MINNEAPOLIS: Outrage is spreading in Minneapolis after an ICE officer shot and killed a woman during an immigration enforcement operation, as President Donald Trump said the officer acted in self-defense.
Local leaders and residents have expressed anger over the incident and have called for clear answers and accountability as tensions rise in the city.
Jacob Frey, the mayor, called the government’s stance “nonsense” and urged ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officers carrying out a second day of mass raids to leave Minneapolis.
A video of the incident, which has not been verified by AFP, shows a Honda SUV apparently blocking unidentified police vehicles trying to navigate a snow-covered street.
The driver, who the mayor said was a 37-year-old woman, tried to drive away when officers approached and tried to open the door. An officer fired three shots from a handgun as the vehicle pulled away.
President Donald Trump, who has ordered anti-immigrant raids across the country, accused the victim of “viciously” running over the agent.
“The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting,” he told Truth Social, adding that the officer “appears to have shot her in self-defense.”
The incident took place during a protest action against immigration authorities in the south of the city, in the state of Minnesota, in the Midwest.
“Attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them is an act of domestic terrorism,” the Department of Homeland Security, which runs ICE, said in X.
“An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement officers, and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots.
“The alleged perpetrator was beaten and died. The ICE officers who were injured are expected to make a full recovery.”
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will participate in the investigation of the shooting, along with the FBI, authorities said.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called the federal government’s response to the incident “propaganda” and promised that the state would “ensure there is a full, fair and expeditious investigation.”
Large crowds chanting anti-ICE slogans gathered near the scene of the shooting.
Protests against ICE
There have been passionate protests against immigration operations under the Trump administration, which has vowed to arrest and deport what it says are “millions” of undocumented immigrants.
DHS said the violence was a “direct consequence of the constant attacks and demonization of our officers.”
The shooting reportedly occurred at 34th Street and Portland Avenue in Minneapolis.
Nearby, ICE agents pepper sprayed and shoved protesters, footage broadcast by local CBS affiliate WCCO showed.
Dozens of protesters and bystanders were seen at the scene after the incident.
“There’s no way this person did anything that deserves to be killed for it,” a bystander told the station.
Trump has made preventing illegal immigration and removing undocumented immigrants priorities during his second term, and has tightened conditions for entering the United States and obtaining visas.
During his campaign, Trump compared undocumented immigrants to “animals,” frequently linking them, without evidence, to criminal behavior.
ICE, which critics accuse of becoming a paramilitary force under Trump, is tasked with deporting record numbers of undocumented immigrants.
The Trump White House called Minneapolis Mayor Frey “trash” for comments after the shooting in which he accused ICE of “causing chaos and distrust.”
U.S. authorities said up to 2,000 officers had been deployed in and around Minneapolis to carry out immigration raids, partly in response to allegations of fraud involving some Somali residents.
In November 2025, a judge dismissed charges against two people accused of using their vehicle to ambush agents conducting immigration checks in Chicago.
