In the latest round of immigration crackdowns happening in major cities of the United States, a woman was shot dead by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis streets, U.S. on Wednesday, confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This has led to a mass protest and demonstration; crowds confronted with local and federal officers. Gregory Bovino, a senior US Customs and who has become a prominent figure in immigration crackdowns in Los Angeles and Chicago was also confronted. Crowd shouting “Shame! Shame! Shame!” and “ICE out of Minnesota!” was heard in many cities. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin confirmed that the woman was shot dead in a residential neighbourhood, and the officer reacted after the woman, 37, was trying to strike officers on the scene. This latest killing is an escalation in the immigration crackdowns happening recently under the U.S President Trump’s administration. This is fifth such fatality while the enforcement of immigration operations across major cities of the U.S. since 2024.
How did Trump react to the shooting?
US President Donald Trump reacted to the footage of killing the woman, he said, “horrible thing to watch” , he even said that the deceased woman deliberately targeted the officer. Trump called the shooting an act of self-defence. Trump further wrote on Truth Social, “The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense,”.
While the Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey criticised the killing. He accused the immigration agents of destabilising the city, “Immigration agents were ‘causing chaos in our city. We are demanding ICE leave the city and state immediately. We stand rock solid with our immigrant and refugee communities,” Frey posted on social media.
The woman who was shot dead stayed in the neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis, which is close to the oldest existing immigrant-run markets in the area. Besides, the location where the woman was shot, is just a few miles from the spot where the last immigrant George Floyd was killed by police in 2020.
Immigrant communities under fear in the U.S.
Since Tuesday, after the DHS made announcements of launching large-scale enforcement operations in the Twin Cities, both Minneapolis and neighboring St Paul are on edge. It is expected that some 2,000 agents and officers would be taking part in the crackdown.
One community leader said that such large-scale crackdown has triggered fear and panic among the immigrant families, who have been living in uncertainty since Trump got re-elected. “We have been trying to live life as fully as possible in light of the fear and anxiety that we feel,” said the Rev. Hierald Osorto, pastor at St. Paul’s-San Pablo Lutheran Church.
While the immigrant communities are in fear and panic, the recent shooting of an immigrant woman is being investigated.
JD Vance calls it ‘tragedy of her own making’
Vice President of U.S. JD Vance described this shooting, “a tragedy of her own making,” he supported ICE officers and also asserted in a post on X, “I want every ICE officer to know that their president, vice president, and the entire administration stands behind them. To the radicals assaulting them, doxxing them, and threatening them: congratulations, we’re going to work even harder to enforce the law.” Vance even made a comment on Good’s death, “You can accept that this woman’s death is a tragedy while acknowledging it’s a tragedy of her own making.”
