By Tim Evans and Renee Hickman
MINNEAPOLIS, Jan 7 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal agent was involved in a shooting in Minneapolis on Wednesday during a large-scale immigration surge, a city spokesperson said, in the latest violent incident during President Donald Trump's crackdown on migrants.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey confirmed the shooting in a post on X, criticizing the Trump administration for heightening tensions around immigration enforcement.
"The presence of federal immigration enforcement agents
is causing chaos in our city." Frey said on X. "We’re demanding ICE to leave the city immediately. We stand rock solid with our immigrant and refugee communities."
Trump, a Republican, deployed federal immigration agents to Democratic-led cities across the U.S. through his first year in office, leading to backlash from residents. In recent weeks, federal agents have been sent to Minneapolis following allegations of fraud involving Somali immigrants, whom Trump has called "garbage."
A dark-colored SUV with a bullet hole through its windshield and blood splattered across the headrest was seen rammed into a pole on the snowy street where the shooting took place. U.S. Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino was also on site.
Venus de Mars, a 65-year-old Minneapolis resident who lives near the site of the shooting, described seeing paramedics perform CPR on a woman collapsed next to a snowbank near the crashed car. Shortly after, they loaded her into an ambulance that drove away without its sirens on.
"There's been lots of ICE activity but nothing like this," de Mars said. "I'm so angry. I'm so angry, and I feel helpless."
(Reporting by Tim Evans in Minneapolis and Renee Hickman in Chicago; Addtional reporting Ryan Jones; Writing by Ted Hesson; Editing by Scott Malone)
