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Minneapolis Mayor: ICE Officer Reckless01/07 13:01
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Wednesday that the Immigration and Customs
Enforcement officer who shot and killed a motorist acted recklessly and
rejected federal officials claims that the officer had acted in self-defense.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Wednesday that the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot and killed a motorist
acted recklessly and rejected federal officials claims that the officer had
acted in self-defense.
During a news conference hours after the ICE officer shot the woman, whose
name hasn't been released, an angry Frey blasted the federal immigration
crackdown on the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
"They are not here to cause safety in this city. What they are doing is not
to provide safety in America. What they are doing is causing chaos and
distrust," Frey said. "They're ripping families apart. They're sowing chaos on
our streets and in this case quite literally killing people."
"They are already trying to spin this as an action of self defense. Having
seen the video myself, I wanna tell everybody directly, that is bullshit," the
mayor said.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A federal officer shot and killed a Minneapolis motorist
when she allegedly tried to run over law enforcement officers during an
immigration crackdown in the city, authorities said Wednesday.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot the woman in her
vehicle in a residential neighborhood in Minneapolis, Department of Homeland
Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
The shooting marks a dramatic escalation of the latest in a series of
immigration enforcement operations in major American cities under the Trump
administration. It's at least the fifth person killed in a handful of states
since 2024.
The twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have been on edge since DHS
announced Tuesday that it had launched the operation, with more than 2,000
agents and officers expected to participate in the crackdown tied in part to
allegations of fraud involving Somali residents.
A large throng of protesters gathered at the scene after the shooting, where
they vented their anger at the local and federal officers who were there,
including Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official who
has been the face of crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere.
In a scene that hearkened back to the Los Angeles and Chicago crackdowns,
bystanders heckled the officers and blew whistles that have become ubiquitous
during the operations.
"Shame! Shame! Shame!" and "ICE out of Minnesota!" they loudly chanted from
behind the police tape.
After the shooting, Mayor Jacob Frey said immigration agents were "causing
chaos in our city."
"We are demanding ICE leave the city and state immediately. We stand rock
solid with our immigrant and refugee communities," Frey said on social media.
The area where the shooting occurred is a modest neighborhood south of
downtown Minneapolis, just a few blocks from some of the oldest immigrant
markets in the area and a mile (1.6 kilometers) from where George Floyd was
killed by police in 2020.
"We've been trying to live life as fully as possible in light of the fear
and anxiety that we feel," said the Rev. Hierald Osorto, pastor at St.
Paul's-San Pablo Lutheran Church, which has a predominantly Latino congregation
in the area.
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.
For nearly a year, migrant rights advocates and neighborhood activists
across the Twin Cities have been preparing to mobilize in the event of an
immigration enforcement surge. From houses of worship to mobile home parks,
they have set up very active online networks, scanned license plates for
possible federal vehicles and bought whistles and other noise-making devices to
alert neighborhoods of any enforcement presence.
On Tuesday night, the Immigration Defense Network, a coalition of groups
serving immigrants in Minnesota, held a training session for about 100 people
who were willing to hit the streets to monitor the federal enforcement
operation.
"I feel like I'm an ordinary person, and I have the ability do something so
I need to do it," Mary Moran told KMSP-TV.
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