ICE Fatally Shoots Minneapolis Driver Less than 24 Hours After Launching Immigration Raids: 'She Was Trying to Turn Around' By Meredith Kile 53

ICE officers reportedly shot and killed a driver in Minneapolis — whom Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith described as a “U.S. citizen” — on Wednesday, Jan. 7, just one day after launching large-scale immigration raids in the Trump-targeted city.

A Washington Post reporter shared a witness account from the scene, which said, “Emily Heller lives near 33rd and Portland and said she woke up to a commotion outside her home. She said she saw a car blocking traffic on Portland Avenue that appeared to be part of a protest against federal law enforcement operations.”

“Heller said she heard ICE agents telling the driver, a woman, to ‘get out of here.’ ‘She was trying to turn around, and the ICE agent was in front of her car, and he pulled out a gun and put it right in — like, his midriff was on her bumper — and he reached across the hood of the car and shot her in the face like three, four times,’ ” Heller said, according to the witness statement.

“Heller said it appeared the woman then accelerated and traveled about 100 feet before striking a utility pole and some other vehicles. She could be seen slumped over inside her car,” the witness’s account concluded, as reported by the Post.

The Department of Homeland Security shared its own account of the incident in a post on X.

“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,” the statement 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,” it continued. “The alleged perpetrator was hit and is deceased. The ICE officers who were hurt are expected to make full recoveries.”
 
The statement concluded: “This is the direct consequence of constant attacks and demonization of our officers by sanctuary politicians who fuel and encourage rampant assaults on our law enforcement who are facing 1,300% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats. This is an evolving situation, and we will give the public more information as soon as it becomes available.”

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Video purporting to capture the incident shows one officer attempting to open the driver’s side door of a dark SUV. When the car starts to move forward and turn away from the ICE officials, another officer close to the front of the SUV fires multiple times at close range into the open driver’s side window.

The city of Minneapolis shared a statement on X that reads, “We are aware of a shooting involving a federal agent at 34th Street and Portland. We are working to confirm additional information, but what we know is that the presence of federal immigration enforcement agents is causing chaos in our city and making our community less safe.”

Sen. Smith claimed in a post on Wednesday that the victim was an American citizen, writing, “I’m gathering information, but the situation on the ground is volatile. ICE should leave now for everyone’s safety. Please be safe Minneapolis.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey held a press conference in which he offered his own message for ICE, saying, “Get the f— out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here.”

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The deadly shooting came just one day after DHS mockingly announced the start of its raids on the Minnesota city, with an X post that read, “GOOD MORNING MINNEAPOLIS!”

Increased attention on Minneapolis comes amid ramped-up rhetoric from President Donald Trump and his administration about Somali immigrants. Minneapolis-St. Paul is home to the largest Somali population in the United States, and they elected Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, the first Somali-American congresswoman in U.S. history and a frequent Trump target, in 2019.

During a televised Cabinet meeting on Dec. 2, Trump took aim at Omar and Somali immigrants in general.

“Ilhan Omar is garbage. Her friends are garbage,” Trump said. “These aren’t people that work. These aren’t people that say, ‘Let’s go, come on, let’s make this place great.’ These are people that do nothing but complain.”

“You know, if they came from paradise, and they said, ‘This isn’t paradise,’ but when they come from hell and they complain and do nothing but b—-, we don’t want them in our country. Let them go back to where they came from and fix it,” he added.