27 Jan 2026

What is ICE and why does it seem to be tearing the USA apart?

From Afternoons, 1:10 pm on 27 January 2026
People mourn at a makeshift memorial in the area where 37-year-old Alex Pretti was shot dead by federal immigration agents earlier in the day in Minneapolis, on 24 January, 2026.

People mourn at a makeshift memorial in the area where 37-year-old Alex Pretti was shot dead by federal immigration agents earlier in the day in Minneapolis, on 24 January, 2026. Photo: AFP/ Roberto Schmidt

Over the last few months there has been consistently heated debate around the tactics, and indeed presence of, immigration agents in the United States.

That debate has reached fever pitch after the death of nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. 

This isn't the first fatal incident involving ICE agents, Alex Pretti is the second US citizen killed in Minneapolis this month. 

So what is going on? And why does it seem that wherever you look there is a different narrative surrounding what took place and who is to blame?

Washington DC correspondent Simon Marks joins Jesse.