Nationwide protests erupt after US immigration agent shoots woman in Minnesota

The fatal shooting of a woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent during an immigration operation in Minneapolis on January 7 has triggered nationwide demonstrations. Family members identified the victim as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good.

The Department of Homeland Security said ICE personnel were carrying out an enforcement action when a group of individuals attempted to obstruct them, as per multiple US media reports, cited by Caliber.Az.

Authorities released video footage showing a dark SUV stopped in the roadway as agents approached and instructed the driver to step out of the vehicle. When an agent tried to open the driver’s door, the SUV began moving forward. An ICE agent positioned near the front of the vehicle then drew his firearm and shot the driver.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem described the shooting as an act of self-defence, characterising the driver’s behaviour as “domestic terrorism.” She said the officer “fired defensive shots” out of fear for his life and the lives of fellow agents and members of the public, adding that he relied on his training to protect himself and others.

Protesters quickly assembled at the scene following the shooting, chanting “Shame! Shame! Shame!” and “ICE out of Minnesota!” Some demonstrators encountered heavily armed federal agents wearing gas masks who deployed chemical munitions. Additional spontaneous protests emerged in cities and towns across the United States on Wednesday evening, January 7, as the Trump administration asserted that the agent who shot Good had acted in self-defence.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey forcefully rejected that characterisation, saying during a heated press conference that officials were “already trying to spin this as an action of self-defence,” and calling that claim “bulls***” after watching the video footage himself.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz condemned the shooting as both “totally predictable” and “totally avoidable.” He urged protesters to remain peaceful and said the state’s National Guard had been placed on alert.

Minneapolis and neighbouring St Paul have recently become focal points of immigration raids conducted under Trump’s second term, operations that have resulted in thousands of detentions and multiple violent clashes between immigration agents and demonstrators. The region is home to a large Somali American population, which has increasingly been the target of the administration’s anti-immigration rhetoric, including accusations that some community members exploited federal childcare subsidies for low-income families.

The administration has sharply intensified mass deportation measures, allocating $75 billion to ICE’s personnel, enforcement and detention budget over the next four years — a level of funding that makes ICE the most heavily resourced law enforcement agency in the United States and exceeds the military budgets of many countries.

Since the start of Trump’s second term, the Trace news outlet has recorded at least 28 incidents in which federal agents discharged their weapons or displayed a firearm during an immigration enforcement operation. According to Trace, three other people had been killed prior to Wednesday’s shooting: two detainees fatally shot by a sniper at an ICE field office in Dallas, Texas, and a 38-year-old Mexican national who was allegedly shot and killed by an ICE officer in Chicago, Illinois, in September.

By Tamilla Hasanova