ICE agent kills female motorist during immigration sweep in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal agent shot and killed a Minneapolis motorist when she allegedly tried to run over law enforcement officers during an immigration crackdown in the city, authorities said Wednesday.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot the woman in her car in a residential neighborhood in Minneapolis, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

The shooting marks a major escalation in the latest in a series of immigration enforcement operations in major US cities under the Trump administration.

The cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have been on edge since the Department of Homeland Security announced on Tuesday that it had launched the operation, with 2,000 agents and officers expected to participate in the campaign linked in part to fraud allegations involving Somali residents.

A large crowd of protesters gathered at the scene after the shooting on Wednesday, venting their anger at local and federal officers who were there, including Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official who has been facing crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere.

In a scene similar to the crackdowns in Los Angeles and Chicago, bystanders harassed officers and blew whistles that have become ubiquitous during the crackdowns.

“Shame! Shame! Shame!” and “ICE OUT OF MINNESOTA!” They chanted loudly from behind the police tape.

A member of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) restrains a protester trying to prevent vehicles from leaving the scene after a motorist was shot in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026. Photograph by Tim Evans/Reuters

After the shooting, Mayor Jacob Frey said immigration agents were “causing chaos in our city.”

“We are demanding that ICE leave the city and state immediately. We stand strong with our immigrant and refugee communities,” Frey said on social media.

The area where the shooting occurred is an unassuming neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis, a few blocks from some of the area’s oldest immigrant markets and a mile (1.6 kilometers) from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020.

The Immigration Defense Network, a coalition of groups serving immigrants in Minnesota, held a training session Tuesday night for about 100 people who want to take to the streets to observe federal enforcement.

“I feel like I’m a normal person, and I have the ability to do something, so I need to do it,” Mary Moran told KMSP-TV.

Del Orto reported from St. Paul, Minnesota. Associated Press reporter Ed White in Detroit contributed.