Adam Minter, Columnist

It's ICE That ‘Engineered Chaos’ In My Minneapolis Community

January 26, 2026 at 6:06 PM UTC

Adam Minter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the business of sports. He is the author, most recently, of “Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale."

Let’s be clear who is doing what.
Photographer: Brandon Bell/Getty Images North America

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On Saturday morning, Border Patrol agents fatally shot Alex Pretti on a busy Minneapolis street. The Trump administration wasted no time in doing a bit of preemptive inoculation.

In a post on X Saturday, Vice President JD Vance claimed that “far left agitators, working with local officials,” had “engineered chaos” in Minneapolis. President Donald Trump echoed the sentiment in a series of social media posts on Sunday, blaming local authorities for refusing to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The messages from the president and vice president were clear: If the city erupts, it won't be ICE’s fault. Responsibility would belong to Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey.