by Ross Williams, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

January 26, 2026

Georgia’s two Democratic senators are joining their colleagues in the U.S. Senate in a pledge to vote against a spending package that includes billions of dollars in funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The senators say they demand civil liberty protections before further funds are appropriated to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Senators have until Friday to pass the package of six bills, which includes a $64.4 billion Homeland Security appropriations bill that funds ICE and the U.S. Border Patrol. Failure to pass the package could lead to a partial government shutdown.

Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are joining other members of their caucus in refusing to support the department in the wake of a second fatal shooting caught on camera in Minneapolis by a federal agent amid an immigration crackdown in the city.

The latest victim, a man killed on Saturday, was identified by authorities as 37-year-old Alex Pretti, U.S. citizen and registered nurse.

According to Reuters, the latest incident was one of five shootings involving federal agents in January, including the videotaped shooting death of 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, which sparked demonstrations around the country, including in Georgia. Reuters reports that at least six immigrants have died in federal custody this month.

“Massively deployed and ill-trained Federal forces are violating civil liberties with impunity and showing reckless disregard for life and property,” Ossoff said in a statement. “Masked federal agents are detaining citizens without cause and raiding Americans’ homes without a judge’s warrant. A growing number of Americans have been assaulted or killed. This cannot be America. Democrats and Republicans alike must act to stop this spiraling chaos and protect our Constitutional rights.”

Ossoff is up for re-election in November.

Sen. Raphael Warnock echoed Ossoff’s comments in a social media post.

“I will vote NO on the funding bill for Trump’s ICE,” Warnock wrote. “They are killing Americans. Detaining children. Trampling our freedoms. We are losing our humanity.This is a defining moment for our nation. A moment for moral courage. We must stand together and say no.”

Senate Republicans need at least seven Democrats to vote for the spending measures to reach the needed 60-vote threshold, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, citing the killings of Pretti and Good, said his caucus will not provide the votes and called on the DHS bill to be split from the other five.

Gun rights

Federal officials characterized Pretti as a would-be terrorist intending to kill law enforcement, but videos of the incident seem to contradict those claims. Video does not appear to show Pretti brandishing his weapon or fighting with agents but does show an agent removing Pretti’s gun from his person before he is shot multiple times while on the ground.

Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a concealed carry permit and no criminal record, according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.

Congressman Mike Collins, one of the Georgia Republicans vying to challenge Ossoff in November, addressed the incident in a social media post Saturday.

“Please do not fight with or interfere with law enforcement doing their job,” he wrote. “Please do not fight with or interfere with law enforcement doing their job and be armed while doing so.”

Members of the Libertarian Party of Georgia have said criticism of Pretti being armed at the protest is contrary to the Second Amendment and characterized the Minneapolis ICE action as extreme government overreach.

“The Libertarian Party of Georgia platform is explicit: government force must be strictly limited to the protection of individual rights to life, liberty, and property,” the party said in a statement Sunday. “Laws should apply only to violations involving force or fraud, and government must never be permitted to violate the rights it claims to protect. When federal agencies operate beyond these limits, they undermine public trust and erode constitutional protections for everyone.”

Election fallout

In a Monday press release, Ossoff called on his three main Republican rivals, Collins, Congressman Buddy Carter and former football coach Derek Dooley to repudiate the federal deployments in Minneapolis and other U.S. cities.

“Americans left, right, and center are shocked by the Trump Administration’s abuses of civil liberties and police state tactics. My opponents have a clear choice: do they stand with Trump or with Americans’ Constitutional rights? I challenge each of them to condemn and demand an end to the Trump Administration chaos that is undermining Americans’ core civil liberties,” Ossoff wrote.

In an email, Carter’s campaign said the congressman stands by an op-ed published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution before the Pretti shooting calling for an increased ICE presence in Atlanta to deal with crimes committed by immigrants who are here illegally.

Carter accused Ossoff of prioritizing immigrants and criminals over funding the government.

“Ossoff is putting pedophiles, murderers, and rapists ahead of public safety,” he wrote. “Where was his outrage when Laken Riley’s rights were taken by a violent illegal from Venezuela? His faux anger is nothing more than a fearmongering fundraising tactic that will continue to put Americans in harm’s way by radicalizing them against the law enforcement agents charged with keeping them safe.”

Collins’ campaign pointed to a social media post criticizing Ossoff for what Collins characterized as being willing to risk a government shutdown.

“Last October, Jon Ossoff voted to shut down the government to give healthcare to illegal immigrants, blocking SNAP funds for hundreds of thousands of Georgians, delaying millions of dollars in Hurricane Helene relief for Georgia farmers, and throwing our country into turmoil,” Collins wrote on social media. “Today, he announced that he’s ready to shut down the government again to stop the Department of Homeland Security from detaining and deporting criminals he let into our country.”

Dooley’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

Georgia Democrats call for action

The latest killing spurred an outpour of reaction from Georgia politicians, particularly Democrats.

Following the Good shooting, Georgia Democrats called for a raft of legislation designed to limit the powers of ICE and other federal agents.

The bills proposed by Senate Democrats include requiring ICE agents to show their faces and badges while conducting operations and banning operations from places like churches and schools, passing them into law under a Republican-controlled legislature would be a difficult task.

Democrats are also pushing back against a proposed “large-scale” immigrant detention center in Social Circle southeast of Atlanta first reported on by the Washington Post.

The facility would reportedly hold between 5,000 and 10,000 detainees and be one of seven such facilities built around the country.

Georgia House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley, a Columbus Democrat, said in a Monday statement citing Good and Pretti that such a facility would “bring the same chaos and heartbreak we’ve witnessed in Minnesota to our own communities here in Georgia.”

“We cannot — and will not — stand by while the administration replicates its failed Minnesota approach here in Georgia,” Hugley said. “Our children should not have to fear that their parents won’t come home. Our families should not live in constant terror. Our communities deserve better than to become testing grounds for policies that have already proven devastating elsewhere.”

6:36 pm: This story was updated to add additional context.

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