Minnesota-based CEOs, including Fortune 500 bosses, call for ‘immediate de-escalation of tensions’ after fatal shooting
Minnesota’s business community has been largely silent amid president Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration in the state despite widespread backlash, but a recent shooting death by federal agents has sparked a call for peace.
In an open letter Sunday from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, more than 60 executives said the business community has been working behind the scenes with officials for several weeks. This includes Governor Tim Walz, the White House, Vice President J.D. Vance, and local mayors.
“With yesterday’s tragic news, we call for the immediate de-escalation of tensions, and call on state, local and federal officials to work together to find real solutions,” she added.
The statement noticeably avoids any criticism and stops short of calling on immigration officials to leave the city, which Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other elected officials have done.
This is despite the fact that the shooting incident that occurred on Saturday was the third of its kind in the state this month, and the second fatal. It also came days after reports of immigration officers in Minnesota detaining young children, arresting US citizens, and forcibly entering homes without warrants.
The video evidence also contradicts claims by the Trump administration that Alex Peretti, who was a nurse at a veterans hospital, threatened the Border Patrol before he was shot.
“At this difficult moment for our community, we call for peace and focused cooperation among local, state and federal leaders to achieve a rapid and lasting solution that enables families, businesses, our employees and communities across Minnesota to resume our work to build a bright and prosperous future,” the Chamber of Commerce letter added.
It has been signed by numerous companies and executives, including the heads of Fortune 500 companies such as 3M, Best Buy, General Mills, Land O’Lakes, Target, UnitedHealth, US Bancorp, Xcel Energy, and Hormel.
Target in particular has come under scrutiny during the immigration crackdown as a prominent company in Minnesota.
ICE has detained employees working at the giant retail stores, and community activists are demanding that Target take a stand against the raids.
Meanwhile, Silicon Valley tech leaders are speaking out and more clearly siding against the Trump administration.
Yann LeCun, a senior AI scientist at Meta, tweeted the word “murderers” while responding to the shooting footage.
“This video is too painful to watch, yet we have to burn it into our memories,” wrote Kath Kurivick, a product manager at Google Labs. “The basic truth here is ‘they already disarmed him.’ Then they executed him. It’s shameful. No matter which side you’re on, what happened today is unacceptable.”
In a later post, she warned that “it is only a matter of time before they emerge in force here in the Bay Area.”
This story originally appeared on Fortune.com
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2026-01-25 20:32:00
