Chair Martin: An update on Minnesota

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This weekend, in Minneapolis, a federal immigration agent murdered Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse who cared for our veterans at the VA hospital. We all watched it play out from dozens of different angles, filmed by bystanders on their cell phones in the freezing cold. And despite the lies from the government, we all had the same takeaway: this was an execution.

In Minnesota, we’re known for being warm. Not the temperature, but the people. We take care of our neighbors, no matter where they’re from or what they look like. We don’t look away when someone is being harmed. We don’t abandon each other.

That’s what Alex Pretti stood for.

Alex was a caregiver. A neighbor. A loving son. A man who spent his life protecting others. And, in his final moments, he was doing it again: showing up, trying to protect people in his community. That’s what patriotism looks like.

Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, and all these guys in the White House don’t know a damn thing about patriotism. Think about this. They want us in fear. They want to provoke. They want federal agents with guns and tear gas roaming the streets. They want to break into houses without legitimate warrants and to stop citizens from recording them. Frankly, I can’t think of anything less American.

On Saturday night, after Alex was murdered by federal agents, Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi sent an extortion letter to my friend, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Let me paraphrase this letter. Pam Bondi basically said: give us sensitive personal information about Minnesota voters — driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, party affiliations — or else ICE won’t back off.

Donald Trump has spent years trying to overturn election results, rig our politics, and fix the game for himself. He’s deeply unpopular. So, in a midterm year where he finally stands to lose his grip on power, we should all be asking ourselves why he wants to take control of state voter rolls.

For months, Donald Trump and his politically weaponized DOJ have attempted to force states like Minnesota to hand over their voter data. Their goal is to collect as much sensitive personal information as possible.

They seek to hand that data to Homeland Security and build a national voter database, as part of their effort to take control of elections nationwide.

Now, let me tell you about what we are doing to fight back.

At my direction, the Democratic National Committee has assembled a team of lawyers to fight in court to protect voters and prevent the Trump administration from violating states’ rights to run their elections.

As we’ve seen in Minnesota, Donald Trump has no hesitation with using the federal government to trample our rights and inflict brutal violence on our people. We cannot allow him to take control of our elections.

As part of that effort, the DNC has filed briefs in five states, fighting back against the DOJ’s unlawful attempt to seize state voter rolls. And we have more to come this week.

Additionally, earlier this month, the DNC sent warning letters to 10 states urging them not to agree to send their unredacted voter files to Trump’s DOJ and immediately purge voters from the rolls when DOJ tells them to, as these actions would violate federal law.

We’ve already had success stopping Trump in the courts: His DOJ lost its first attempt to obtain an unredacted voter file in California, and we expect a federal court in Oregon to hand him another defeat soon.

Donald Trump and his administration think they can threaten and intimidate us into silence and compliance through violence and coercion. But they’re wrong.

The DNC will stand with local elected officials and with our states to fight like hell for our democracy.

And to Donald Trump, Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem, and Greg Bovino, we have a message for you: Get ICE the hell out of Minnesota. Now.

To everyone who has read this far, thank you for your time, your energy, and your efforts.

Keep showing up. Keep caring. Keep standing up for one another.

That’s how we honor the memories of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, and how we keep fighting for those who are being targeted by the ruthless cruelty of this administration.

Yours in the fight,

Ken Martin
Chair
Democratic National Committee