Mayor to ICE: “Get the fuck out of Minneapolis!”
By Caroline O’Donovan and Maria Sacchetti / Washington Post / Jan. 7, 2026
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a 37-year-old woman during an operation in Minneapolis on Wednesday, federal authorities said, an incident that came as the Trump administration has staged a massive enforcement effort in the city.
Local officials, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D), said they were aware of the shooting and denounced the surge of federal officers at a news conference. Frey accused federal authorities of attempting “to spin this as an action of self-defense” by the ICE officer.
“Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly that is bullshit. This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed,” Frey said. “There’s little I can say that will make this situation better, but I do have a message for our community and our city and for ICE. To ICE: Get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at least two shots had been fired and the victim suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at the hospital. An investigation is being conducted by the FBI and Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, he said.
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O’Hara said there was no evidence that the woman, who he said was White, was the target of any law enforcement investigation or action.
Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minnesota) said in social media post that the deceased woman was a U.S. citizen. “I’m gathering information, but the situation on the ground is volatile,” Smith wrote on X. “ICE should leave now for everyone’s safety.”
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the shooting took place after “rioters” obstructed ICE officers and one driver attempted to “run over” law enforcement officers, which she called an “act of domestic terrorism.”
McLaughlin said an ICE officer “fearing for his life … fired defensive shots” that killed the woman.
Asked by The Washington Post if ICE would heed Frey’s call to leave the city, McLaughlin responded by email: “No.”
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The Trump administration is increasingly targeting unauthorized immigrants with no criminal record as it ramps up arrests, a Washington Post analysis of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data shows.
Television news footage of the scene showed police vehicles responding and police tape cordoning off some areas, with journalists and other bystanders being kept away from the immediate location of the shooting.
The incident occurred amid a reported surge in ICE activity that saw hundreds of additional agents deployed to the city following weeks of heightened immigration enforcement and hundreds of arrests.
A city spokesman said he was aware of the incident but could not provide more details.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) said the woman who was shot was a “legal observer,” apparently referring to activists who monitor federal immigration officers.
“I’ll continue to monitor the situation closely and will update as soon as I receive information. ICE must stop terrorizing our communities and leave our city,” Omar wrote on X.
DHS Secretary Kristi L. Noem, who was visiting Brownsville, Texas, for a border security event Wednesday, told reporters there that the ICE officers were attempting to push their vehicle that had gotten “stuck in the snow” when the woman “attacked them and those surrounding them” with her vehicle.
“An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively shot to protect himself and the people around him and my understanding is she was hit and is deceased,” Noem said.
President Donald Trump ordered immigration officials to expand their presence in Minneapolis at the beginning of December, focusing on the state’s large Somali immigrant population, whom he called “garbage.”
The incident is the latest eruption of violence during Trump’s second term, as he and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller lead the push to deport millions of immigrants.
Officials have surged immigration officers into Democratic-led cities and towns and increasingly used force to arrest them and deter protests, smashing windows, deploying tear gas and tackling immigrants and demonstrators.
Some have been shot: In September an ICE officer fatally shot Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, an undocumented immigrant, in the Chicago area after alleging that he drove his vehicle toward law enforcement officials.
In November, a federal judge in Chicago said that immigration officers and Border Patrol were using excessive force against protesters, saying the “use of force shocks the conscience.”
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis pointed to multiple examples of immigration officers excessively deploying tear gas, pepper spray and other crowd control devices. She also said Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Border Patrol commander, had “admitted that he lied” about getting struck by a rock in the head before using tear gas against civilians.
As news of the shooting spread in Minneapolis on Wednesday, protesters gathered at the scene, yelling at immigration agents and throwing snowballs, according to live stream footage. The footage showed ICE agents responding with tear gas. Bovino was also at the scene, according to news reports.
After law enforcement from the Minneapolis Police Department and Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office appeared on the scene, city council member Jamal Osman told a live streamer that ICE was being asked to leave.
“The chief is trying to do everything he can to get ICE off the street,” he said.
Republicans in recent months have focused on cases of social services fraud in Minnesota involving hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen public funds. Some but not all of the criminals prosecuted for fraud are Somali, but Republicans have focused on that group’s involvement.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), whose office did not immediately respond to request for comment, announced on Monday he would no longer seek a third term as governor amid the controversy. In a social media post Wednesday, Walz said his team is “working to gather information” and asked “folks to remain calm.”
Frey had previously expressed concern that ICE’s presence in Minneapolis could spill over into violence, and damage already frayed relations between citizens and law enforcement. “I am gravely concerned that if we continue on this present trajectory somebody is going to get killed,” he said at a Dec. 23 news confer
Customs and Border Protection in 2013 was advised to train agents to get out of the way of vehicles rather than position themselves to shoot the driver.
Shooting at Vehicles: Recommendation: Agents’ and the public’s safety will be enhanced by policy changes related to shooting at vehicles. CBP should make policy changes that restrict agents from shooting at vehicles. Likewise, agents should be trained to get out of the way of oncoming vehicles as opposed to intentionally assuming a position in the path of such vehicles. The policy should mirror the clear and unambiguous policies that have been in place and which have proven effective in a number of large U.S. jurisdictions for over 40 years. The CBP policy should state “Agents shall not discharge their firearms at or from a moving vehicle unless deadly physical force is being used against the police officer or another person present, by means other than a moving vehicle.”
https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/documents/PERFReport.pdf
Kent State here we go again.
Steve Z – My daughter saw your comment and totally agrees. She’s the same age as Renee.
Murder under the color of authority should be punished and not rationalized or receive an executive pardon. I observed several videos of the murder and it is clear the ICE goon walked up to the side of the van and fired into the open window. There were to ICE goons and the one closest did not fire. Now we are told the Minneapolis State Police have been ordered to stop investigation, which of course plays into the instant coverup by the FBI.
Video posted by the BBC clearly shows the ICE agent firing 2 more shots into the car while he is STANDING NEXT to it, and in zero danger of the “weaponized vehicle.” I also immediately thought of Kent State, however I don’t think the US is shocked or moved anymore by the govt killing protesters. After 8 years of Trump, people aren’t surprised by this. Another horrible, violent day in America courtesy of a violent, militant regime.