Minneapolis residents took to the streets in large numbers on Thursday to protest against the fatal shooting of a woman by an officer of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during an immigration crackdown on Wednesday.
State and local officials demanded that the immigration agents leave Minnesota, and the governor, Tim Walz, asked that the state take part in the investigation in the shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good, a mother of three.
But Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, said agents won’t be going anywhere, adding that more than 1,500 people have already been arrested. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deployed more than 2,000 officers to the area in what it says is its largest immigration enforcement operation ever.
Dozens of protesters gathered Thursday outside of a federal building that is serving as a major base for the immigration crackdown, shouting, ‘No More ICE”, and “Go Home Nazis”, even as Border Patrol officers pushed them back from the gate, doused them with pepper spray and fired tear gas. People could be seen chanting “ICE out of Minnesota” and blowing whistles that have become ubiquitous during the operations.
A horrifying video captured by bystanders has emerged of Good’s killing in a residential neighbourhood south of downtown, showing an officer approach an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, grabbing the driver’s door handle and demanding that she open the door.
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The Honda Pilot then begins to pull forward, and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.
It isn’t clear from the videos if the woman had any interactions with ICE agents earlier, or if her car touches the officer in front. After the shooting, the SUV speeds into two cars parked on a curb before crashing to a stop.
Reports in the local media say Good was a US citizen. In another recording made afterward, a man identified as Macklin Good, Renee’s spouse, is seen crying near the vehicle. Local media reported the couple had recently arrived in Minnesota and that they had a child. Renee is said to have two other children from a previous marriage.
“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?”
For many, the protests have stirred memories of how Minneapolis felt after police killed George Floyd in 2020.
But, Homeland Security Secretary Noem has 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 and Vice President JD Vance made similar accusations on social media and defended ICE’s work, which have been slammed by Minneapolis Mayor, Jacob Frey, who called Noem’s version of events “garbage.”
“They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defence,” Frey said, adding, “Having seen the video myself, I wanna tell everybody directly, that is bullshit.” He also criticised the federal deployment and said agents should leave.
Despite Minnesota authorities expecting to work with the FBI on the shooting investigation, the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said Thursday that the US attorney’s office changed course Wednesday and barred it from taking part. Noem said Minnesota authorities “don’t have any jurisdiction in this investigation.”
“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,” Superintendent Drew Evans said in a statement.
Minnesota Gov Tim Walz said the state should be allowed to participate in the probe, since “people in positions of power have already passed judgment, from the president to the vice president to Kristi Noem, all have stood and told you things that are verifiably false, verifiably inaccurate”.
Walz said Wednesday he was prepared to deploy the National Guard if needed.
The anti-immigration enforcement protests in the US have now spread to New York City, Seattle, Detroit, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Antonio, New Orleans and Chicago, with reports coming in of protests scheduled in Arizona, North Carolina, and New Hampshire later this week.
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