As might have been predicted, the legacy media has, like clockwork, framed Alex Pretti’s death through an anti-Trump lens.

Instead of interrogating why Pretti put himself in harm’s way to impede federal officers and shield a criminal (more on all that in a moment), regime-aligned outlets have largely focussed on lionising Pretti, even framing him in martyr-like terms.

The taxpayer-funded ABC has led the charge on this front, having already published 21 reports (and counting) that depict Pretti as a kind-hearted ICU nurse who loved his dog and the outdoors, while dismissing official reports about his death from the Trump administration.

In the New York Times’ hagiography, Pretti was described as a “calm presence amid hospital chaos”, a mentor to colleagues, and deeply committed to his family and friends.

The BBC, meanwhile, can’t stop gushing about Pretti even as it continues to sweep aside the genocide of 35,000 Iranians.

One network was even caught using an AI-edited image of Pretti that made him look more attractive than the original

Whether you ask AP, CBS, NBC or PBS, you’ll learn that Pretti was a compassionate, community-oriented professional whose unjust death is, at best, the byproduct of a cold and callous Trump administration. Let’s name this for what it is: a deliberate propaganda war using selective reporting, emotional manipulation and rage-bait to further entrench Trump Derangement Syndrome in the public imagination.

Like Renee Good before him, Alex Pretti didn’t stumble onto the scene of his death by accident.

A media investigation found that Pretti was part of an anti‑ICE ‘rapid response’ network already active on site minutes before the shooting, using coordinated communication and tracking systems to locate, surround and disrupt federal agents during an arrest. Before and after Pretti’s death, the network used highly sophisticated tactics, the report says

There are also credible reports that this was not Alex Pretti’s first run-in with ICE. According to CNN, Pretti had a physical altercation with ICE in which he broke a rib just a week before his death.

The tragedy of Alex Pretti’s death was not just that he was engaged in an illegal operation, but he did so in defence of a violent criminal.

The arrest Pretti was on site to thwart was that of Jose Huerta-Chuma, an Ecuadorian national who was in the US illegally, and whose a criminal record includes violent domestic assault, intentional bodily harm and disorderly conduct. He was also driving without a valid licence at the time ICE was trying to take him into custody.

Moreover, not only was Pretti armed with a holstered semi-automatic handgun and two magazines of ammunition when he approached ICE agents, but he physically resisted when the officers tried to restrain him. Any reasonable member of the public would not have resisted such restraint from federal agents.

Again, Pretti’s death was a tragedy — but it was also, quite clearly, an avoidable one.

The following victims drew little online outrage or public protest compared with Pretti, yet they were also made in God’s image and were equally precious:

• Laken Riley, 22, beaten to death while jogging on the University of Georgia campus by an illegal immigrant
• Mollie Tibbetts, 20, stabbed to death in a cornfield in Brooklyn, Iowa by an illegal immigrant
• Jocelyn Nungaray, 12, raped, strangled and left in a creek in Houston, Texas by two illegal immigrants
• Kate Steinle, 32, shot in the back on a pier in San Francisco, California by an illegal immigrant
• Rachel Morin, 37, raped and beaten to death while jogging in Bel Air, Maryland by an illegal immigrant
• Lizbeth Medina, 16, stabbed to death in her Texas apartment bathroom by an illegal immigrant
• Jamiel Shaw II, 17, shot execution-style on his way home from football practice in Los Angeles, California by an illegal immigrant
• Aiden Clark, 11, killed when his school bus was hit by a drunk driver who was an illegal immigrant in Springfield, Ohio
• Melissa Powell, 47, and Riordan Powell, 16, killed in a car crash caused by an illegal immigrant in Colorado
• Ivory Smith, 7, killed in a car crash caused by an illegal immigrant in Texas
• Taliyah Crochet, 18, and Rylan Oncale, 18, killed in a car crash caused by an illegal immigrant in Louisiana
• Maria Pleitez, 42, and Dayanara, 11, killed in a car crash caused by an illegal immigrant in New Jersey

Each of these tragedies — and there are many more — serve as a reminder that ICE performs a fundamentally good and necessary role in enforcing US border laws and protecting Americans, even if individual mistakes occur or questions remain about Pretti’s death.

Like every country, America has the right and the responsibility to defend its borders, protect its citizens, and preserve its national sovereignty.

An American pastor, Michael Clary, Christ, the King Church, Cincinnati challenges viral online outrage over ICE, arguing that Christians are mistaking emotional manipulation for biblical compassion.

“Christians, you have got to stop being so gullible. Seriously, your naivete might feel warm and nice and friendly, but that’s not how Christian love works.

A friend shared a viral post that listed all the un-Christlike things ICE is supposedly doing, such as using “children as bait,” “shooting unarmed protesters,” “teargassing families,” and “terrorizing immigrant communities and people of color.”

The whole post goes on and on like this, and it’s dripping with moral outrage and emotional manipulation. What troubles me is that so many people share this like it’s wise and insightful. This is textbook emotional ambush. No argument, no evidence, just big feelings.

But I’ll tell you what isn’t Christlike, and I’ve got scripture to back it up. Being GULLIBLE. So why are Christians so gullible? It’s because they’ve been trained to think love means whatever it feels like in your happy place. If you do something that *feels* compassionate and think that’s what Jesus wants you to do, you’re wrong. Biblical love isn’t about pointing your emotions in a particular direction. Rather, biblical love is defined by actions and attitudes prescribed in scripture. How you feel about it is of secondary concern.

Christians, we are morally responsible for how we love. We don’t just get to feel sorry for an illegal immigrant and “stand up” for them and call it love. That’s not love, no matter how strongly you feel it. Love does not spread leftist propaganda, “love rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor 13:6).”