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tragedy and the Twin Cities hits extremely close to home for us. Alex
Petrie, who was killed by ICE, was one of us. Alex grew up in Wisconsin and over
the past few days, I've been working to learn more about Alex, the life he lived,
the impact he had. And like most of the Wisconsinites I know, Alex was someone
who went out of his way to help others, a role model to many, and kind to everyone.
We're hearing from heartbroken coworkers, former classmates at Preble High School
in Green Bay, and the families of veterans he cared for. As an ICU nurse,
he undoubtedly cared for Wisconsin veterans who crossed the border from
Western Wisconsin to get their care at the Minneapolis VA Hospital. Matt
Randolph described Alex who cared for his father in his final days at the VA as
just the sweetest person you could imagine. Alex's friends from school and choir
programs described him as one of those kids who was liked by everybody and a
confident, diligent, and respectful person. As one classmate told the New York Times,
we just really wanted to be like him because he was cool without trying. And
as an adult, I realized it's because he was kind to everyone. As many people have
now seen, Alex's last act was an act of service, shielding a neighbor who had
been thrown into a snowbank. I want to start where I hope all Americans are when
they see this. And that is heartbroken. Alex should still be alive today. And I
send my deepest condolences to his parents, his loved ones, and everybody
grieving his loss. Alex's death was entirely preventable. And Americans all
have been able to see that clearly for themselves. We watched as ICE agents shot
Alex 10 times, even as Alex laid motionless on the ground. He was not
brandishing his weapon. He was holding his phone to document what was happening to
him and to his community. No matter your politics, what we witnessed this weekend
was horrifying. But it wasn't just horrifying. It was predictable. We've warned
this president for weeks and weeks that sending thousands of masked, armed, and
untrained ICE agents and border patrol into Minneapolis would only create chaos
and make everyone less safe. The Trump administration ignored us, convinced that
the show of force against our neighbors would score them political points. This
violence was predictable. And so was the response that we heard from the White
House. Instead of lowering the temperature and simply calling for an
investigation, Secretary of Homeland Security, Christie Gnome threw gas on the
fire and lied to the American people. Without evidence, she called Alex
Freddie, an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA, a domestic terrorist. She jumped to a
conclusion that fit neatly into the president's narrative, just like she did
with Renee Goode, before we even had all the facts. Secretary Gnome is asking
everyone not to believe their own eyes. And Wisconsinites are smarter than that.
To make matters worse, Christie Gnome and ICE are blocking the local police from
even conducting a real independent investigation. We saw what happened in
Minnesota this weekend, and we have seen what the Trump administration has been
doing for months. ICE agents are arresting, detaining, and even killing American
citizens. Masked agents are ambushing churches, small businesses, and families
at their schools pick up. Border Patrol is profiling Americans based on race and
asking and acting as if they are above the law. The vice president even said they
have an I quote absolute ambiguity. This is not what Wisconsinites want. Just like
the overwhelming majority of my constituents, I support targeted immigration
enforcement that goes after hardened criminals. That is far from what President
Trump and Christie Gnome are doing. They're using thousands of masked agents to act
lawlessly, infringe on Americans' rights, and intimidate American citizens and
communities. There are a few things that need to happen moving forward. There must
be an independent thorough investigation into the killing of Renee Good and Alex
Predi. Like has always happened prior, local law enforcement must be included,
and this cannot be swept under the rug. But that's not enough. Next, Congress needs
to act right now. This week, Congress has government funding bills in front of us,
including funding for the Department of Homeland Security. I've made it clear to my colleagues,
I will not support a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security and ICE,
unless it adds some serious accountability and reigns in this chaos. I refuse to give ICE
and DHS a blank check to keep acting lawlessly, putting Americans' lives at risk and making our
communities less safe. And it's now up to my Republican colleagues to decide if they are
willing to endorse this lawless behavior of the Trump administration or to stand with Americans.
Finally, we need some accountability at the Department of Homeland Security, and that starts
with Christie Noam. Christie Noam has overseen the killing of two Americans in Minneapolis.
That's two out of the three homicides in the city this year.
She's blatantly lied to the American people, telling them not to believe their own eyes.
She's overseeing total and utter chaos in our country, putting more American lives at risk
every day. And that is why she has to go. She needs to be fired or she should resign.
ICE is simply out of control, and this chaos has to stop. And the president needs to pull these
armed masked agents out of Minnesota before someone else gets hurt.
I'll close with this. Alex should still be here. And my heart breaks for his family,
his loved ones, the state of Minnesota, and the Green Bay community grieving his loss.
I will do everything I can to help get justice for Alex and ensure that this does not happen to
anyone else's child. Thank you, and I'll be happy to take your questions.
Thank you, Senator Baldwin. Just a reminder, that question should be submitted to the
chat Q&A function. We will get to as many on topic questions as we can with Senator Baldwin.
If you have any follow-up questions, please direct them to our office via email afterwards.
And we already have a few coming in, so we'll start with this one. Are you willing to risk
another potential government shutdown in order to push for new restrictions on ICE
slash border patrol in order to rein them in? Look, as I've just said, ICE is out of control,
and they are wreaking havoc on American communities, including Minneapolis, St. Paul.
The question is, are my Republican colleagues going to just look the other way, or are they
going to join us in adding accountability measures that rein in ICE? It's as simple as that.
We have two choices. We can either move forward and add accountability, strong accountability
measures to the Homeland Security bill, or they can opt to not do so, and thwart the will of the
American people. And I might add that we have had an overwhelming response from Wisconsinites.
These are people who have emailed me, who have called me. We've never had in about 48 hours,
as many calls and communications as we've had. People want action. I intend to take that action,
and I call on my Republican colleagues to join us.
Thank you, Senator. Another question. You have said you won't support funding for DHS
without clear accountability and stronger controls. What changes need to be made to get you on board?
Look, there are a lot of changes that need to be made. And again, just look at what you've been
seeing with your own eyes happening in Minneapolis and St. Paul. You have 3,000 ICE agents who are
wearing masks, are heavily armed, are often driving unmarked cars, are not showing identification,
do not have body cameras, and are not being investigated when they break the law.
So I can give you a lot of things that need to happen. And these are common sense,
and these are the very things that Wisconsinites are calling in to me and saying,
why aren't they wearing body cameras? Why do they have masks on to obscure their identity?
Why aren't they wearing badges like local law enforcement would wear?
These are the type of things that need to happen. There should not be
masked, armed, untrained, ill-trained federal agents roaming American cities, residential
neighborhoods, schools, places of worship. And you know what? The other thing that I want to emphasize
is accountability. There needs to be independent investigations. You can't sweep this under the
rug and say that the very agency whose agent is accused of homicide is going to do the full
investigation and bar local and state law enforcement of prosecutors from having access
to the evidence. So yes, we have to add a number of provisions to this Department of Homeland Security
bill that funds ICE so that there is accountability and reform and training.
Thank you, Senator. Next question. How should the administration respond to the shooting of
Alex Prettie moving forward? The administration first should fire Christie Noem
or demand that she resign. The administration also needs to not only withdraw this massive
deployment of federal agents to the city of Minneapolis, St. Paul, but they should never be
surging federal agents if not without the request of the governor or a local mayor
who says that they need it. There's so much the Trump administration should be doing among them
demanding that an investigation that is thorough and independent happen whenever there is an
accusation of whether it's homicide or injury or illegal behavior on the part of one of their
federal agents. And that independent investigation has to be with the inclusion of state and or
local law enforcement. They can't investigate themselves. And that's sort of the beginning
of the list of what President Donald Trump can do to deescalate here and get, you know,
put an end to this chaos that is making our communities far less safe, not more.
Great. Thank you, Senator. And then next question we have is, sorry, just going through them here.
Um, yep. So next question we have is, do you think Christie Noem should be impeached?
I've already talked about the fact that she has overseen an agency that has been responsible
for two out of the three homicides in a city this year. She has lied to the American public
about what we've seen with our very own eyes, creating a narrative to her liking,
but not reflecting the truth. If those are not things that should be subject to impeachment,
I don't know what are. She should be fired. She should resign. She has got to go. And if
impeachment is the way to do it, I'd support it. Great. Thank you. And we just have time for
one more question. So we'll end with this one. Have any of your Republican colleagues
voice support for you and other Democrats privately? Well, privately and publicly,
we have seen too few of them stand up. But I will say the call for some oversight
is welcome news. It's not enough at this moment. And I've heard from far too many of my Republican
colleagues, some privately, some publicly who just said, well, I'm not following it closely or
not. I haven't seen the videos. And that is irresponsible in my mind. The bottom line is
this should be such an easy choice. In the Senate this week, we have a series of bills
that fund agencies of government. One of them is the department that funds ICE. We are asking
for accountability, guardrails, and an end to this chaos. And the overwhelming sentiment of the
American people right now is that's what needs to happen. And I ask my Republican colleagues,
don't ignore those voices. Stand with us. Inact these common sense accountability measures.
And let's get on with passing these bills.
Great. Thank you, Senator Baldwin. And thank you to all of the press for joining today's call.
We have recorded it and we will send you the recording shortly after we wrap today.
Thanks everyone and have a good afternoon.