More than 1,000 protesters packed Beartracks Bridge in downtown Missoula Sunday afternoon for an “ICE Out” rally, part of a national wave of demonstrations sparked by the fatal shooting of Minneapolis ICU nurse Alex Pretti by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Saturday morning.
Organized by Missoula Resists and Indivisible Missoula, the rally responded to the Trump administration’s deployment of thousands of ICE agents to U.S. cities — including 3,000 to Minneapolis alone — and their brazen display of force. Protesters numbered roughly 1,700, organizers estimated. They held handmade signs including “We stand with Minnesota,” “Abolish ICE,” “America: Founded by Protest” and “Justice for Alex” as passing cars honked in support.
On the bridge’s south side, a small memorial to Pretti appeared: LED votive candles at the base of a sign reading: “Alex Pretti VA ICU Nurse, murdered by Border Patrol January 24, 2026.” Pretti was a U.S. citizen with no criminal record.
“We have come together today because our conscience demands it,” Rose Zee of Missoula Resists said in a statement. “We cannot remain silent while this administration and ICE kill Americans in our streets. We stand together to say that we will use every tool we have — our votes, our voices, our collective power — to defend life, dignity, and the humanity of us all.”
Photographer John Stember documented the faces and signs that defined Missoula’s response from on — and above — the bridge.
