Dramatic video captures immigration arrest in city on edge after ICE shooting

Minneapolis: Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in a city already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman last week pepper-sprayed protesters and rammed their way into one home on Sunday (Monday AEDT), as part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.

In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minnesota’s Twin Cities region, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper-spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.

Federal immigration officers ram the door of a Minneapolis home to make an arrest.Credit: AP

Video of the clash showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document – unlike a warrant signed by a judge – does not authorise forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorises arrest in a public area.

Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.

But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighbourhood filled with family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.

More than 2000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the start of December, Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send hundreds of additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.

The Twin Cities – the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign – is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer last Wednesday (Thursday AEDT).

“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighbourhoods,” Minneapolis city councillor Jason Chavez said. “They’ve definitely been out here.”

Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.

An ICE officer uses pepper-spray on a protester as agents prepare to make an arrest on Sunday.Credit: AP

A woman is comforted on the street after immigration agents broke down the door of a house to arrest one of her relatives on Sunday.Credit: AP

People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners on Sunday in the neighbourhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.

More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for local human rights group Unidos MN, said.

“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily because they choose to look out for their neighbours,” Argueta said.

The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out to school while tensions remain high.

Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.

Questions about who should handle investigation

While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good’s shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and US senator Tina Smith said state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.

A photo of Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis, is displayed at a small memorial at a protest and rally in Seattle on Sunday.Credit: AP

“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw – what they think happened?” Smith said on ABC’s This Week.

The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Todd Lyons defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s The Sunday Briefing.

“That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.

Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn’t be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals”.

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