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Former college basketball coach Bruce Pearl ripped Democrats Monday after a Border Patrol-involved shooting left one dead in Minnesota over the weekend.
Appearing on OutKick’s “Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich,” Pearl said he would place some of the blame on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and the rest of the Democrats, who raised the temperature as federal officials enforced U.S. immigration laws.
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Demonstrators hold signs during a protest in response to the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis earlier in the day, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
“It’s just horrible. It’s horrible. I’m so sorry… You know, these deaths obviously didn’t have to happen,” Pearl said. “Both sides have to give a little bit in this situation because right now it’s extremely toxic. I certainly blame Governor Walz for the way he’s handled it. Would you go back in time and see how Minneapolis burned over George Floyd and would you connect the lawlessness? That doesn’t make what happened to George Floyd right. It doesn’t make what happened to these other two individuals who did the right thing.
“But weren’t they called out to the streets? And weren’t they encouraged and motivated by Democratic lawmakers to ‘stand up’ and ‘get your cell phones out,’ and they’re looking at treating ICE and law enforcement like they’re Nazis. To equate Anne Frank and her death with any other death that’s going on out there is just wrong. It was fundamentally wrong to enforce our government. and they locked up millions and bazillions and gajillions of illegals in and it was just terribly unfortunate.”
Walz on Sunday compared federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota to the Holocaust and “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank after Alex J. Prettis was killed in Minneapolis. Federal officials initially stated that Pretti was armed and resisted agents, while local accounts indicate that Pretti was disarmed before he was shot.
People attend an anti-ICE rally on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)
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Walz said some children in Minnesota now feel fear or uncertainty about going outside because of the federal operations.
Pearl said congressional lawmakers should start coming together to fix the immigration system in the United States
“You’re an immigrant, I’m an immigrant. I’m all for legal immigration. I’m all for people who have been here, worked hard and assimilated – we need to solve our immigration problem. Once again, Congress needs to get rid of your a– and do the right thing. Because you haven’t done the right thing, you haven’t fixed our immigration laws, now we don’t know what’s political, right now. How about doing the right thing because you’re an American?”
In general, Pearl said, the temperature needs to be brought down.
The incident in Minnesota sparked tons of reaction in the sports world. A game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Golden State Warriors was postponed and played later Sunday.
A man, center, next to a Minneapolis police officer grabs a protester in the doorway during a noise demonstration in response to federal immigration crackdowns in the city, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
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NBA fans protested US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) inside and outside the arena.
