A coordinated network of far-left activist organizations played a central role in the street confrontation and nationwide unrest that followed Saturday’s fatal shooting of anti-ICE agitator Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, according to a detailed investigation.
The investigation by Fox News Digital found that agitators were already mobilized and actively tracking federal immigration agents minutes before the shooting occurred, using encrypted messaging platforms, live street alerts, and a shared database designed to monitor alleged ICE vehicles.
Agitators had been embedded in protest crowds to provoke confrontations with federal agents in an apparent effort to engineer chaos.
At the time of Saturday’s fatal shooting, federal agents were in Minneapolis to arrest an illegal alien with a criminal history.
Pretti, 37, and other activists were already on scene outside a donut shop on Nicollet Avenue, part of what investigators describe as an organized pattern of interference with federal law enforcement operations.
Within hours of the shooting, a nationwide network of socialist, communist, and Marxist-Leninist organizations leveraged the incident into coordinated protests across the country.
The speed of the response, fueled by short, emotionally charged and out-of-context video clips, emojis, and rapid calls to action, revealed what the investigation described as a disciplined logistical and messaging operation.
In a Sunday post on X, Vice President JD Vance wrote:
“This level of engineered chaos is unique to Minneapolis.
“It is the direct consequence of far left agitators, working with local authorities.”
This level of engineered chaos is unique to Minneapolis. It is the direct consequence of far left agitators, working with local authorities.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) January 25, 2026
Encrypted Signal messages reviewed by Fox News Digital show anti-ICE “rapid responders” actively tracking, broadcasting, and calling in “backup” around federal agents near Glam Doll Donuts, where the shooting occurred.
Local activists made at least 26 entries into a shared database called “MN ICE Plates” in the hours surrounding the incident, logging license plate numbers and alleged ICE vehicle sightings.
One database entry, logged as row 344, read, “At the nicollet [sic] murder,” describing a black Jeep Wagoneer allegedly connected to the shooting.
Another entry tracked a black Ford Taurus at the donut shop location.
At 9:50 a.m. ET, just minutes before the fatal encounter, a Signal user identified as “Willow” posted a 22-second video showing two agents near the storefront.
In the video, a sign reading “ICE OUT OF MINNESOTA” is visible as the person filming yells, “No!”
Three minutes later, another Signal user escalated the alert.
“Backup needed at the Black Forest Inn parking lot on Nicollet Ave just south of 26th Street,” the message read.
“Multiple vehicles with many agents appear to be staging there.”
ICE Assistant Director Marcos Charles said Sunday that the violence was “not a coincidence,” citing the ongoing “chaos and mayhem” being fomented in Minneapolis.
Customs and Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino confirmed that Pretti had been “on the scene several minutes” before the shooting.
Video from the area shows Pretti stepping into Nicollet Avenue to direct traffic while other agitators blew whistles to warn residents that ICE officers were nearby.
Moments later, Pretti became involved in a confrontation with CBP agents across the street from the donut shop.
At approximately 10:05 a.m. ET, Pretti was shot and killed.
Minutes later, the Signal networks erupted.
Using a red phone emoji to signal urgency, activists sent an all-points alert requesting immediate reinforcements and medics, warning that agents might deploy gas.
Within minutes, activists flooded the area.
Video showed supplies already staged nearby, including boxes labeled “FREE WINTER HATS” and bottled water, suggesting advance logistical planning.
By early afternoon, far-left organizations nationwide amplified the incident.
Media outlets such as CNN and MSNOW described “angry protesters” but did not identify the ideological organizations coordinating the mobilization, even as protesters openly displayed socialist and communist group signage.
According to the investigation, the rapid activation mirrored tactics used following George Floyd’s death in 2020 and other past flashpoint events, with organizers quickly reframing Pretti, an ICU nurse at a Veterans Administration hospital, as a symbol of resistance.
Key organizers identified through digital message analysis included nonprofit organizations linked to American-born billionaire Neville Roy Singham, a self-declared Marxist-Leninist living in Shanghai.
Several groups involved are tied to the People’s Forum, a New York–based nonprofit Singham has funded since 2017.
At 10:48 a.m. ET, BreakThrough News, a nonprofit affiliated with the People’s Forum, released a video of the shooting that rapidly went viral.
By Sunday afternoon, it had amassed more than 4 million views.
Soon after, the Party for Socialism and Liberation published a graphic declaring, “CBP MURDERS ANOTHER IN MINNEAPOLIS,” and called to “EXPAND THE GENERAL STRIKE.”
Other groups, including Democratic Socialists of America, labeled the shooting an “execution” and demanded the abolition of ICE.
Similar messaging was echoed by top Democrats, prominent activists, and organizers nationwide, some explicitly calling to “bring this country to a halt.”
By evening, CNN reported from protests in New York City and Minneapolis without disclosing that speakers and organizers were affiliated with socialist and communist organizations.
Those affiliations were later proudly highlighted by the groups themselves on social media.
As protests continued into Sunday, Signal alerts showed activists once again tracking alleged ICE vehicles across Minneapolis.
At last count, the publicly shared “MN ICE PLATES” database contained more than 4,600 entries cataloging alleged federal vehicles, underscoring the scale and persistence of the organized monitoring effort.
The investigation concludes that what followed Pretti’s death was not a spontaneous uprising, but the rapid execution of a pre-existing activist infrastructure designed to exploit tragedy, escalate confrontation, and mobilize a national protest movement against federal law enforcement.
READ MORE – Leftist Bites CBP Agent’s Finger Off During Minneapolis Rioting
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