1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to take immediate action to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents from operating at Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara on February 8. The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed it will maintain full security presence at the event, but recent fatal shootings of American citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis demonstrate why this poses an unacceptable risk to public safety. On January 25, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old VA intensive care nurse with no criminal record, was shot and killed by U.S. Border Patrol agents on a Minneapolis sidewalk. Officials claimed Pretti violently resisted arrest while armed, but witness accounts and video footage contradict this narrative. The footage shows Pretti filming agents with his phone during an immigration raid. Witnesses report he intervened to help a woman who had been shoved to the ground by officers before being pepper-sprayed, tackled, and pinned by six agents. His parents, Michael and Susan Pretti, have called the administration's account sickening lies, stating their son was clearly holding a cell phone and died trying to protect a stranger. This follows the January 7 killing of Renee Good, a mother of three, who was shot through the temple by ICE agent Jonathan Ross while driving through a residential neighborhood. The administration labeled her a domestic terrorist, but an independent autopsy suggests she was shot while driving away. These incidents reveal a pattern of excessive force and false official narratives that should alarm anyone concerned about constitutional rights and public safety. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated that those who are legally present and not breaking laws have nothing to fear, but Alex Pretti and Renee Good were both American citizens killed during routine encounters with federal agents. The Super Bowl will draw tens of thousands of attendees to Santa Clara. I urge you to publicly oppose federal immigration enforcement operations at this event and work with local officials to ensure community safety without the presence of agents whose recent conduct has proven deadly and unaccountable.