• A 2013 external review criticized CBP deadly-force decisions and the agency added less-lethal options (including pepper spray) to its handbook in 2014.
• Videos from Minneapolis show frequent use of sprays and chemical irritants; some observers say these measures escalated confrontations rather than calming them.
• Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said federal agents overlooked a separate non-citizen with a serious criminal record while focused on Minneapolis protests.
• Federal officials cite a new enforcement environment—large crowds that attempt to deter arrests—and guidance from Justice Department memos that list potential charges for impeding federal officers.

Background

CBP’s core mission has long centered on border security, interdiction and arrests in remote or rural terrain. Officers frequently describe training and daily duties tailored to patrols of wide-open spaces and large control zones, where engagement dynamics differ sharply from dense urban settings. That operational history matters: training, standard operating procedures, and institutional culture reinforce tactics suited to border contexts rather than metropolitan crowd management.

Concerns about CBP use of force are not new. A 2013 external review examined multiple incidents and concluded that several shootings raised questions about the objective reasonableness of deadly force. The agency updated guidance in subsequent years; a notable change in 2014 added less-lethal options such as chemical sprays to the handbook and signaled an intent to expand alternatives to firearms.

Main Event

In January 2026, waves of demonstrators and observers gathered in Minneapolis as federal officers executed immigration operations. Video from protests—one photo dated Jan. 11, 2026—shows agents using pepper spray and other irritants to disperse crowds and create space for arrests. In at least one sequence, the use of spray preceded a chaotic interaction that ended in a fatal shooting.

The political fallout intensified after two U.S. citizens were killed by federal agents during the missions. One death, that of nurse Alex Pretti, drew particular public attention because of the victim’s occupation and the circumstances that preceded the shooting. Local leaders and residents demanded answers as protests and confrontations continued.

Federal officials moved quickly to reorganize command. Gregory Bovino, the operation commander, was removed and Border Czar Tom Homan was dispatched to Minnesota. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott told national media that officers were trained primarily to arrest suspects and that the current environment—where protesters shadow agents and warn people of potential arrests—represented an unfamiliar operational challenge.

Governor Tim Walz publicly criticized the federal presence for diverting resources from other enforcement priorities, saying agents had failed to take into custody a non-citizen with a serious criminal record while focusing on the metro-area operations. Walz said he discussed the situation with the president, who indicated he would consider reducing the federal footprint in Minnesota.

Analysis & Implications

Training and mission alignment matter for public safety. CBP’s historical focus on remote-border interdiction has produced doctrine, equipment choices and a use-of-force mindset suited for different tactical problems than those posed by urban demonstrations. When an agency built around border patrols is placed into close-quarter crowd environments, predictable gaps appear in crowd-control tactics, communications, and medical care obligations that accompany less-lethal measures.

Less-lethal tools such as pepper spray can be effective when used selectively and with a clear duty of care. But former law-enforcement instructors and veteran officers warn that chemical agents can incapacitate people who then become vulnerable to secondary harms, including traffic accidents or falls. Those risks increase in dense urban settings where bystanders, vehicles and constrained sightlines multiply potential consequences.

There are legal and policy dimensions to consider. Recent Justice Department guidance listing potential charges for obstructing federal officers may shift how some agents perceive protest activity, potentially increasing arrests or more aggressive enforcement against demonstrators. At the same time, state leaders emphasize that local policing responsibilities and community relations are essential to maintaining public order in cities.

Politically, the episode has strained federal-state relations. If the federal government reduces its presence, enforcement patterns and immigration outcomes in Minnesota will likely change; if the federal footprint remains large, expect sustained legal challenges, oversight inquiries and scrutiny of training records and after-action reporting.

Comparison & Data

The simple timeline above highlights three institutional milestones often cited in commentary: the 2013 review that raised force concerns, the 2014 policy expansion to include less-lethal tools, and the 2026 Minnesota deployment that exposed tensions between those policies and on-the-ground realities. Analysts say the sequence shows policy changes without commensurate shifts in training emphasis for urban, mass-crowd contexts.

Reactions & Quotes

“The skills these officers bring are a mismatch for city crowd control,”

Irene Vega, UC Irvine (associate professor, sociology)

Vega, who interviewed more than 90 CBP officers as part of her research, says many agents described themselves as trained for remote border patrol—an outlook that shapes expectations about use of force and acceptable tactical options.

“If you incapacitate someone, you have a duty of care,”

Leon Taylor (retired Baltimore police officer)

Taylor and other former officers watching the Minneapolis footage argued that deploying chemical agents carries medical and safety obligations that appear to have been overlooked in several confrontations.

“We teach emotional intelligence and self-regulation,”

David “Kawika” Lau (former FLETC instructor)

Lau, who helped shape de-escalation curricula at federal training centers, said one-on-one de-escalation training exists but may not scale to noisy, crowded protests where different crowd-control tactics and medical plans are required.

Unconfirmed

• Whether the use of pepper spray directly contributed to Alex Pretti’s death remains under official investigation and has not been established publicly.
• Exact counts of CBP officers with formal urban crowd-control certification in the Minnesota deployment have not been released by federal agencies.
• Claims that local leaders explicitly instructed residents to obstruct federal arrests are reported in media accounts but lack corroborating public directives from city or state offices.

Bottom Line

The Minnesota deployment revealed a structural mismatch: an agency trained for border operations pressed into urban crowd-control roles without clear, scaled training or operational doctrine for that environment. Short-term leadership changes answer political pressure but do not, by themselves, remedy training gaps or cultural assumptions built up over years of border-focused operations.

Expect sustained oversight, litigation and policy debate. Officials can reduce immediate tensions by clarifying rules of engagement, committing to targeted urban-crowd training, improving medical contingency plans for less-lethal tactics, and increasing transparent after-action reporting. For communities and policymakers, the central question is whether federal immigration enforcement can adapt its methods quickly enough to operate safely and accountably in American cities.

Sources

• NPR (news report summarizing investigation and reporting)
• Associated Press (news/photo agency; image from Jan. 11, 2026 demonstration)
• DHS Office of Inspector General (official oversight portal with historical reviews of CBP use-of-force)