An ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agent killed a woman during a raid in Minneapolis, causing outrage over the agents’ presence in the city and increasing political division around the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The shooting took place on Wednesday, during an operation that, according to federal authorities, was focused on a larger immigration control effort. The woman, described as white and middle-aged, was sitting in her car blocking a residential street because of the officers’ presence, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said. There was no indication that she was targeted by police, he said.
“In any serious public security body in the country, they would say that it is very worrying when someone shoots at an unarmed person’s car,” said O’Hara, but highlighted that he does not know all the details of the case and that, in some situations, the action may be justified.
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Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the agent acted in self-defense. Federal agents began arriving in the Minneapolis–St. Paul in early December, as part of what ICE called “Operation Metro Surge.” The Trump administration said the action will involve up to 2,000 agents and has already resulted in at least 1,000 arrests.
A video posted on X shows a Honda Pilot blocking part of the street as two officers approach. When one tries to open the door, the car moves back a little. A third agent appears in front of the vehicle and shoots the driver as the car begins to turn and move forward. The car continues moving for a moment before crashing.
President Donald Trump called the video “horrible to watch.” But in a social media post, it also accused the woman of resisting and said she “violently ran over the ICE agent, who appears to have shot her in self-defense.”
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He repeated what spokeswoman McLaughlin said, who classified the case as an act of domestic terrorism. “An ICE agent, fearing for his life, the lives of his colleagues and the safety of the public, fired in self-defense,” McLaughlin said.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey rejected the government’s version of self-defense and called the narrative a “lie.”
“This is not true, it has no basis,” he said.
He asked ICE agents to “get out of town” as a crowd gathered at the scene of the shooting, which sparked widespread controversy.
“The presence of federal immigration agents is causing chaos in our city,” Frey said. “We are demanding that ICE leave the city immediately. We stand with our immigrant and refugee communities.”
The woman’s identity has not yet been released.
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The neighborhood where the shooting took place is about 3 miles from downtown Minneapolis and has a mix of older buildings and homes, many around 100 years old. It’s a racially diverse area, about a mile from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020, an episode that helped boost the Black Lives Matter movement.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, criticized the Trump administration for “sending federal agents into the streets against the will of local authorities” and called for an investigation.
“I am concerned that the Department of Homeland Security’s statements do not match local videos and reports,” she said. “Our immigration enforcement should focus on arresting violent criminals to protect the population, but these actions by ICE are doing the opposite and making our state less safe.”
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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called for calm while state authorities investigate the case.
“We will release information as soon as we have more details,” he said.
The immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis takes place alongside an investigation into fraud in the state’s social assistance and daycare sectors, including pandemic cases. Dozens of people were charged or convicted, many of them of Somali origin, according to the New York Times.
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Federal authorities say this investigation is one of the reasons for the operation. Minnesota has a large Somali population, most with permanent residency or citizenship.
Walz, a Democrat, announced he will not seek a third term following criticism from Republicans and the Trump administration over his handling of fraud investigations.
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