Joining ICE Is Much Easier Than You Think
What A Day
What A Day
4.6 • 12.6K Ratings
🗓️ 26 January 2026
⏱️ 26 minutes
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Summary
On Saturday, Alex Pretti – a 37-year-old registered nurse at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis – was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents. It’s the third shooting in three weeks by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis. And as violence from federal law enforcement becomes increasingly more common, it begs the question – who is joining these agencies? A few months ago, freelance journalist Laura Jedeed applied for a job with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And she got a final offer, despite not doing the required paperwork and undergoing what she put as “minimal” vetting. We spoke to Laura before the shooting of Pretti about her background, the ICE recruitment process, and what questions she still has.
And in headlines, a partial government shutdown looms as Senate Democrats vow to oppose a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, Trump threatens a new tariff on Canada if the country makes a free trade deal with China, and California steps up after President Trump pulls the U.S. out of the World Health Organization.
Show Notes:
- Check out Laura's Substack – www.firewalledmedia.com/
- Call Congress – 202-224-3121
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- For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's Monday, January 26th. I'm Jane Koston, and this is what a day, the show that appreciates that in the midst of horrifying events in Minneapolis and a potentially generational storm in the eastern and southern United States, President Donald Trump is laser focused on his ballroom. He posted on true social Sunday morning, quote, |
| 0:21.3 | I'm building on top of everything else that I'm doing, |
| 0:23.7 | one of the greatest and most beautiful ballrooms anywhere in the world, |
| 0:26.8 | with more than $300 million of great American Patriots money, |
| 0:30.5 | and all right, that's enough from him. |
| 0:37.4 | Music On today's show, the chances of a partial government shutdown loom larger, as Senate Democrats vowed to oppose a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security. |
| 0:51.9 | And after President Trump pulls the U.S. out of the World Health |
| 0:54.8 | Organization, California becomes the first U.S. state to join forces with the W.H.O. in defiance. |
| 1:00.9 | But let's start with Minnesota. Another American citizen has been shot and killed by federal law |
| 1:05.9 | enforcement this weekend, and yet again, the federal government is lying about it. |
| 1:10.0 | Minneapolis police chief Brian O'Hara told CBS's fascination on Sunday that the city is tired of this bullshit. |
| 1:15.6 | The Minneapolis Police Department went the entire year last year, recovering about 900 guns from the street, |
| 1:22.6 | arresting hundreds and hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn't shoot anyone. And now this is the second American citizen that's been killed. |
| 1:31.3 | It's the third shooting within three weeks. |
| 1:34.3 | People have been speaking out, saying that this was going to happen again. |
| 1:39.3 | And I think everyone is kind of waiting for folks on both sides to come together and just figure this thing out. |
| 1:47.7 | This is not sustainable. |
| 1:49.6 | Here's what happened. |
| 1:51.3 | On Saturday, Alex Prettie, a 37-year-old registered nurse at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Minneapolis, was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents. |
| 1:59.7 | According to multiple bystander videos reviewed by the |
| 2:02.3 | New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, Prattie, who had a gun permit, was filming interactions |
| 2:07.4 | between protesters and federal law enforcement. After seeing a Border Patrol agent used pepper |
... |
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