Penn State students organize march to protest ICE, fatal shooting of Alex Pretti

For the second time this month, Penn State student groups organized a gathering Monday to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after another person was killed by federal forces in Minnesota.

Dozens of people gathered at Old Main lawn on Penn State’s campus at about 7 p.m. as a cold weather advisory took effect across the region. Despite the below-freezing temperatures, the group gathered to hear speeches and chant together (“What does ICE get? People’s justice,” for example,) before marching to the Allen Street Gates, then through downtown State College streets.

The crowd at Monday’s protest included students and community members.

“The injustice from Minneapolis, and the culmination of everything over the last year honestly — between L.A., and now this — it’s just too much,” Bellefonte resident Stone Lacey said. “It’s always about spreading awareness, right? It’s always about spreading the message and hoping that every single time, more and more and more people come.”

The protest was organized by the Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity in response to the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti on Saturday in Minneapolis. The Department of Homeland Security said that the Border Patrol agent who shot Pretti did so in self-defense after an “armed struggle” with Pretti, who had a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun and “violently resisted” when agents tried to disarm him.

But similar to the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent on Jan. 7, eyewitnesses and video footage contradict the Trump’s administration’s statements. Videos show Pretti, who had a permit to carry a concealed handgun, holding his cellphone as a masked Border Patrol officer opened fire.

“I am so sickened and saddened by what happened this past weekend, and everything previously to that,” said Centre Helps Executive Director Denise McCann. “Enough is enough. We all have to come together to speak up.”

State College resident Jamie Arnold wholeheartedly agreed.

“I’d love to see more people attend these protests, especially more students,” Arnold said. “Not that there aren’t already a decent amount of students here, of course. I just feel like with how big of a student body [Penn State] has, a lot more people could be here, and I hope that this protest inspires more people to come out in the future.”

For about 30 minutes, a large group from the Old Main gathering marched and blocked traffic downtown, including on College and Beaver avenues, carrying signs like “ICE = Murderers” and “Shut down Moshannon,” in reference to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, an ICE facility near Philipsburg.

While some drivers honked in frustration as the group blocked traffic, the march appeared to take place without incident and ended at Old Main. After the Jan. 12 protest, State College police asked the public for help identifying two people connected to what the department referred to as “criminal mischief” that occurred during the protest. Information about the extent of the damage was not released.

Monday’s protest was part of a wave of demonstrations across the United States this weekend after Pretti’s death. Democratic state lawmakers representing Centre County also condemned the shooting.

“No one should fear or face death for exercising their right to defend themselves, their family, or their neighbors. To suggest otherwise goes against our 1st and 2nd amendment rights in the very least, and we must never become complacent in this,” state Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Rush Township, wrote in a social media post Sunday. “In Harrisburg, I join my colleagues in advancing proactive legislation to ensure that public safety, accountability, and protecting civil rights for all Pennsylvanians is at the forefront of service in the wake of these ongoing travesties.”

State Rep. Paul Takac, D-College Township, wrote in a social media post that the events in Minnesota “make it clear that our core American ideals and principles are under attack from within.”

“We must all play our part and use the power we each have as the people of this great nation to hold an increasingly out-of-control federal government in check to our will and consent, not the other way around,” he wrote Sunday. “If we remain silent now, how long will it be before they come for our neighbors, and for us?

This story was originally published January 26, 2026 at 10:37 PM.