Prominent MAGA advocates including former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines and former Fox News star Megyn Kelly have responded with snark to the death of Alex Pretti, the U.S. citizen who was fatally shot by U.S. Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis this weekend. Gaines wrote on Saturday on social media: “It’s so easy to not get shot by ICE.”
It's so easy to not get shot by ICE
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) January 24, 2026
As seen below, Kelly said: “I know I’m supposed to feel sorry for Alex Pretti but I don’t. I don’t. You know why I wasn’t shot by Border Patrol this weekend? Because I kept my [expletive] inside and out of their operations.” Echoing Gaines, Kelly added, “It’s very simple.”
You chose to be cruel instead of compassionate; to be evil in spirit instead of empathetic; to ignore what God asks us to do—"You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:39. Perhaps Megyn you don’t feel anything for Alex because you don’t feel anything for yourself. https://t.co/e6RV4hMAVR
— Michael Steele (@MichaelSteele) January 27, 2026
Former Chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) Michael Steele replied to Kelly: “You chose to be cruel instead of compassionate; to be evil in spirit instead of empathetic; to ignore what God asks us to do—’You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:39. Perhaps Megyn you don’t feel anything for Alex because you don’t feel anything for yourself.”
Former ESPN Radio host Peter Rosenberg also replied to Kelly: “You’re going to be embarrassed by who you are in public … you make the world more hateful in worse. You think your God would agree with not feeling sorry for a man who cared for veterans and was murdered helping a woman ?? Shame on you.”
The sentiment of Kelly and Gaines echo numerous voices in MAGA media, and also prominent administration voices such as DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who immediately exonerated the federal agents involved in Pretti’s killing and characterized the victim as a “terrorist.”
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller labeled the victim “a domestic terrorist who tried to assassinate law enforcement”.
A domestic terrorist tried to assassinate federal law enforcement and this is your response? You and the state’s entire Democrat leadership team have been flaming the flames of insurrection for the singular purpose of stopping the deportation of illegals who invaded the country. https://t.co/tCQiGKo1Qo
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) January 24, 2026
Notably, the positions taken by Noem and other Trump administration officials differ from what President Trump expressed over the weekend, when — walking back earlier assertions blaming Democrats for Pretti’s death — the President told The Wall Street Journal that the administration is “reviewing everything” concerning the killing.
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