UPDATE: ICE officer shoots and kills a woman during the Minneapolis immigration crackdown
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal officer shot and killed a Minneapolis motorist when she allegedly tried to run over law enforcement officers during an immigration crackdown in the city, authorities said Wednesday.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot the woman in her vehicle in a residential neighborhood in Minneapolis, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
The shooting marks a dramatic escalation of the latest in a series of immigration enforcement operations in major American cities under the Trump administration. It’s at least the fifth person killed in a handful of states since 2024.
The twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have been on edge since DHS announced Tuesday that it had launched the operation, with more than 2,000 agents and officers expected to participate in the crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents.
A large throng of protesters gathered at the scene after the shooting, where they vented their anger at the local and federal officers who were there, including Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official who has been the face of crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere.
In a scene that hearkened back to the Los Angeles and Chicago crackdowns, bystanders heckled the officers and blew whistles that have become ubiquitous during the operations.
“Shame! Shame! Shame!” and “ICE out of Minnesota!” they loudly chanted from behind the police tape.
After the shooting, Mayor Jacob Frey said immigration agents were “causing chaos in our city.”
“We are demanding ICE leave the city and state immediately. We stand rock solid with our immigrant and refugee communities,” Frey said on social media.
The area where the shooting occurred is a modest neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis, just a few blocks from some of the oldest immigrant markets in the area and a mile (1.6 kilometers) from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020.
“We’ve been trying to live life as fully as possible in light of the fear and anxiety that we feel,” said the Rev. Hierald Osorto, pastor at St. Paul’s-San Pablo Lutheran Church, which has a predominantly Latino congregation in the area.
During a news conference in Texas on Wednesday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed that the agency had deployed more than 2,000 officers to the Twin Cities and already made “hundreds and hundreds” of arrests.
For nearly a year, migrant rights advocates and neighborhood activists across the Twin Cities have been preparing to mobilize in the event of an immigration enforcement surge. From houses of worship to mobile home parks, they have set up very active online networks, scanned license plates for possible federal vehicles and bought whistles and other noise-making devices to alert neighborhoods of any enforcement presence.
On Tuesday night, the Immigration Defense Network, a coalition of groups serving immigrants in Minnesota, held a training session for about 100 people who were willing to hit the streets to monitor the federal enforcement operation.
ORIGINAL:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Authorities reported a shooting Wednesday involving federal agents in Minneapolis, where immigration enforcement has been conducting a major crackdown.
Live video posted online showed a large presence of federal officers, local officers, yellow police tape and cars that had been in a crash. Cmdr. Gregory Bovino of U.S. Customs and Border Protection was in the group.
“We are aware of a shooting involving federal law enforcement near East 34th Street and Portland Avenue. Please avoid this area,” the city said on X.
No other details were immediately available. In the footage, bystanders can been seen and heard blowing whistles and taunting the federal agents, telling them to go home.
The Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that it had launched an extraordinary immigration enforcement operation, with 2,000 agents and officers expected in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area for a crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents.
The Immigration Defense Network, a coalition of groups serving immigrants in Minnesota, held a training session Tuesday night for about 100 people who are willing to hit the streets to monitor the federal enforcement.
