(CBSAustin) WASHINGTON— Former President Joe Biden condemned the “violence and terror” happening in the United States after the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement in Minneapolis resulted in federal agents shooting and killing two people.
“What has unfolded in Minneapolis this past month betrays our most basic values as Americans. We are not a nation that guns down our citizens in the street,” Biden said in a statement on Tuesday. ” We are not a nation that allows our citizens to be brutalized for exercising their constitutional rights. We are not a nation that tramples the 4th Amendment and tolerates our neighbors being terrorized.”
Biden praised Minnesotans for remaining “strong” and “helping community members in unimaginable circumstances, speaking out against injustice when they see it, and holding our government accountable to the people.”
Violence and terror have no place in the United States of America, especially when it’s our own government targeting American citizens,” Biden continued. “No single person can destroy what America stands for and believes in, not even a President, if we — all of America — stand up and speak out.
Biden called for “full, fair and transparent investigations” into the deaths of ICU nurse Alex Pretti and mother of three, Renee Nicole Good.
Former Democratic presidents Obama and Clinton spoke out on Sunday after Pretti was the second person to be shot and killed by federal agents in one month.
Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama called the death of Pretti a “heartbreaking tragedy” and criticized the Department of Homeland Security for its “unprecedented tactics.”
“Rather than trying to impose some semblance of discipline and accountability over the agents they’ve deployed, the President and current administration officials seem eager to escalate the situation, while offering public explanations for the shootings of Mr. Pretti and Renee Good that aren’t informed by any serious investigation — and that appear to be directly contradicted by video evidence,” the Obamas said.
Clinton said the scenes in Minneapolis over the last few weeks were “horrible” and that he never thought they “would take place in America.”
