The “New Adventures of Superman” star claimed Pretti “wasn’t there just being a peaceful protester” and that immigration agents are “getting tremendous abuse.”

Dean Cain defends federal immigration agents who killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti, blames local Democratic leaders

The "New Adventures of Superman" star claimed Pretti "wasn't there just being a peaceful protester" and that immigration agents are "getting tremendous abuse."

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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January 26, 2026 9:23 p.m. ET

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Dean Cain in Los Angeles in 2024. Credit:

Charley Gallay/Getty

Dean Cain is defending the federal immigration agents involved in the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday.

The *Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman *star, who claimed in August that he had signed up to become an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in order to "help secure the safety of all Americans," spoke at length about the highly controversial incident with *TMZ* on Monday.

Cain began his comments to managing editor Harvey Levin and executive producer Charles Latibeaudiere with a plea in defense of ICE, and of Customs and Border Protection, the agency that employs those who shot Pretti. "I don't know all of the events leading up to this moment," Cain acknowledged. "I do know that law enforcement, certainly ICE and Border Patrol, have been under a tremendous amount of pressure and attacks, and they're getting tremendous abuse from what I completely believe is 100 percent organized opposition."

Kristi Noem speaks about the killing of Alex Pretti in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24, 2026.

Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty

Cain then began to speculate on all the reasons agents may have utilized deadly force in their brief interaction with Pretti. "If someone is committing a felony — which would be obstructing law enforcement, ICE, federal agents from doing their job, impeding and obstructing, that's a felony — maybe they were just trying to take him down at that point in time."

The actor claimed that Pretti "certainly wasn't there just being a peaceful protester, and it was a very bad idea to engage physically with federal law enforcement while armed. He's standing between law enforcement officers and that woman — that's a mistake in its own right. And doing it while armed is a bad, bad idea."

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Pretti is the second American citizen to be fatally shot by immigration agents since the Trump administration ordered a crackdown on the Minnesota metropolis in December.

Bystander footage of the shooting which emerged the same day shows Pretti holding up a cellphone as he approaches agents who are being aggressive toward a woman on the sidewalk. Agents spray Pretti multiple times with pepper spray at close range and strike him on the head. He's soon tackled by at least six agents before 10 shots ring out in a matter of seconds, and the crowd of agents back off his body, now lying still in the snow.

Shortly after Pretti was pronounced dead at the scene, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem convened a press conference, where she accused Pretti of "domestic terrorism," noting he had a semi-automatic handgun on his person at the time of the incident. Minnesota state law permits carrying handguns in public as long as owners obtain a permit, and though video of the incident never shows Pretti brandishing the weapon, Noem claimed that Pretti "arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement."**

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In conversation with Levin and Latibeaudiere, Cain continued to offer hypothetical reasons why immigration agents may have met Pretti with an overwhelming amount of force while he was trying to aid a woman they were attacking.

"If he was instructed to get out of the road, if he was asked to move to a different direction or told or ordered to do so, you're starting to impede," Cain said. "How many times had he had communications with law enforcement before that moment? Why was he standing in the street? There are a lot of questions that need to be answered. He may have been impeding, he may have himself become a target, maybe he was standing in front of ICE vehicles."

Cain concluded by claiming that the "root cause of the problem" falls "on the shoulders" of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. The actor accused the Democratic politicians of "not cooperating, [calling] them Gestapo and calling them modern-day Nazis, and they're telling them to fight them in the streets and do these things." When pressed by Levin to produce evidence that Walz or Frey had instructed citizens to "fight" ICE and CBP "in the streets," Cain claimed, "I've seen clips of it."

The day of his killing, Pretti's parents released a statement calling their son "a kindhearted soul" who "wanted to make a difference in this world." Pretti's parents also condemned "the sickening lies told about our son by the administration" as "reprehensible and disgusting."**

You can watch Cain's full interview on TMZ above.

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