US immigration agent kills woman in Minneapolis; mayor rejects defense claim

MINNEAPOLIS, USA – A US immigration agent shot and killed a 37-year-old woman in her car in Minneapolis on Wednesday, January 7, amid an immigration enforcement surge, according to local and federal officials, the latest violent incident during President Donald Trump’s nationwide crackdown on migrants.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey adamantly rejected the Trump administration’s assertion that the agent fired in self-defense, saying video of the shooting directly contradicted what he called the government’s “garbage narrative.”

“They’re already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense,” a visibly angry Frey said at a press conference. “Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly – that is bulls__t.”

Frey blamed federal immigration agents for sowing chaos in the city, telling ICE: “Get the f__k out of Minneapolis.” But he also urged residents to remain calm.

The shooting drew hundreds of protesters into the streets near the scene, some of whom were met by heavily armed federal agents wearing gas masks who fired chemical irritants.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a post on X that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer began firing after a “violent rioter” attempted to run over ICE officers in an “act of domestic terrorism.” The agent, the statement asserted, saved multiple lives.

“The alleged perpetrator was hit and is deceased,” she wrote. “The ICE officers who were hurt are expected to make full recoveries.”

Videos of the shooting posted on social media and verified by Reuters raised doubts about the government’s account. One widely shared video shows a maroon Honda SUV partially blocking a road. As the clip begins, the driver inches forward before stopping to let another car drive past.

The driver, with the window down, then appears to gesture to an approaching pickup truck to go ahead as well. Instead, the truck stops, and two officers exit and approach the vehicle on foot.

As one of the agents orders the driver out of the SUV and grabs at the door handle, the vehicle reverses briefly, and a third agent comes around to the front of the car from the passenger side.

The driver then goes forward, turning the wheels to the right in what appears to be an effort to head up the street away from the officers. The agent in front of the car pulls his weapon, steps back and fires, with the left front bumper coming close to his legs.

He fires three shots, with at least one shot after the car’s front bumper has already passed him. It was not clear from the video whether the car made contact with the officer, who kept his feet throughout the encounter.

After the shots are fired, the car accelerates up the street and crashes into parked cars and a utility pole.

The identity of the shot woman has not been disclosed. U.S. Senator Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat, said on X that she was a US citizen, and US Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat whose district includes Minneapolis, said she was a “legal observer.” The police chief said the woman, who was married, was not a target of immigration operations.

Walz, Trump at odds

Democratic Governor Tim Walz also rejected the federal government’s account and placed the blame for the shooting on the Trump administration. He told a press conference that he had put the National Guard on alert for possible deployment.

“What we are seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines and conflict,” Walz said. “It’s governing by reality TV. And today that recklessness cost someone their life.”

In a social media post, Trump said the video showed the woman “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense.”

His comments echoed earlier remarks from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who accused the woman of deliberately attempting to ram agents.

Trump, a Republican, has deployed federal immigration agents to Democratic-led cities across the U.S. through his first year in office in a crackdown against illegal immigration, leading to backlash from some residents.

The administration planned to send approximately 2,000 agents to Minneapolis, according to news reports, following allegations of wide-scale welfare fraud involving Somali immigrants, whom Trump has called “garbage.”

Witnesses describe shooting

Venus de Mars, a 65-year-old Minneapolis resident who lives near the site of the shooting, described seeing paramedics perform CPR on a woman collapsed next to a snowbank near the crashed car.

“There’s been lots of ICE activity but nothing like this,” de Mars said. “I’m so angry. I’m so angry, and I feel helpless.”

The deployment of agents to Minneapolis follows Trump’s recent attacks on Walz and the state’s large population of Somali Americans and Somali immigrants over allegations of fraud dating back to 2020 by some nonprofit groups that administer childcare and other social services programs.

At least 56 people have pleaded guilty since federal prosecutors started to bring charges in 2022 under Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden. Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2024, announced this week he would not seek a third term as governor, saying he did not have time both to address the fraud scandal and to campaign.

Immigration agents have been involved in other similar shootings during the Trump administration’s crackdown.

During “Operation Midway Blitz,” Trump’s immigration enforcement surge in Chicago last fall, ICE agents shot and killed Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, a 38-year-old Mexican national.

Gonzalez, a cook and father of two with no criminal record, was shot in his car after agents attempted to arrest him.

A DHS statement said Gonzalez had steered his car at agents, dragging one officer and causing him to fire out of fear for his life. Police bodycam footage obtained by Reuters complicated that narrative, with the ICE agent saying his injuries were “nothing major.”

Border Patrol agents also shot a woman in Chicago in October whom DHS said rammed into the agents’ vehicle. But her lawyer said video footage showed the agents hit her car before opening fire.

In December, ICE agents in Maryland fired at a van carrying two men, leaving one with bullet wounds. A DHS statement said the men drove at ICE officers, prompting them to fire in self-defense. – Rappler.com