ICE Agents Adopting Military Apparel Raises Questions About Policing Practices

Retired Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling criticized ICE officers and federal agents involved in the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, declaring that their actions were neither reflective of policing nor military service. During an interview on MS NOW’s Morning Joe, Hertling remarked, “From my perspective as a former soldier, I can say they resemble an undisciplined militia, and the leadership is severely lacking.”

Speaking with host Joe Scarborough, Hertling commented that ICE officers “dress as soldiers,” yet lack the discipline and training characteristic of either the military or traditional law enforcement. He criticized their approach, noting that they operate “as if on a battlefield,” using civilian vehicles and maneuvering like assault teams, while treating civilians as adversaries.

“ICE and the Department of Homeland Security don’t fit the mold of military or police,” Hertling asserted. “Their operations are neither policing nor military service—it’s a dangerously undefined role.”

In an article for The Bulwark, Hertling emphasized the responsibility of leaders not just for issuing orders, but also for the conduct they permit. “It seems the leadership of ICE and DHS is turning a blind eye to a great deal,” Hertling wrote.

‘The leadership of ICE and DHS seems to be overlooking quite a lot’

He pointed out a lack of visible efforts to control agents, define mission limits, or enforce standards of restraint. “There’s no evidence of leadership taking proactive steps to circulate through operations like they would on a battlefield,” Hertling noted. “I haven’t seen senior leaders on the ground correcting actions or addressing those who have lost control.”

Describing Pretti’s death as a “horrific tragedy,” Hertling accused the Trump administration of attempting to conceal the incident.

Hertling described the shooting of Pretti, a U.S. citizen, as a “horrific tragedy” and accused the Trump administration of “attempting to cover it up.”

“There is no evidence he was a ‘terrorist’ intent on a ‘massacre’ of law enforcement’”

Increasingly, it seems the public’s view of Trump’s immigration police is turning against the White House, with the shooting deaths of Pretti and Renee Good seen as a turning point. The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial Sunday, said “the Trump Administration spin on this simply isn’t believable. Stephen Miller, the political architect of the mass deportation policy, called Pretti a ‘domestic terrorist.’ He was a nurse without a criminal record.”

The conservative-leaning New York Post urged the president to “de-escalate in Minneapolis” in an editorial Sunday. “The hasty and misleading rhetoric coming out of the administration needs to stop: Any reasonable person who has watched the videos clearly knows by now that Pretti was not ‘waving his gun around.’ And while Pretti was horribly misguided, there is no evidence he was a ‘terrorist’ intent on a ‘massacre’ of law enforcement. Noem should also take a break from her self-promoting and combative TV hits.”

“However noble the mission is to rid the country of the ‘worst of the worst,’” the Post editorial says, “the broad support for it is now ebbing fast. Mr. President, the American people didn’t vote for these scenes, and you can’t continue to order them to not believe their lying eyes.”

MS NOW’s Steve Benen argues that for Trump and his team, the violence playing out on the streets of Minneapolis has exposed the weakness of Trump’s “blame the victim” narrative: video that proves the government’s talking points are false.

“The unbelievable claims were discredited by video evidence and by local officials,” Benen writes. “The president and his team peddled the lines anyway, hoping not only to smear the victim but also to convince Americans not to believe their lying eyes.”