By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - Prosecutors in Minnesota's Hennepin County have charged a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent with assault for allegedly pointing his gun at two people in a car along a highway in Minneapolis in February.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said on Thursday she believed the charges were the first to be brought against an ICE officer over actions related to the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Minnesota earlier this year.
The officer, identified as 35-year-old Gregory Donnell Morgan, allegedly pointed a gun at two people in another vehicle along a highway in the Twin Cities area, according to prosecutors.
Morgan has been charged with two counts of second-degree assault. There is now an active nationwide warrant for his arrest, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office said in a statement.
ICE, part of the Department of Homeland Security, did not respond to a request for comment. DHS also did not respond to a request for comment.
ICE is at the heart of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, triggering protests in targeted cities that expanded nationwide following the fatal shootings in January of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota - Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Hennepin County prosecutors said Morgan appeared to attempt to bypass slower traffic when the alleged victims' vehicle "briefly moved into the shoulder to slow him down." Morgan sped up to pull alongside their vehicle, prosecutors added.
He then "opened his (vehicle's) window, and pointed his duty weapon directly at both victims in the other vehicle while continuing to drive illegally on the shoulder," prosecutors said.
Morgan said "he feared for his safety and the safety of others," when he drew his gun, according to the complaint from prosecutors.
Trump has cast ICE's actions as necessary to curb illegal immigration, improve domestic security and fight fraud.
Rights advocates say the crackdown has violated free speech and due process rights and created an unsafe environment for minorities.
Advocates also say Trump's administration has used isolated fraud cases to collectively target communities and questioned his ability to tackle fraud, citing pardons given to those who have faced fraud convictions in the past.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
