Former MLB Gold Glove outfielder Kole Calhoun ripped the Trump administration on Monday following the Border Patrol-involved shooting in Minnesota over the weekend.
Calhoun wrote a lengthy statement on his Instagram Stories, starting with his assertion that Alex Pretti – the Minneapolis man who was shot and killed on Saturday – was “straight murdered.”
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He then recalled his playing days for the Los Angeles Angels, Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers and Cleveland Guardians and how he played with teammates of different backgrounds and was delighted to see some of them being able to send money back to their native countries to help their families buy houses.
The 38-year-old Arizona native said he used to sit in the middle of political discourse and tried to stay out of the conversation for the most part. But that was until the latest shooting involving federal officers occurred.
“The United States we live in now could not be more divided, but this is a turning point,” he said. “The images and videos from Minnesota are alarming on all fronts, to what this country was built on and our core values as a society are under attack. There is (a) right way to do things and a wrong way and the tactics on display for the world to see, the ones designed to create fear and intimidate by recruits of this administration, are the wrong way.
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“What this administration is doing when it comes to immigration is blatantly racist, targeting people based on the color of their skin or the sound of their last name. There is a much more civilized way to do this that involves working together with state officials opposed to inserting the administration’s will on a state whose citizens have stood up for their neighbors and said this is not right!
“I’ve been silent because that is easy. But silence is a privilege and silence is complicit. Standing up and speaking for what you believe in takes courage. I don’t care about what side you’re on or who you voted for, this is wrong. This is wrong and is imposing on the basic freedoms we have in the country. Wake up! Speak out!”
In the wake of the shooting, Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, the face of the Trump administration’s campaign to arrest and deport criminal illegal immigrants, will be leaving Minnesota, along with some border agents, amid violent, and sometimes deadly, clashes between federal authorities and anti-ICE agitators.
Bovino and an unspecified number of U.S. Border Patrol agents will be leaving the state as soon as Tuesday, multiple federal sources told Fox News.
President Donald Trump said earlier Monday he spoke with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey about the shooting.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
