The killing of a second U.S. citizen by Immigration agents in Minnesota in less than a month prompted a wave of demonstrations across the nation.
Hundreds gathered in Honolulu on Sunday in response to the killing of Alex Pretti, the second American citizen to be shot by an ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officer.
The Conversation spoke to U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda about the recent shootings.
Interview highlights
On the Minnesota shootings
U.S. REP. JILL TOKUDA: We have to remember a life was lost here, a young man, an ICU nurse for our veterans, cared for those who sacrificed so much for us, he lost his life, and we cannot forget that first and foremost. And to really bring him justice, to do his life justice, we must immediately look at making sure there's a fair, thorough, unbiased investigation. You cannot ice out local and state law enforcement. It has to be a collective effort, everyone making sure the truth comes forward and people are held accountable, and then we cannot have any more Alexes or Renees. De-escalation is absolutely critical. Get ICE, get Customs and Border Patrol out of Minneapolis. Get them out. They are the problem. They are the problem. De-escalate so we don't see more deaths, more injuries, more shootings in our streets right now. Immediately, these are the things that must be done: a thorough investigation, de-escalate the situation, get out of Minneapolis, and then right now, as we know, our Senate counterparts have some big decisions to make, but they can make sure we don't continue to give a blank check to Kristi Noem to allow her to continue to do what she's been doing.
On the Honolulu Federal Detention Center being used to hold people
TOKUDA: We have record numbers of detainees at the Federal Detention Center right now being brought to the center by Homeland Security, and we have to make sure they have access to services that they need, access to legal counsel and services in the language that they speak. And while that sounds like a given, I promise you, for my last two visits, that's not necessarily the case. And so [weʻre] going to make sure we ask the hard, tough questions. Hold people accountable in our own backyards has been really important to me, so that's why I'm going again, and I'll continue to go again and again, as long as we have to make sure that amongst this national crisis that we are facing, we do not lose our humanity, and we don't lose sight of the values that we hold so dear, especially here in Hawaiʻi, treating everyone with aloha. I think that's what we all can agree on. And sadly, that's not what we're even seeing here.
On conditions at the HFDC
TOKUDA: That's what I was seeing, is literally people there for criminal offenses or waiting trial or doing their time, literally within the same holding cells, eating at the same table, showering in the same stalls, with people who were there because there were questions about their visas. In some cases, as we've heard in the news, these aren't even undocumented individuals who were living in our community. They might have had they've been flying through Hawaiʻi and question their passports or their visas or their intentions, and instead of the usual protocol of, I'll take your passport, you come back in 24 hours, and I send you back to where you came from, immediately taking them to the detention center again, where they were housed in what is, it's a prison facility. … I had members of our Consular Corps from other countries talking to me, worried about the conditions that their citizens are having to live with, unprecedented again, from what they had seen in the past in terms of how they were treated and the places where they were confined. It's really sad that this is not only harming these individuals, it's harming our relationships, quite frankly, globally, with our allies and partners and friends who are now questioning the way we treat their people.
On upcoming town hall meetings
TOKUDA: We're doing our annual town hall. We're kicking it off in Waimea, on the Big Island, on Saturday. But it really is to listen. I think right now, everyone feels that weight on them in terms of what we're seeing across the country and the world, but quite frankly, right here in our own backyards, it's important that we listen to each other, with civility, with understanding, and we try to find that common ground and common path forward, because I think everyone in our state just wants to be able to build a home and a life, take care of our kids, find a future for themselves here.
For more information on upcoming town hall meetings, click here.
This story aired on The Conversation on Jan. 26, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn adapted this interview for the web.
