MAGA actor Dean Cain, best known for his starring role as the titular superhero in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, was slammed after speaking to TMZ to defend ICE after agents shot and killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis over the weekend.
Calls for an investigation have intensified from across the political spectrum after analysis of multiple videos showed ICE officers removing a handgun from Pretti—a weapon that authorities said Pretti was permitted to carry but was not handling at the time—before fatally shooting him.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other officials claimed Pretti had brandished a weapon and that agents fired “defensive shots,” assertions that have been contradicted by video evidence showing Pretti holding a phone and not brandishing a gun.
The Trump administration has tried to convince the public not to believe what they see with their own eyes, prompting critics to call out the hypocrisy of officials who've previously praised armed right-wing protesters but are now criticizing Pretti, a legal gun owner with a valid Minnesota concealed-carry permit.
Cain defended ICE despite this, saying the agency and Border Patrol are "getting tremendous abuse":
"I don't know all of the events leading up to this moment. I do know that law enforcement, certainly ICE and Border Patrol, have been under a tremendous amount of pressure and attacks, and they're getting tremendous abuse from what I completely believe is 100 percent organized opposition."
He argued that without being on the scene alongside the agents, it’s difficult to fully grasp why they used force:
“But if someone is committing a felony, which would be obstructing law enforcement, ICE, federal agents from doing their job, impeding and obstructing, that’s a felony and perhaps they were just trying to take him down at that point in time.”
“He [Pretti] certainly wasn’t there just being a peaceful protester and it was a very bad idea to engage physically with federal law enforcement while armed.”
When TMZ founder and managing editor Harvey Levin challenged Cain’s account, saying Pretti appeared to be assisting two women who agents had knocked to the ground, Cain replied:
“How many times had he had communication with law enforcement and officers before that moment? Why was he standing in the middle of the street? There’s a lot of questions that need to be answered. He may have been impeding — he may have become himself a target just for standing in front of ICE vehicles. I don’t know.”
When Levin pressed Cain on remarks from Noem claiming Pretti had “brandished a gun,” Immigration Chief Gregory Bovino alleging he was “trying to massacre officers,” and White House adviser Stephen Miller calling him a “domestic terrorist,” Cain said he was unaware of “that rhetoric":
“I’m not aware of that rhetoric, and it doesn’t sound like it’s helping tamp down the temperature. But I don’t know specifically what they were referring to, or what information Kristi Noem has — obviously, I will be working for her, and I do believe in her very much.”
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Cain was swiftly criticized.
Cain made headlines last year when he took to social media to announce he's joined ICE to participate in the Trump administration's nationwide immigration crackdown.
Cain said in a video message that he "felt it was important to join with our first responders to help secure the safety of all Americans, not just talk about it, so I joined up."
The actor urged people to sign up, telling them that those interested "can defend your homeland and get great benefits, like a $50,000 signing bonus, student loan repayment, retirement benefits, and special pay for those in the field operations and law enforcement roles."
Critics have accused Cain of hypocrisy, saying he is aligning himself with racists despite his ancestry. Cain has previously told reporters that several members of his family were interned at the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho during the Japanese American internment.
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