During a Sunday extreme weather briefing in Albany, Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul called on top federal immigration officials to resign over the deaths of two U.S. citizens by ICE officers in Minnesota. (Photo courtesy Mike Groll/Office of Gov. Hochul)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have shot two Americans to death in Minneapolis during a broader surge of action across that city this month, and some New York leaders are calling for the top Trump administration official responsible to step down.

On Sunday, as she delivered a report on a brutally cold and snowy storm that hit the state over the weekend, Gov. Kathy Hochul took a moment to denounce the surge in immigration enforcement action, and officers’ aggression.

“I need to speak plainly about something that should stop every American in their tracks,” she said from the state’s emergency operations center in Albany. “Yesterday in Minneapolis, federal immigration agents killed another American citizen in broad daylight. His name was Alex Pretti. He was 37 years old. He was an ICU nurse, someone whose job was saving lives. Video shows him doing something he was trained to do — to help people.”

Hochul was referring to the array of videos, many circulating on social media, that show Pretti was attempting to help another person who had been sprayed with a chemical irritant by ICE agents when those agents then seized him. Someone shouted that Pretti had a gun, according to video of the incident.

Pretti was licensed to carry a pistol in the state of Minnesota. As he was pinned down, an officer held up what appears to be a pistol on video. Officers then shot Pretti at least 10 times.

This incident comes just a few weeks after Renee Good, another U.S. citizen, was shot to death by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.

Federal government officials have said that the use of force was justified and proportionate to the threat to officers in both cases. In Good’s case, the officer who shot her in her vehicle said she was driving at him with an intent to strike him.

In the case of Pretti, federal officials have said he was brandishing his weapon and threatening to shoot the officers he was near to. Pretti and the person he was attempting to assist were both in the midst of broader protests of ICE actions.

Hochul said that U.S. officials have lied about the two victims in an attempt to justify their deaths at the hands of deputized federal officers.

“This is a continuation of a deadly pattern, a pattern of violence,” Hochul said.

She said that federal officials have clearly misrepresented these situations, and said that Pretti was clearly holding a cellphone, not a weapon.

“But videos don’t lie. And don’t stop believing what your eyes tell you,” she said.

Hochul took issue with another aspect of the immigration crackdown — the use of small children in attempts to coax their immigrant parents out of hiding.

School officials in Minnesota have reported that ICE officials had seized a number of students from their district, including using a 5-year-old returning from school to coax a parent out of their home before seizing both people.

It’s all too much, Hochul said, and too clearly illegal and immoral, for those orchestrating it to be allowed to stay in office.

“Kristi Noem has forfeited her right to lead, and I’m calling on her to resign as Secretary of Homeland Security or Donald Trump to do the right thing and just fire her,” Hochul said. “And if not, she must be removed or impeached. And (Border Patrol’s) Gregory Bovino — who has helped lead, and defend and escalate these operations — should also be fired.”

While Hochul is calling for resignations, New York’s upstate Republicans are taking the federal government’s side in the fight at this moment.

In a statement to the Watertown Daily Times, Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-Cleveland, said that both incidents are tragedies, and cautioned against politicizing them.

“The loss of life is tragic and deeply sad, and these incidents deserve serious review grounded in facts, not political rhetoric,” she said. “Our federal law enforcement officers are carrying out the laws passed by Congress and are acting pursuant to a lawful warrant. It is unlawful and dangerous to impede or interfere with these highly specializes law enforcement operations.”

Tenney, who recently voted in support of a federal budgetary package that provides nearly $65 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, including $10 billion for ICE. That package passed the House and is now waiting on action from the Senate, where it could potentially be stalled by Democrats who have renewed their opposition after the shootings.

“I strongly support the men and women of ICE, CBP and DHS who put themselves in harm’s way every day to protect our communities and uphold the rule of law,” Tenney said. “It is inexcusable to see Democrat leaders encouraging chaos, promoting misinformation and hostility toward federal officers for political optics. I support fully funding our federal law enforcement agencies because they perform a vital role in safeguarding the safety and security of American citizens.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, also voted in support of that funding package in the House. Her team did not respond to multiple requests for comment sent on Monday.