In the wake of the shooting death of Alex Preti by a federal immigration officer, former U.S. presidents who tend not to talk much about current events have decided to speak out.

For example, the day after the killing, Bill Clinton announced: long statement “There are only a few moments in our lifetime when the decisions and actions we make will shape our history for years to come. This is one of them. If we give up our freedoms after 250 years, we may never get them back,” he warned Americans.

Joe Biden quickly issued a similar statement, praising the Minnesotans who protested the federal government’s immigration crackdown, noting that they “reminded us of what it means to be American. They have suffered enough at the hands of this administration.”

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama too issued a written statement In the aftermath of deadly violence. “And it should serve as a wake-up call to all Americans, regardless of party, that many of our core values ​​as a nation are increasingly under attack,” the Obamas wrote. They went on to criticize the “unprecedented tactics” employed by the Department of Homeland Security, saying that “people across the country are rightly outraged by the sight of masked ICE recruits and other federal agents acting with impunity and engaging in tactics that appear to be designed to intimidate, harass, provoke, and endanger residents of America’s major cities.”

The Obamas concluded, “Rather than seek to impose a semblance of discipline and accountability on the agents they sent, the President and current administration officials appear to be trying to escalate the situation, giving a public account of the shootings of Mr. Preti and Renee Goode that appears to be directly contradicted by video evidence, without any serious investigation underway.”