Congressional Candidate Terri Reese Responds to ICE and Congressman Jeff Van Drew

Recently, New Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew offered a statement on ICE and the death of American citizen Alex Pretti.

Atlantic City Focus and Civic Engagement with Raymond Tyler also reached out to Terri Reese, who is running for the Democratic nomination to run against Van Drew.

Here is Reese's Official Statement:

The U.S. government is killing people on American soil and lying about it. 

On January 7, Renée Good, a 37-year-old mother and volunteer watchdog, was shot and killed by a federal ICE agent in Minneapolis. Officials rushed to label it “self-defense,” but bystander videos and independent accounts show the officer firing at close range as she attempted to drive away. Eyewitnesses report that federal agents blocked medics and delayed lifesaving care. New information indicates Renée may have had vital signs for up to eight minutes while medical assistance was denied. 

ICU nurse and U.S. citizen Alex Jeffrey Pretti was pepper-sprayed, tackled, and shot dead by federal agents during protests against the very surge of immigration forces that killed Renée Good. Multiple verified videos show Pretti holding a phone, not a weapon, and being wrestled to the ground before shots were fired. His legally carried firearm was removed from him after he was already on the ground, yet the administration and its defenders continue to portray him as a threat. 

And we cannot forget Keith Porter, shot and killed on New Year’s Eve by an ICE agent outside his own apartment in Los Angeles. Once again, authorities defaulted to a narrative of justification, even as Porter’s family and community members dispute the official story and demand accountability. 

Let that sink in. Three deaths tied to ICE and federal immigration enforcement in less than a month. Each immediately framed to protect the state. In each case, the government's account was contradicted by eyewitness testimony and/or video. Each followed by calls for accountability that have gone unanswered. 

And it does not stop there! 

Every year, dozens of immigrants die in ICE custody and detention centers, often after being denied adequate medical care, legal counsel, and/or due process. In 2025 alone, at least 30 people died while detained by ICE, the highest number in more than two decades, even as the detainee population surged. 

Human rights advocates and medical experts have repeatedly found that many of these deaths could have been prevented with proper medical care and oversight. People who have not been convicted of any crime are warehoused in government detention camps and left to suffer and die behind bureaucratic walls, invisible to the public and shielded from scrutiny. 

And then comes the political cover. 

Our own Congressman, Jeff Van Drew, claims that because Alex Pretti had a firearm on his person and a legal concealed-carry permit, he could not have been peaceful. That argument is hollow and dangerous. Americans exercising their First Amendment rights are being met not with de-escalation, but with militarized federal force.

These agents receive limited, expedited training and are lured with massive financial incentives, including $50,000 sign-on bonuses and $100,000+ salaries, to carry out domestic enforcement actions that include breaking into homes and using deadly force, all with little to no accountability. They are being taught, implicitly and explicitly, that they are above the law. That constitutional rights are optional. That killing comes without consequence. [The Supreme Court has ruled that ICE can profile individuals]

What we are witnessing is not new. Throughout U.S. history, those in power have used violence to crush dissent whenever they feared losing control, during slavery, labor uprisings, the suffragette movement, the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War. This administration’s violent crackdown on protest and political opposition follows that same shameful pattern. 

History shows us that real change has never come from silence or compliance. It comes when ordinary people refuse to accept injustice as the cost of order. I support the growing calls for collective action and mass resistance to state violence, because democracy does not survive without it. 

How many more people must die before we call this what it is, state-sanctioned violence against its own people? 

How many more immigrants must die in custody without due process? 

How many more officials will excuse it? 

We see the videos. 

We hear the eyewitnesses. 

We demand accountability. 

And we will not be silenced.

Thanks for reading the whole story!

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