Minneapolis ICE shooting today: Protest held in Little Village, Chicago area after DHS says CE officer shoots, kills woman in MN
Protests were planned in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood and other communities across the area on Wednesday after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
There have been incidents of federal agent-involved shootings during alleged car-rammings in the Chicago area during an immigration crackdown over the past few months. They include a fatal shooting in Franklin Park , and another shooting in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood, where the Department of Justice dropped their charges against the people involved, including a woman who was shot and injured.
Little Village Community Council President Baltazar Enriquez issued a statement Wednesday afternoon, saying in part "Today, the Little Village Community Council, alongside community members, faith leaders, and allies, gathers in solidarity and grief to denounce the killing of a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis, an innocent U.S. citizen whose life was taken during an encounter involving ICE agents. We are outraged... Today's gathering includes candles, prayers, and support from the faith community, honoring the life that was lost and all families harmed by unjust enforcement practices. We call on the people of Chicago to stand together-to demand justice, to protect one another, and to insist on a nation where no one is killed for existing, for migrating, or for being brown."
Gatherings were also planned Wednesday evening in other communities, including in Evanston and at Winnemac Park on Chicago's North Side.
The ICE officer shot and killed a Minneapolis driver on Wednesday during the Trump administration's latest immigration crackdown on a major American city - a shooting that federal officials said was an act of self-defense but that the city's mayor described as "reckless" and unnecessary.
The woman was shot in front of a family member during a traffic stop in a residential neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis, just a few blocks from some of the oldest immigrant markets and about a mile from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020. Her killing quickly drew a crowd of hundreds of angry protesters.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, while visiting Texas, described the incident as an "act of domestic terrorism" carried out against ICE officers by a woman who "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."
SEE ALSO | ICE agent describes his injuries as 'nothing major' after deadly Franklin Park shooting: VIDEO
But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey blasted that characterization as "garbage" and criticized the federal deployment of more than 2,000 officers to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul as part of the immigration crackdown.
"What they are doing is not to provide safety in America. What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust," Frey said, calling on the immigration agents to leave. "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 bull****," the mayor said.
SEE ALSO | DOJ drops charges against woman shot by CBP agent in Chicago after being accused of ramming car
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
