Minnesota residents gather at Renee Good, Alex Pretti memorials as federal immigration surge winds down
As federal officials wind down Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, residents gathered at the memorial sites of Renee Good and Alex Pretti Thursday, whose deaths, according to residents, shaped the course of the operation's end.
Border czar Tom Homan announced Thursday at a press conference that the surge in federal immigration officers would conclude.
"I don't want to see any more bloodshed," Homan said.
He said a "significant drawdown" is already underway in the state. But at two memorial sites, marked with flowers, framed photographs and handwritten notes, the mood was more reflective than celebratory.
"I owe it to myself and I owe it to them to pay tribute to these two wonderful people," said 92-year-old Faith Sullivan.
Among those who came to pay respects was Sullivan, who felt compelled to stand with her neighbors.
"I lived through part of the Great Depression. I lived through World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War," Sullivan said. "I have not been through anything like this before, where our own people are fighting us. That's a whole new war."
At the memorial for Good, mourners like Sullivan bowed their heads in silence, reflecting on the deaths of Pretti and Good.
"These were wonderful people, contributing members of our community, a poet, a nurse," Sullivan said. "Something good will come of this and I can't think that you sacrifice your life for nothing good to come of it."
Over at the Pretti memorial, new installments were being put up around the site of Pretti's death. Many reflected on the moment and criticized the federal government's occupation; one of those residents is Grace Polverari.
"It's going to take us a long time for us to recover from this," Polverari said. "We'll probably never recover fully, but I think the connections we made and the community building we've done is going to last forever."
Federal officials said that the drawdown of officers will occur over the next week while investigations into both deaths remain ongoing.