Repression is risky for everyone.

It works for authorities when most opponents are deterred from taking visible action. But repression can also provoke greater resistance and undermine support for the repressive agents. Repression polarizes, and how well it works depends upon how many rush to each side of the conflict.

The ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) surge in Minneapolis IS creating tremendous disruption, and has certainly intensified and mobilized opposition to the Trump Administration’s massive deportation project. It’s generated a great deal of conflict wherever ICE goes; it’s also responsible for another murder.

On Saturday morning, Alex Pretti, a nurse who worked in Intensive Care for the Veterans’ Administration, was one of many many many Minnesotans working to deter and monitor ICE activities. Armed with the camera in his phone, Pretti was recording ICE actions.

Note that documenting and projecting unlawful, unpleasant, and unpopular actions is a key social movement strategy. Long ago, documentation was through testimony and journalism. (Look up Ida B. Wells for explanation and a little inspiration.) Words and pictures spread much faster and further now. (Look up Darnella Frasier for an example and a little inspiration.) Observing and documenting law enforcement is a first amendment right, but it comes with risk. (See Nicole M. Bennet’s excellent explanation.)

Alex Pretti was advancing with his phone to help another protesting videographer–ICE had sprayed her with some kind of chemical agent. Video shows ICE agents pushing him back. A scrum of agents overwhelmed Pretti, pushing him to the ground. In the process, they found the other weapon he was carrying, a concealed handgun. (He had a permit.) Agents took the gun and then shot him to death. Over the next few days there is sure to be much more video and a final count of how many shots ICE fired into the man they’d just disarmed.

The Department of Homeland Security’s leader, Kristi Noem, followed the “no angels” trope, blaming Pretti for coming to the protest armed. He was, she said, a “domestic terrorist.” As evidence, she cited his presence at the demonstration. Many Republicans fell in line behind her, but not quite so many so quickly as following ICE’s murder of Renee Good. A few stayed silent, and a few others have issued statements calling for investigation. A federal judge ordered the Federal Department of Justice not to shut local authorities out–as it had for Good’s death. The court also ordered DOJ not to destroy evidence.

The fact that Pretti was armed (legally) has actually helped break and (maybe) build new coalitions. The National Rifle Association issued a statement calling for an investigation and emphasizing the 2nd amendment right to bear arms. Gun Owners of America, a somewhat smaller and more vigorous guns rights organization, condemned the shooting, and also called for an investigation. Advocates for gun rights rarely wind up on the other side of the Trump administration.

(Let’s note that Pretti’s gun didn’t protect him from jackbooted government thugs, a central argument for gun rights fundamentalists. No doubt, guns in the hands of protesters can make policing scarier for law enforcement, but ICE didn’t see the gun until they had Pretti on the ground.)

And there’s more: The US Senate is scheduled to vote on funding the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday: $64.4 billion for DHS, including $10 billion for ICE. Responding to the shooting, Democrats have promised to stall the bill until, at least, some limits on ICE action are included in the legislation. This could mean another government shut down.

The Trump Administration has made martyrs of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, stiffening resistance at home and abroad. There will be more protesters; let’s hope for no more martyrs.