Minneapolis community leave ‘I Voted’ stickers at Alex Pretti’s memorial site

Key points

• Minnesota voters placed "I Voted" stickers at memorials for Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, two citizens killed by federal immigration officials.
• Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, and Good, a writer and mother of three, were killed in January during an immigration operation in Minneapolis.
• A retired physician who worked with Pretti said his former colleague was "assassinated" and called the election a chance for America to respond.

Voters in Minnesota have left "I Voted" stickers at memorial sites for Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, the two US citizens killed by federal immigration officials earlier this year, the Guardian reports. Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse at the Veterans Affairs medical center in Minneapolis, and Good, a writer and mother of three, were killed in January during a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in the Minneapolis region.

Trump's mass deportation campaign has been a major issue for voters nationally during this midterm cycle and has played a large part in Minnesota's election, where voters are choosing a Senate candidate, governor and House candidates.

Tributes at memorial sites

A retired physician who worked with Pretti and asked to be identified only as Arne left his sticker at the memorial and became emotional while speaking about his vote and about Pretti's death. "I knew Alex Pretti," he said, describing him as a competent nurse and "a really, really liked guy."

Mike F, who withheld his last name for privacy, left his sticker at Good's memorial site. He said his vote felt more connected to events in the city earlier this year and that paying respects there was "just the right thing to do."

I just knew that he was a competent nurse – a really, really liked guy. And he was assassinated.

— Arne, a retired physician who worked with Alex Pretti

Election day in Minneapolis

Community groups that organized rapid response teams during "Operation Metro Surge" have since shifted their attention to the elections. Arne said the country had "humiliated itself" by electing the president and called the day a chance for America to say whether it supports such actions.

In a primarily Somali neighborhood, Reverend Shandon Klein of Park Avenue United Methodist church said she was watching over the polling place to ensure everyone had access to voting and described a feeling of empowerment among voters. No federal law enforcement officials had been spotted at voting sites, despite threats by the Trump administration to deploy them.