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Sanford: Is Memphis cooperating with immigration crackdown? The answer is debatable.

By , Daily Memphian Published: January 29, 2026 4:00 AM CT
Otis Sanford
Daily Memphian

Otis Sanford

Otis Sanford is a political columnist, author and professor emeritus in Journalism and Strategic Media at the University of Memphis.

Let us first dispense with the obvious: Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old Minneapolis VA hospital intensive care nurse, was needlessly slain.

Therefore, it is pointless for me to use this column to differ with anyone, including those in the Trump Administration, who still insist that the federal agents who gunned down Pretti acted appropriately and lawfully. Nor will I argue whether Pretti went beyond the bounds of his Second Amendment rights to bear arms.

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