The Cost of Inaccuracy

This originally published in Vincent’s substack and is republished with the author’s permission.

I worked for the Department of Homeland Security for more than 10 years, and like every American, I have the right to question the actions of any organization. To those still inside the system who feel they cannot speak openly because it might risk their career, I understand that pressure completely. I have lived it. But silence does not move a country forward. The only way we improve as a nation is through undeniable accountability, the willingness to examine our own institutions with honesty, and the courage to call out failures even when they occur inside the walls we once stood within.

What we are witnessing in the wake of the Minneapolis shooting is not only a tragic death. It is a profound fracture in our national conversation about law enforcement, civil liberties, and federal authority. On January 24, a thirty-seven-year-old United States citizen and intensive care nurse named Alex Pretti was fatally shot during a federal immigration enforcement action in Minneapolis. Video footage and multiple news accounts show a confrontation between Pretti and Border Patrol agents during a protest, a series of events that quickly spiraled into chaos. Official accounts from the Department of Homeland Security say an agent fired in self-defense after Pretti approached with a handgun, though bystander video appears to show Pretti holding only a phone before he was pepper sprayed, wrestled to the ground, and then shot. The family and community leaders strongly dispute the federal narrative.

The reaction has been swift and sharp. Social media influencers, activists, and many public voices are using explicit and angry language such as the phrase “fuck ICE” to express their disgust with the agency’s presence in Minneapolis and the broader role of immigration enforcement in communities far from the Southwest border. This language reflects deep resentment and fear over what many see as federal agents operating with too little oversight, too much force, and too little regard for human life. These sentiments are real and deserve to be acknowledged. They are rooted in widespread frustration with patterns of federal policing that many communities feel have endangered civilians and escalated tensions.

I, like many of you who watched this unfold, felt anger and frustration. I felt the same shock and confusion, and the same question rising in my mind, asking how situations like this can possibly get better. We also have to agree on something that is uncomfortable to admit. Humans make mistakes. In stressful moments, we do not rise to the moment. We rise to the level of our training. And as someone who has been trained at the highest levels and has lived through real pressure, this was extremely hard to watch.

At the same time, it is important to state clearly that the anger directed at ICE and Border Patrol should not slide into a worldview where the mission itself is treated as illegitimate. As Americans, we can support the intended mission of immigration enforcement, which is to uphold laws enacted by Congress, to process and manage immigration in an orderly way, and to protect public safety, while also holding the actors involved accountable when their conduct results in unnecessary death or harm. Intent and outcome are not the same thing. Conflating them only deepens division. There is nothing contradictory about grieving a tragic loss of life, demanding accountability, and still believing that our system must enforce immigration laws in a fair and humane way. We should be able to say that the shooting of Pretti was a terrible situation that merits investigation and potential charges, and at the same time affirm that the broader mission of immigration enforcement serves a purpose in a lawful society. Truth is nuanced. The strength of a nation is measured by its ability to navigate complexity rather than reduce everything to slogans.

The deeper issue is the psychological reflex that social media has trained into the modern American mind. A terrible incident happens, and almost instantly the public conversation snaps into two rigid choices. All in love or all in hate. Support the agency completely or condemn every single person who works in it. Treat an entire mission as righteous or treat it as evil. This is not intelligence. It is emotional impulsivity packaged as moral certainty. Human beings are wired to simplify complex threats. Under stress, the mind seeks fast categories that feel safe. In earlier eras, this instinct aided survival. Today, especially online, it creates distortion. Social platforms reward instant certainty. They reward outrage. They reward decisive statements crafted for attention. Nuance does not trend. Context does not go viral. Thoughtfulness rarely outperforms anger.

This is why people rush to lump millions of Americans into one box based solely on a single viewpoint. If you support the intended mission of immigration enforcement, some will say you support every failure. If you condemn the misuse of force in this specific situation, others will say you oppose law and order. These are false conclusions created by algorithmic incentives, not by any genuine understanding of the human condition. The human condition is layered and complex. This incident can be terrible. The agent can face scrutiny. The victim can be recognized as being within his right to film and protest. The federal response can be criticized for escalating chaos. And the mission itself can remain a legitimate function within a lawful society. These truths are not in conflict. They coexist.

The danger lies in the snowball effect. A single misunderstanding or a small piece of incomplete footage becomes the starting point. Then social media commentators add more emotion. Then political voices add more certainty. Then misinformation is layered on top. Each layer adds weight. Each layer increases speed. Eventually, the narrative becomes so large and so emotionally loaded that redirecting it becomes almost impossible. People become committed to the identity that the narrative gives them. By the time anyone tries to correct misinformation, the emotional conclusion is already more powerful than the factual reality.

This is how civil unrest grows. Not in one explosive moment, but through a sequence of smaller psychological shifts. Distrust grows. Institutions respond defensively. Leaders speak in exaggerated terms to defend their corner. Protest slogans harden into identity. Counter slogans harden into resistance. Soon every issue becomes a loyalty test instead of a search for truth. This is not strength. This is shallow thinking. It reveals a decreasing ability to pause, reflect, and acknowledge the full humanity of everyone involved. Fear happens. Misjudgment happens. Overreaction happens. Accountability must happen. But collapsing into total love or total hate is a failure to think.

A mature society must resist this reflex. It must embrace complexity. It must demand justice while understanding the pressures that professionals face. It must recognize the difference between a single terrible incident and the purpose of an entire mission. It must push back against the unhealthy psychology that social media has normalized. Influencers may gain attention through extreme language. They do not create solutions. They create noise. They expand the snowball. And they trap millions inside narratives that have little connection to reality.

We can and must be smarter than this. We can recognize injustice. We can demand accountability. And we can still support the institutions that protect the nation when they operate ethically. We can accept that wearing a badge carries responsibility, and when that responsibility is violated, the system must respond with seriousness and transparency. But we do not need to accept the all-or-nothing mentality that destroys intelligent discourse.

Being an American requires more than choosing a side. It requires understanding. It requires discipline. It requires emotional control in moments when emotion feels justified. And it requires the courage to say that every situation must be judged on its own facts, not through the distorted lens of social media outrage.

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As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.