Two Camp Pendleton Marine Corps officers submitted letters of resignation yesterday in protest of what they call “ICE brutality,” and the possibility of being deployed to protect Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis, Real Raw News has learned.
Per a source in General Smith’s office, the officers announced their resignations after viewing video footage of 37-year-old VA nurse Alex Pretti’s death. Pretti was shot and killed by unnamed ICE agents while protesting near an active ICE operation. The video has sparked outrage across the political spectrum. According to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Pretti approached officers menacingly with a “semi-automatic handgun with dozens of rounds of ammunition,” intending to “inflict maximum damage on law enforcement.” However, critics dispute this account, asserting that Pretti had a concealed carry permit, did not brandish the weapon, and was instead rendering aid to a fellow protester when ICE agents wrestled him to the icy pavement and shot him eight or nine times.
Regardless of the truth, the two Marine officers screamed “tyranny” and, in their resignation letters, labeled ICE a “lawless, undisciplined paramilitary force” that should be disbanded. Both serve the 1st Marine Division, the oldest, most decorated division in the Corps. The captain is a combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient who fought in Afghanistan, and the lieutenant is a logistics officer with 4 years of service. As the latter hasn’t fulfilled his initial 6-year service obligation, the Corps can deny his request based on “Needs of the Corps.”
Our source predicts the Corps will out-process “the cowards” expeditiously to prevent them from sowing discord among the ranks.
“These men, and they’re hardly men, are cowardly outliers—they don’t speak for the Corps. We serve the Constitution and the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, our commander-in-chief. If a Marine can’t get with the program, he’s worthless, a liability,” our source said.