Suffolk DA Hayden joins growing list of Mass. officials condemning ICE action in Minneapolis

Local News

The DA released a statement Tuesday decrying the Trump administration’s “cruel and deceitful slanders” of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden lambasted the Trump administration in a statement Tuesday following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis.

Hayden said he was “appalled and saddened” by Good and Pretti’s deaths and said that the “mission and tactics” of federal immigration agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pose a threat to “citizens everywhere.”

In Tuesday’s statement, he further decried the Trump administration’s response to the recent Minneapolis killings.

“The unprecedented incursions into our communities by ICE, Border Patrol and Homeland Security agents have eroded, not enhanced, public safety,” Hayden said. “Further, the Trump administration’s cruel and deceitful slanders of Mr. Pretti and Ms. Good — including blatant lies about the circumstances leading up to their deaths prior to full and proper investigations — are an insult to all Americans.”

The DA pledged to defend his constituents’ right to “peacefully protest and observe, monitor and document law enforcement activities without threat of violence or detention.” Hayden also denounced recent ICE operations in Maine and promised to stand with immigrant communities during what he dubbed a “harrowing national moment.”

“I encourage our federal partners to work with, not against, state and local law enforcement and to carry out their duties in a lawful, transparent and non-violent manner,” Hayden said in the statement. “We will not tolerate racial and ethnic profiling and disregard for due process and human dignity.”

Hayden joined a growing list of Massachusetts officials who have condemned recent ICE actions in Minnesota and the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement more broadly. Gov. Maura Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and Rep. Seth Moulton are among those who have already spoken out or taken action in response to Good and Pretti’s killings.

During a winter storm press conference Monday, the governor denounced what she called the Trump administration’s “immediate efforts to smear Alex Pretti and who he was.” She called for U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to resign and encouraged people to watch the video of Pretti’s killing for better context.

“Watch any of the versions of the video,” Healey said. “I know what I see. I know I see somebody who’s standing with a cell phone — which, by the way, is a First Amendment-protected right in this country — and I see him also looking to protect a woman who ICE was coming after.”

Under Wu’s administration, Boston, along with dozens of other local governments, filed an amicus brief Jan. 22 supporting a lawsuit that would effectively end ICE’s Minnesota crackdown.

“These politically motivated invasions of cities, whether by ICE agents or the National Guard, endanger our residents and violate federal law,” Wu said in a statement Jan. 23. “We are urging the courts to curb the dangerous impulses of a reckless federal administration.”

Moulton dubbed Pretti’s killing “another outright murder by federal officials” on social media Sunday. He referred to ICE agents as “pathetic cowards” and “criminal thugs” in a video posted on X.

Other Massachusetts officials who took to social media to speak out against ICE include Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Attorney General Andrea Campbell, and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey.