MAGA provocateurs want whistles used by Minnesota protesters to be ‘considered a violent weapon’

Alt-right provocateur Mike Cernovich fumed Sunday about the “hearing loss causing machines that terrorists use” against immigration enforcement officers and calling for them to be considered “violent weapons,” seemingly referring to the whistles used by Minnesota protesters and residents to signal ICE activity in the area.

“They damage hearing for life,” Cernovich groused, prompting other right-wing pundits to agree with him and suggest the whistles are not protected by law.

“The high-pitched whistles used by anti-ICE activists overload neural processing circuits, leading to decrements in mental performance. The purpose is to put the ICE officers into a high-stress state,” one pro-Trump social media account posted, prompting Cernovich to respond: “Yes.”

In the immediate aftermath of US Border Patrol agents fatally shooting Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, a number of pro-Trump personalities took to social media or television airwaves in an effort to try to defend the officers’ actions and the administration’s response – which has seen officials label Pretti as a “would-be assassin” and “domestic terrorist” looking to mass murder law enforcement.

Amid the Trump administration’s continued immigration crackdown in Minnesota, which had already seen the shooting death of Renee Good at the hands of an ICE officer, Pretti – a 37-year-old ICU nurse for Veteran’s Affairs – was shot at least ten times on Saturday during an encounter with federal agents.

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Pretti, who was filming federal agents with his phone during an operation near downtown Minneapolis, appeared to come to the aid of another legal observer who had been shoved to the ground by an officer when he was pepper-sprayed and then gang tackled. As Pretti was being pummeled on the ground, one officer shot him at close range – followed by roughly ten additional shots as he lay prone on the ground.

With video and eyewitness accounts sharply contradicting the official account from the administration, which is that Pretti intended to “massacre” law enforcement as he approached officers with a handgun, MAGA media figures soon attempted to find alternative narratives to lay the blame on anti-ICE protesters and observers.

One angle that was explored by Cernovich and others over the weekend was that immigration enforcement officers do not “respond well” to loud noises, apparently referencing the omnipresent whistles that observers and protesters use to draw attention to ICE activity and raids in Minneapolis neighborhoods.

“At Minneapolis City Hall, state and city lawmakers, including City Council President Elliott Payne and state Sen. Doron Clark, wore bright red whistles around their necks during a news conference last week about ICE’s operations in the city, a sign that the whistle had been adopted as the symbol of resistance to the federal operation,” the Minnesota Star Tribune reported last week.

Cernovich, meanwhile, complained about all the noise-making that protesters – who he labeled “terrorists” – have directed at immigration enforcement officers in recent weeks. At the same time, he insisted that this tactic overly impacted highly intelligent people.

“High IQ people don’t respond well to shrill noises,” Cernovich, who first gained notice a decade ago for promoting the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, tweeted. “From smoke alarms to those hearing loss causing machines that terrorists use against ICE. Tbh those things should be considered a violent weapon. They damage hearing for life.”

In response to Cernovich’s tweet about the “shrill noises” being aimed at ICE by “terrorists,” which should be labeled a “violent weapon,” conservative radio host Buck Sexton agreed while adding his own commentary.

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“All true,” Sexton reacted. “Conversely, people who need to constantly drown in noise- protest shrieking, loud talking, music blasting, modified mufflers etc- are overwhelmingly low-IQ, low-impulse control, and low consideration for others.”

“Anti-ICE activists follow agents, harass them where they sleep, create chaotic scenes while resisting arrest (often while armed), and use high-pitched whistles to increase the likelihood that agents make mistakes in the heat of the moment,” another anti-immigrant X account tweeted. “This is a suicide cult for mentally ill people who want martyrdom.

Lora Ries, the Director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation, further responded to Cernovich’s post by stating that these noises “are NOT speech.” Legal experts, however, would disagree with this assessment.

While noting that “physically intervening with ICE activity or obstructing justice is illegal,” attorney Tracy Roy pointed out that whistles should be considered a protected form of free speech.

“Bystanders certainly can make noise, blow whistles and alert presence,” Roy told the Minnesota Star Tribune.