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Former college basketball coach Bruce Pearl ripped Democrats on Monday after a Border Patrol-involved shooting left one dead in Minnesota over the weekend.
Pearl appeared on OutKick’s “Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich” and said he’d put some of the blame on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and the rest of the Democrats who raised the temperature while federal officials were enforcing U.S. immigration laws.
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Demonstrators hold signs during a protest in response to the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis earlier in the day Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
“It’s just terrible. It’s awful. I feel so bad for … You know, these deaths obviously did not have to happen,” Pearl said. “Both sides gotta give a little bit in this situation because, right now, it’s extremely toxic. I sure do blame Gov. Walz for the way he’s handled it. Would you go back in time and watch how Minneapolis burned over George Floyd and would you connect the lawlessness? It doesn’t make what happened to George Floyd right. It doesn’t make what happened to these two other individuals that got killed right.
“But were they not called out onto the streets? And were they not encouraged and motivated by Democratic lawmakers to ‘stand up’ and ‘get your cellphones out’ and they’re looking at treating ICE and law enforcement like they’re Nazis. To equate Anne Frank and her death with any other death going on out there is just wrong. It’s fundamentally wrong. It’s our government. President Trump was elected to enforce these immigration laws and they let millions and bazillions and gajillions of illegals in and it was just terribly unfortunate.”
Walz on Sunday likened federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota to the Holocaust and “The Diary of Young Girl” by Anne Frank following the shooting death of Alex J. Pretti in Minneapolis. Federal officials initially stated that Pretti was armed and resisted agents, while local accounts indicate Pretti was disarmed before he was fatally shot.
People participate in an anti-ICE rally Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)
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Walz said that some children in Minnesota now feel fear or uncertainty about going outside due to the federal operations.
Pearl said congressional lawmakers should start getting together to fix the immigration system in the U.S.
“You’re an immigrant, I’m an immigrant. I’m all for legal immigration. I’m all for people that have been here, worked hard and assimilated – we gotta fix our immigration problem. Once again, Congress get off your a– and do the right thing. Because you’ve not done the right thing, you’ve not fixed our laws regarding immigration, we find ourselves in this situation right now. Because, politically, you don’t know what to do. How about just do the right thing because you’re an American?”
Overall, Pearl said, the temperature has to be taken down.
The incident in Minnesota sparked tons of reactions in the sports world. A game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors was postponed and later played Sunday.
A man, center, next to a Minneapolis police officer grabs a protester in the doorway during a noise demonstration protest in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
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NBA fans protested U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) inside and outside the arena.
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