ICE issues ‘do not engage’ order to its agents as backlash grows after Alex Pretti shooting

Under a new guideline, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are now directed to “avoid engaging with the agitators” during their immigration crackdown, Reuters reported.Following the shooting of two US citizens during the anti-ICE protest in Minneapolis, new guidance for the enforcement officers says that they shall only target immigrants with criminal charges or convictions.“DO NOT COMMUNICATE OR ENGAGE WITH AGITATORS,” read the email from a top ICE official, “It serves no purpose other than inflaming the situation. No one is going to convince the other. The only communication should be the officers issuing commands,” Reuters reported.The email further stated that the communication regarding the commands from the ICE officers to the citizens shall take place over megaphones, and they “need to verbalise every step of the arrest process.”However, the grounds of these commands or the consequences of disobedience to the command have not been stated.Trump has expressed special interest in “de-escalating” the tensions.He ordered his top border adviser, Tom Homan, to take charge of the crackdown. Moreover, Trump also stated that he and the Minnesota governor have been on the “same wavelength” after a phone call. He also declared “a lot of progress being made” with the mayor of Minneapolis, the city that has seen massive protests since ICE deployment for an immigration crackdown.ICE, under the Operation Metro Surge, has been carrying out the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed during a confrontation with the ICE, who were portrayed as aggressors. The US constitution allows law enforcement to use deadly force if the officer has a reasonable belief that a subject poses an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to the officer or others.