A prominent House Republican suggested that President Donald Trump consider pulling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents out of Minneapolis as the situation can only "get worse" following a second fatal shooting by an officer in the city over the weekend.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer suggested a potential de-escalation if “there’s a chance of losing more … innocent lives,” after Alex Pretti, 37, a registered nurse who worked in the ICU at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, was fatally shot on Saturday (January 24).

“If I were President Trump, I would almost think about, OK, if the mayor and the governor are going to put our ICE officials in harm’s way and there’s a chance of losing more, you know, innocent lives or whatever, then maybe go to another city and let the people of Minneapolis decide, ‘Do we want to continue to have all of these illegals? Are we going to allow our governor, attorney general and mayor to get away with this?’” Comer told FOX News on Sunday (January 25).

Republican Sens. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana also publicly called for an investigation into Pretti's death, warning that the Trump administration's "credibility" was at stake.

"The events in Minneapolis are incredibly disturbing. The credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake. There must be a full joint federal and state investigation. We can trust the American people with the truth," Cassidy wrote on his X account Saturday (January 24).

Ricketts described the shooting as "horrifying" despite confirming that his "support for funding ICE remains the same" in a post shared on his X account.

Trump blasted Minnesota Democrat Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Democrat Mayor Jacob Frey for "inciting" anti-ICE protesters, including Pretti, in a post shared on his Truth Social account on Saturday after the fatal shooting.

“The Mayor and the Governor are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric!” Trump wrote. “These sanctimonious political fools should be looking for the Billions of Dollars that [have] been stolen from the people of Minnesota, and the United States.”

Videos shared online appeared to show Pretti being taken down by multiple ICE agents and disarmed before an officer fired multiple shots during an anti-ICE demonstration in Minneapolis. The incident took place weeks after Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer during a protest in the same city.

Trump acknowledged that Pretti was armed and carrying two extra magazines at the time of his death, while White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller claimed Pretti was a "would-be assassin" who "tried to murder federal law enforcement" and labeled him as a "domestic terrorist" via FOX News. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison demanded that a "full, impartial, and transparent investigation" be held in connection with the shooting while a federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from "destroying or altering" evidence linked to the incident, Axois reports.

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