An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minneapolis driver on Wednesday during the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown on a major American city — a shooting that federal officials said was an act of self-defence but that the mayor described as reckless and unnecessary.
The 37-year-old woman was shot in front of a family member during a traffic stop in a snowy residential neighbourhood south of downtown Minneapolis, just a few blocks from some of the city’s oldest immigrant markets and about a mile (1.6 kilometres) from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020. Her death quickly drew a crowd of hundreds of angry protesters.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, speaking while visiting Texas, described the incident as an “act of domestic terrorism” carried out against ICE officers by a woman who “attempted to run them over and rammed them with her vehicle”.
“An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively, shot, to protect himself and the people around him,” Noem said.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey blasted that characterisation as “garbage” and criticised the federal deployment of more than 2,000 officers to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul as part of the immigration crackdown.
“What they are doing is not to provide safety in America. What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust,” Frey said, calling on immigration agents to leave. “They’re ripping families apart. They’re sowing chaos on our streets, and in this case, quite literally killing people.”
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“They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defence. Having seen the video myself, I wanna tell everybody directly, that is bullshit,” the mayor added.
Videos taken by bystanders from different vantage points and posted to social media show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward and a different ICE officer standing in front of the vehicle pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots into the vehicle at close range, jumping back as the SUV moves towards him.
It was not clear from the videos whether the vehicle made contact with the officer. The SUV then sped into two cars parked at the kerb nearby before crashing to a stop. Witnesses screamed obscenities, expressing shock at what they had seen.
After the shooting, emergency medical technicians attempted to administer aid to the woman.
The killing marked a dramatic escalation in a series of immigration enforcement operations in major cities under the Trump administration. The death of the Minneapolis driver, whose name was not immediately released, was at least the fifth linked to immigration crackdowns.
The Twin Cities have been on edge since the Department of Homeland Security announced on Tuesday that it had launched the operation, which is at least partly tied to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. Noem confirmed on Wednesday that DHS had deployed more than 2,000 officers to the area and said they had already made “hundreds and hundreds” of arrests.
A large throng of protesters gathered at the scene after the shooting, venting their anger at local and federal officers, including Gregory Bovino, a senior US Customs and Border Patrol official who has been the public face of crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere.
In scenes reminiscent of those crackdowns, bystanders heckled officers, chanting “Shame! Shame! Shame!” and “ICE out of Minnesota”, and blowing whistles that have become ubiquitous during the operations.
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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he was prepared to deploy the National Guard if necessary. He said a family member of the driver witnessed the killing, which he described as “predictable” and “avoidable”. While expressing outrage, Walz urged protesters to remain peaceful.
“They want a show. We can’t give it to them. We cannot,” the governor said at a news conference. “If you protest and express your First Amendment rights, please do so peacefully, as you always do.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara briefly described the shooting to reporters but, unlike federal officials, gave no indication that the driver was attempting to harm anyone. He said she had been shot in the head.
“This woman was in her vehicle and was blocking the roadway on Portland Avenue,” O’Hara said. “At some point a federal law enforcement officer approached her on foot and the vehicle began to drive off. At least two shots were fired. The vehicle then crashed on the side of the roadway.”
There were calls on social media to prosecute the officer who fired the shots. Bob Jacobson, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, said state authorities would investigate the shooting alongside federal officials.
“Keep in mind that this is an investigation that is also in its infancy,” Jacobson said. “Any speculation about what has happened would be just that.”
The shooting occurred in the district of Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar, who described it as “state violence”, not law enforcement.
For nearly a year, migrant rights advocates and neighbourhood activists across the Twin Cities have been preparing to mobilise in the event of an immigration enforcement surge. From houses of worship to mobile home parks, they have built extensive online networks, scanned licence plates for suspected federal vehicles, and stocked whistles and other noisemaking devices to alert communities to any enforcement presence.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
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