Changed for Good: Americans on ICE

Will the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota be the catalyst to dismantle or reimagine ICE in the United States? Mayor Jacob Frey seems to think so, and Americans across party lines are demanding answers about ICE's recent actions in Minneapolis. As the U.S. grapples with ICE, we're also faced with the ongoing debate over ice further north: Greenland. What is the Davos Greenland deal, and which negotiating parties have the upper hand? We're talking about ICE and ice today on The Friday Brief, with a side of World War II history Germans want us to remember. 

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Transcript

Welcome to The Friday Brief, a news podcast by Girl Friday. I’m Phoenix Ricks, the CEO of Girl Friday and your host. This is your brief for January 26, 2026. If you’re in the U.S. region hit by the storm, I hope you’re staying safe and warm. I’m still snowed in, like many of you. 

News in the U.S. right now is all about ice, from storms to shootings. Minnesota wants ICE, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, out of the state. If you’re unfamiliar with U.S. geography, Minnesota is in the north. To the northeast, it shares a mostly water border with Ontario. To the northwest, it borders Manitoba. U.S. states border Minnesota on the south, east, and west. Minneapolis, where protests against ICE are taking place, is in the southern half of the state. It is closer to Iowa and Wisconsin than to an international border. And yet, they have been overrun by border agents who claim to be ridding the city of criminals who are in the U.S. illegally. In the process, though, two U.S. citizens have been killed in broad daylight, on camera, with no justification. Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot in her car, and Alex Pretti was killed on the street, after trying to protect a woman from some kind of spray ICE was allegedly aiming at people. CNN reported that Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol official, said of Alex Pretti, “The suspect did bring a weapon, a loaded nine-millimeter high-capacity handgun, to a riot.” He said Pretti “was in the scene actively impeding and assaulting law enforcement,” and added that his agents were “the victims.” 

If you haven’t seen images of Gregory Bovino, let me add here that his aesthetic choices have alarmed the German media. Here’s one quote from Süddeutsche Zeitung: “Bovino’s outfits complete the Nazi look: a closely cropped haircut, as if he had taken a photo of Ernst Röhm to the barber.” Here's a quick World War II recap on Ernst Röhm. He co-founded the Nazi’s first paramilitary wing, which helped Hitler gain power. But Germans who see Röhm in Bovino aren’t just talking about his uncanny hair and clothing decisions. Ernst Röhm’s paramilitary group, the Sturmabteilung, better known as the SA, the “Brownshirts,” or the “Stormtroopers,” staged chaos, attacked political opponents, and enacted street-level violence. Eventually, as is common among power-hungry people with violent ideas, he was on the outs with the party he helped build through brute force. He was assassinated by his former friends during the Night of the Long Knives. His original Stormtroopers fell from grace, and something more ferocious emerged as the dominant paramilitary wing: the SS. 

Now, back to the present day, I’ve watched the footage of Alex Pretti from multiple bystander perspectives. First, there’s no riot. Secondly, Pretti clearly steps in to protect a woman and is then tackled to the ground by a swarm of officers. One officer, as you can see in the verified footage The Washington Post shared, takes Pretti’s handgun from his waist area. A handgun, I might add, that Pretti was legally entitled to carry in Minneapolis. Another officer then fires on Pretti, multiple times, killing him, while he is unarmed, and lying prone on the ground with his hands clearly visible. As you can imagine, Americans across the country have reacted to the footage. People are asking about their 2nd amendment rights to carry weapons when legally permitted. People are questioning ICE’s training and the U.S. government’s responses to ICE’s actions. 

Because what’s happening now is eerie. Americans are being asked not to believe what we see in verified videos. If this happened in another nation, the U.S. government would quickly condemn state-sponsored violence against civilians. I know because I have drafted and published those statements. We must not shy away from using that direct and precise language now, just because it happened here. If this happened somewhere else and that government tried to deny the footage to spin a narrative in its favor, our government would call that out as an attack on the press’s ability to report the truth freely. In honor of the brave bystanders who kept filming even after the shots were fired and in support of the journalists who verified their videos and published the footage, we must hold firm to the truth. A free press is the foundation of our U.S. democracy. 

I’ve worked on U.S. government-led campaigns to counter foreign propaganda and disinformation. One of the easiest ways to collapse a state is to control the idea of truth. People are easily led if they can be convinced that the truth is not real. That happens even faster when people are hyperpartisan and likely to follow their political ideologies off a cliff without a parachute. There are Americans who think January 6th did not happen. You may have friends, family, and neighbors who believe that the police officers who were brutalized by rioters at the U.S. Capitol are paid actors. You may have colleagues who will believe that what’s happening to Americans in Minnesota is justifiable or even fake. Over the past 10 years, our understanding of truth has eroded, and we have decamped to different corners of social media that reinforce our opinions rather than facts. It is essential that all Americans see what is happening in Minnesota, because it will not end there unless we work together, across party lines and beliefs, to stabilize our democracy. 

Doing so will help the U.S. at home and abroad. Because we've got icy problems elsewhere. Namely, Greenland. Last week in Davos, world leaders met to accomplish very little. Mark Rutte, the head of NATO, acted as the ringmaster of the most chaotic diplomatic negotiation I've seen in recent history. Throughout Davos, he defended Trump’s relationship with the European Union, especially on defense spending. As you can imagine, he received only polite claps, but his public statements were likely part of his broader strategy regarding Greenland, not a play for a standing ovation. MSNow reported that European officials were perhaps blindsided by Rutte’s side deals with Trump on Greenland, which, contrary to some U.S. statements, did not address Greenland’s sovereignty.

PBS reported that a NATO spokesperson confirmed this, saying, Rutte "did not propose any compromise to sovereignty during his meeting with President Trump.” The purpose of the meeting was “ensuring that Russia and China never gain a foothold - economically or militarily - in Greenland." As one European diplomat told MSNow, people were grateful that Rutte ensured the U.S. would not enter Greenland by force, as security is part of his job as NATO secretary-general. The confusion over his conversation with the U.S. lies in the economic and sovereignty side of the Greenland negotiation, which Rutte technically does not control without Denmark’s approval. The much-talked-about Davos Greenland deal has put Denmark’s leaders and Greenland’s leaders in the position of having to again affirm that they are not handing over Greenland in whole or in part to the United States. A Danish Defense spokesperson told Military.com that “Greenland’s status is not negotiable,” and any deal will be made within the existing constitutional and NATO frameworks. 

Now I want you to compare statements from NATO and Denmark to what Trump posted on Truth Social. He wrote, “Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region.” PBS added that Trump said the deal would give the U.S. "total access" to Greenland. So, you can see why there’s so much chaos about this alleged deal. Reading between the lines of Denmark’s ultradiplomatic statements, what Denmark basically said in reply is that the Davos-deal might as well have been written in crayon on a napkin because when it comes to “total access,” that will continue to be determined by Greenland and Denmark. 

I keep saying this on LinkedIn and Instagram: more leaders need to follow Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. This woman is giving a masterclass on political boundaries, security measures, and diplomatic negotiations. If “I said what I said” were a person, it would be Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. I’ve been part of trade negotiations and watched this play out on imports and exports. I was thrown into that world with very little preparation, outside of arriving with a healthy dose of enthusiasm for learning and a solid foundation in diplomatic strategy. I learned quickly that coalition members can undermine agreements while smiling in your face, and that your Plans B, C, and D will always be necessary if you don’t have the tenacity to hold firm to Plan A. The other parties know you have options you can put on the table. They are just waiting to see what you do. It's like playing Mahjong, and Prime Minister Frederiksen is holding onto critical tiles she knows others need while she builds her lines to win. I would strongly encourage other leaders, including business leaders, to negotiate with this U.S. administration in this manner. 

What Mark Rutte is doing has yielded some successes, but could be counterproductive if this U.S. administration ever feels he is not in total command of the other NATO leaders. Think about Maria Machado’s bid to lead Venezuela. How’s that going for her? Last I checked, she’s down a Nobel prize and up one ally: the exiled prince of Iran. So yeah, it's not going well. This U.S. administration aligns itself with the perception of total authority. Once a partner is perceived to lack power, they fall out of favor. Trump and his inner circle are more likely to change their tune about a former opponent than prop up someone they believe is powerless. I could give you so many examples, but the most recent one is on camera. Think back to those images of Donald Trump and (then) mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the White House. Everyone predicted that it would be a tense meeting, like the infamous Oval Office showdown between Trump, Vance, and Zelenskyy. But that didn’t happen. Mamdani did not back down on anything; he smiled, laughed, and maintained his positions. You know who else couldn’t stop grinning? Trump. Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, is deploying a similar strategy to Mamdani's. He's winning over Americans who agree ICE should not be patrolling our cities, taking children from their homes, and killing people with the legal right to carry a weapon. I think he would maintain those positions in a White House meeting. 

There are times when coddling and praise are truly effective negotiating tactics, but I don’t think that’s the case with this U.S. administration on key domestic or foreign issues. World leaders would be wise to follow Mette's lead, because she’s got the best Mahjong strategy: a charm offensive at the table supported by a concealed hand. It will always melt the ice in a negotiation. 

Thank you for listening to The Friday Brief. Be sure to follow The Friday Brief on Instagram. Until next time, I’m Phoenix Ricks, signing off from Washington, DC. Let’s work together for a world of good.