World Council of Churches' general secretary Rev. Jerry Pillay has expressed "deep alarm" over escalating violence in areas to which U.S. federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents have been deployed, especially in Minneapolis.

Pillay released a written statement on Jan.25 after the killings of Renee Good and – most recently – Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, a major city in the state  of Minnesota that forms "Twin Cities" with the neighboring state capital of St. Paul, which is bisected by the Mississippi River,

Pretti was killed on Jan. 24.

The killings have "occurred in circumstances that any right-thinking person who has watched the video recordings of those events must surely recognize as requiring independent investigation and full accountability for any crimes that may have been committed," Pillay said.

"The justification of these killings by the U.S. federal authorities and administration without any proper investigation certainly does not help the situation nor encourage federal agents to exercise restraint."

Pillay spoke on behalf of the WCC, which brings together churches and Christians in more than 120 countries and territories representing over 580 million Christians and including Orthodox churches, Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists and Reformed followers.

          - STANDING WITH RELIGIOUS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS

"We mourn with the bereaved families, and we stand with the church and religious community leaders and all those who are demanding an end to the violence, justice for the victims, and respect for the God-given and inalienable human dignity and rights of every human being in the United States of America, and around the world," he said.

Pillay's statement came just days after three cardinals in the US Catholic church criticized the administration of President Donald Trump and its foreign policy, The Guardian newspaper reported.

They said on Jan. 20 the U.S. administration's push to obtain or seize Greenland, recent military action in Venezuela, and cuts to humanitarian aid risk "destroying international relations and plunging the world into incalculable suffering".

"Our country's moral role in confronting evil around the world, sustaining the right to life and human dignity, and supporting religious liberty are all under examination," said a joint statement from Blase Cupich, Robert McElroy and Joseph Tobin, respectively the archbishops of Chicago, Washington DC and Newark, New Jersey.

"And the building of just and sustainable peace, so crucial to humanity's wellbeing now and in the future, is being reduced to partisan categories that encourage polarization and destructive policies," it added.

Without naming Trump, the statement noted: "We seek a foreign policy that respects and advances the right to human life, religious liberty, and the enhancement of human dignity throughout the world, especially through economic assistance."

It was the second time in two months that higher-ups in the U.S. Catholic church – with more than 50 million members – asserted their belief that the president's administration had been failing to uphold basic human dignity, The Guardian reported.