On Tuesday, January 27, many Americans continued to struggle with shock and grief at the fatal shootings in Minneapolis, MN, by ICE officers of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse known for his exemplary work with Minnesota’s veterans, and Renee Good, a poet and mother who was on the board of her five-year-old son’s elementary school.
Also on Tuesday, in Sacramento, CA, the California Senate passed a piece of legislation known as the No Kings Act, with a vote of 30 to 10.
SB 747, AKA the No Kings Act, was introduced by Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco), and his co-author, Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach).
If passed by the assembly, SB 747 will be—according to Wiener and Gonzalez—the first legislation in the nation that will hold accountable ICE, the Border Patrol, and a list of other federal officers, for the shootings that resulted in the deaths of Pretti and Good.
Specifically, the new bill aims to close a legal loophole that, at the moment, holds federal officers to a different standard for constitutional violations, than the legal standards that state and local law enforcement officers are asked to meet.
Other states have reportedly begun to emulate the No Kings Act, but Tuesday’s vote makes the California Senate the first legislative body in the country to take the step of passing the groundbreaking legislation.
Next, the bill will move to the CA Assembly, where it is also expected to pass. Then it will travel to the desk of Governor Gavin Newsom.
By passing the No Kings Act, California will “put a stop to the impunity” that enables “ICE and Border Patrol’s sickening terror rampage through American cities,” said Senator Wiener.
“We must close the loophole that makes it almost impossible for the families of Renee Good and Alex Pretti — who were executed in broad daylight — to seek justice for their family members,” he said.
Wiener pointed out that local police officers and sheriffs deputies are already held appropriately accountable when they provably violate people’s constitutional rights. Federal agents, however, are not held to the same accountability.
“By passing the No Kings Act, we’re putting a stop to the impunity that’s enabling ICE and Border Patrol’s sickening terror rampage through American cities,” said the senator.
The No Kings Act will close this loophole “and hold federal agents accountable for this brutality,” wrote Weiner on his website, when explaining to constituents the importance of the bill. “These agents must face real consequences for terrorizing our communities.”
The first amendment factor
Under the proposed No Kings Act, Californians will also be able to seek legal remedies for such issues as First Amendment violations such as retaliating against someone for their protected speech, interfering with the free exercise of religion or the freedom of the press—or the matter of using excessive force to break up a peaceful protest.
In addition, the proposed legislation will address Fourth Amendment violations such as conducting an unlawful search of a person’s home or an unreasonable seizure at a checkpoint without a warrant or probable cause, or using excessive force during arrest.
And, NO Kings covers Fifth Amendment/equal protection violations such as illegally targeting individuals for enforcement actions or tax audits on the basis of race, national origin, or political identity.
SB 747 is sponsored by Protect Democracy United, Prosecutors Alliance Action, and the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice.
“I have a respect for people in uniform,” said State Sen. Caroline Menjivar, D-Los Angeles, when asked about the bill. “What’s happening is every Joe Blow who failed to be a police officer, who failed to be in the military is armed now and is trigger happy.”
Also on Tuesday, Minnesota’s Chief U.S. District Judge, Patrick Schiltz, ordered the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, to appear this coming Friday in Chief Judge Schiltz’s courtroom.
If the above appearance takes place, it should be interesting.
It is worth noting that the AFGE—the nation’s largest federal employee union, which represents workers that range from TSA to USDA to BOP, and the members of the Border Patrol—is calling for the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security.
On Monday, Senator Tom Tillis of North Carolina, became the first Senate Republican to call for Noem to be fired in the aftermath of the murder of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at a Minneapolis-area Veterans Affairs hospital, who was shot multiple times by a Border Patrol agent, then labeled as a “domestic terrorist” by Noem.
Meanwhile, according to Jon Favreau (former head speech writer for Barak Obama, and founder of Pod Save America), the names of teachers and other staff at Renee Good’s six-year-old son’s elementary school have been posted on social media, and they are now getting death threats.
Then, in more recent days, video after shattering video has surfaced showing various different views of ICE agents shooting nurse Alex Pretti to death.
That’s all for the moment. But, of course, this story is far from over. So stay tuned