Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday.
It was the second killing at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minnesota in less than a three week span. On Jan. 7, Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer. In the wake of Pretti’s killing, and the actions of ICE in Minnesota since thousands of agents were sent to the state by the Trump administration, athletes across the women’s sports landscape are speaking out.
Unrivaled co-founder and WNBPA vice president Breanna Stewart led the way with a sign that read “Abolish ICE” before the Mist’s 76-71 win over Vinyl on Saturday.
“Knowing what my values are and what I stand for really all day yesterday I was disgusted,” Stewart said postgame. “Everything you see on IG and in the news, we’re so fueled by hate right now instead of love. I wanted to have a simple message of “abolish ICE,” which means to uplift families and communities, having policies to uplift families and communities instead of fueling fear and violence. When human lives are at stake, it’s bigger than anything else.”
Stewart’s message comes from a deeply personal place as the wife of retired professional basketball player Marta Xargay Casademont, a Spanish citizen seeking U.S. citizenship.
“It’s scary,” Stewart added. “You see it on social media. You see it spitting up families, dissecting communities. Kids are being involved. It’s the worst in all ways. To be married to Marta, it hits home for us. We’re working to get her citizenship. She is a legal permanent resident and all of that, but it seems like it doesn’t matter. That’s why these policies need to be put in place, that reform needs to happen.”
Stewart’s message was among many across women’s sports.
The Minnesota Frost, who hosted the New York Sirens on Sunday, held a moment of silence for Pretti prior to their 6–2 win. During the post-game media availability, Frost forward and Olympian Kelly Pannek grew emotional as she described the turmoil that’s overtaken her home state this month.
“People have been asking a lot of us and what it’s like to represent our state and our country, what I’m most proud to represent is the tens of thousands of people that show up on one of the coldest days of the year to stand and fight for what they believe in,” Pannek said. “For the people that might not affect on a personal level but it affects their neighbors it affects their communities, it affects our community as a whole.”
A day before Pretti was shot and killed by ICE, thousands of protesters took to the Minneapolis streets while students and workers stayed home and businesses closed in opposition of the Trump administration’s immigration operations. The march, which ended at Target Center and took place in subzero temperatures, was peaceful and called for the removal of ICE agents from the state.
Target Center—roughly two miles from where Pretti was killed by ICE agents—is home to the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Lynx. The NBA postponed Saturday’s game between the Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors “to prioritize the safety and security of the Minneapolis community,” a league statement said in part.
More Athletes Speaking Out
Most members of the Lynx are currently competing outside of the Minneapolis area as the WNBA is in its offseason. However, a number of players, including Unrivaled co-founder Napheesa Collier and Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman, took to social media to share their support for their community. Lynx coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve posted on X, “This is my city. #ICEOUT” accompanied by two pictures of Friday’s protest.
“Do not become desensitized to Donald Trump having his masked ICE criminals murder people on the streets of America,” Lynx guard DiJonai Carrington wrote on Instagram. “Never normalize this evil. The sickness you feel is your conscience. We lose that and we are nothing.”
The Lynx were among more than 60 signees of a letter published Sunday by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce calling for an “immediate de-escalation of tensions.” The National Basketball Players Association released a statement in support of the people in Minnesota protesting, and individual players have been making their own statements, with Tyrese Haliburton tweeting bluntly, “Alex Pretti was murdered.” Karl-Anthony Towns, who spent the first nine seasons of his NBA career in Minnesota, also took to X to call for “accountability, transparency, and protections for all people,” in addition to saying “I stand with the people of Minnesota.”
Unrivaled held a moment of silence before Saturday’s games to “reflect on the recent tragic events in Minnesota,” the public address announcer said in the arena. The league issued a statement that said in part, “To everyone in Minnesota: We see you, we support you, and we stand with you.”
Dallas Wings guard and Unrivaled rookie Paige Bueckers won the league’s free-throw competition last week, which came with a $50,000 payout. A native of Minnesota, Bueckers pledged to match up to $50,000 in donations to the Hopkins Strong Relief Fund, a fundraising campaign that aids the community in a number of ways including with food insecurity.
WNBA players have consistently spoken out against injustices in their communities over the course of the league’s nearly 30-year history.
In 2016, the Lynx wore warmup shirts that read “Change Starts With Us — Justice and Accountability” ahead of a game at the Target Center against the Dallas Wings. The back displayed the names of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, two Black men killed by police a week prior, and the Dallas Police Department emblem to honor five officers who were killed by a lone shooter who opened fire after a local protest against police brutality. Four off-duty police officers working the Lynx game walked off the job in response to the players’ t-shirts.
In 2020, WNBA players called attention to Senator Raphael Warnock’s runoff election with t-shirts that read “VOTE WARNOCK,” during a season dedicated entirely to social justice reform. Warnock, who ultimately won the election, was running against incumbent Georgia Republican senator Kelly Loeffler who was at the time the co-owner of the Atlanta Dream. Players wore the shirts in response to Loeffler’s criticism of the WNBA’s support of the Black Lives Matter movement, which included a letter she wrote to commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
