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The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has claimed that an ICE agent who shot and killed a civilian legal observer during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis was acting in self-defence.
“ICE officers in Minneapolis were conducting targeted operations when rioters began blocking ICE officers and one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them—an act of domestic terrorism,” the DHS said.
“An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots. He used his training and saved his own life and that of his fellow officers. The alleged perpetrator was hit and is deceased,” it added.
Today, ICE officers in Minneapolis were conducting targeted operations when rioters began blocking ICE officers and one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them—an act of domestic terrorism.…
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) January 7, 2026
Woman shot dead by ICE
The woman who was inside her vehicle died after being shot in the face, multiple times, by an ICE agent in a residential neighbourhood in Minneapolis.
Video of the Minneapolis ICE shooting completely contradicting ICE’s account that the driver was trying to ram anyone. Looks like they were turning around to leave, and immediately lit up pic.twitter.com/PwUZkPkIVt
— Abject Zero (@AbjectZero) January 7, 2026
The area where the shooting occurred is a modest neighbourhood south of downtown Minneapolis, just a few blocks from some of the oldest immigrant markets in the area and 1.6 kilometres from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020.
A dark-colored SUV with a bullet hole through its windshield and blood splattered across the headrest was seen rammed into a pole on the snowy street where the shooting took place.
ICE shooting causes more protests
The shooting drew protesters into the streets near the scene, some of whom were met by heavily armed federal agents wearing gas masks who fired chemical munitions at the demonstrators.
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Videos posted on social media showed a large crowd of protesters heckling Gregory Bovino, a senior US Customs and Border Patrol official who has been the face of crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago, and elsewhere.
“Shame! Shame! Shame!” and “ICE out of Minnesota!” they loudly chanted from behind the police tape.
BREAKING: Crowds shout as Gregory Bovino arrives on the scene of the shooting in Minnesota, with CBP Agents https://t.co/iRYlDFKI7n pic.twitter.com/kqbrn46vdn
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) January 7, 2026
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey blamed the Trump administration in a post on X for heightening tensions around immigration enforcement.
“The presence of federal immigration enforcement agents is causing chaos in our city,” Frey, a Democrat, said on X. “We’re demanding ICE to leave the city immediately. We stand rock solid with our immigrant and refugee communities.”
Immigrant crackdown in Minneapolis
The twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have been on edge since DHS announced Tuesday that it had launched the operation in the crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents.
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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.
