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Angry protests took place in Minneapolis on Thursday following the fatal shooting of a woman by an ICE officer taking part in the Trump administration’s latest crackdown.
The woman, identified in local media as 37-year-old Renee Good, was shot at point-blank range as she apparently tried to drive away from agents who were crowding around her car, which they said was blocking their way.
Footage of the incident shows a masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent attempting to open the woman’s car door before another masked agent fires three times into the Honda SUV.
The vehicle then hurtles out of control and smashes into stationary vehicles, as horrified onlookers hurl abuse at the federal officers.
Dozens of protesters gathered early Thursday outside of a federal building on the edge of Minneapolis that is serving as a major base for the immigration crackdown.
They shouted “No More ICE,” “Go Home Nazis,” “Quit Your Job,” and “Justice Now!” as Border Patrol officers pushed them back from the gate, doused them with pepper spray and fired tear gas.
“We should be horrified,” protester Shanta Hejmadi said. “We should be saddened that our government is waging war on our citizens. We should get out and say no. What else can we do?”
The anti-immigration enforcement protests weren’t confined to Minneapolis, as demonstrations also took place or were expected in New York City, Seattle, Detroit, Washington, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Antonio, New Orleans and Chicago.
Protests were also scheduled in smaller cities later this week in Arizona, North Carolina, and New Hampshire.
ICE agents won’t leave Minnesota
Local leaders demanded that ICE agents leave Minnesota but Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the agents won’t be going anywhere.
The Department of Homeland Security has deployed more than 2,000 officers to the area in what it says is its largest immigration enforcement operation ever. Noem said more than 1,500 people have already been arrested.
Noem called the incident an “act of domestic terrorism” against ICE officers, saying the driver “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.”
President Donald Trump made similar accusations on social media and defended ICE’s work.
Noem alleged that the woman was part of a “mob of agitators” and said the officer followed his training. She said the FBI would investigate.
But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called Noem’s version of events “garbage.”
“They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defence,” Frey said. “Having seen the görüntü myself, I wanna tell everybody directly, that is bullshit.”
He also criticised the federal deployment and said the agents should leave.
The head of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said on Thursday that the US attorney’s office had barred it from taking part in the investigation.
BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said in a statement that after the agency consulted with the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, the US attorney’s office and the FBI following the shooting, it was decided that the BCA Force Investigations Unit would conduct a joint investigation with the FBI.
But he said the FBI later informed the BCA that the US attorney’s office had changed the plan.
“The investigation would now be led solely by the FBI, and the BCA would no longer have access to the case materials, scene evidence or investigative interviews necessary to complete a thorough and independent investigation,” Evans wrote.
“Without complete access to the evidence, witnesses and information collected, we cannot meet the investigative standards that Minnesota law and the public demands. As a result, the BCA has reluctantly withdrawn from the investigation,” he wrote.
The shooting marked a dramatic escalation of the latest in a series of immigration enforcement operations in major cities under the Trump administration. Wednesday’s is at least the fifth death linked to the crackdowns.
Quoted from Euronews.
