TENSIONS surrounding President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown escalated on Thursday after two shootings involving federal immigration officers in as many days, deepening divisions between state and federal authorities over the conduct of enforcement operations and the use of lethal force.
Reutere reported on Friday that protests intensified in Minnesota following the fatal shooting on Wednesday of a 37-year-old mother of three by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
Minnesota officials and federal authorities offered sharply conflicting versions of the incident, while state investigators said they had been excluded from the federal inquiry.
The shooting was followed on Thursday by another incident in Portland, Oregon, where a U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and wounded a man and a woman. Local officials said they could not independently verify the federal government’s account and urged calm as tensions rose.
In both cases, Democratic governors and mayors demanded that the Trump administration withdraw federal officers, who have been deployed largely to Democratic-led cities as part of an aggressive enforcement strategy backed by many of the president’s supporters. \
Trump campaigned on a promise to deport undocumented immigrants, but Democrats and civil rights groups have criticised the operations as an unnecessary provocation.
“When a president endorses tearing families apart and attempts to govern through fear and hate rather than shared values, you foster an environment of lawlessness and recklessness,” Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said.
Federal officials said both shootings reflected what they described as a growing trend of criminal suspects and anti-Trump activists using vehicles as weapons, though video evidence has at times contradicted those claims.
In Minnesota, an ICE officer shot and killed Renee Nichole Good, a U.S. citizen. According to an activist familiar with her activities, Good had been taking part in a “neighborhood patrol” observing ICE operations. Federal officials alleged she attempted to run over the officer, while supporters of Good said video footage showed her steering away from him.
In Portland, the Department of Homeland Security said the driver involved was a suspected Venezuelan gang member who attempted to “weaponize” his vehicle and run over agents. DHS said “an agent fired a defensive shot” and the driver fled the scene with a passenger. Portland police later said two gunshot victims were found about two miles away and taken to hospital.
As demonstrations grew in Minneapolis, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he had placed the state’s National Guard on alert amid fears of civil unrest.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on Thursday, shouting “shame” and “murder” at armed and masked federal officers. Some officers responded by using tear gas and pepper balls to disperse crowds.
“I feel like we’re at a turning point. I can’t say it enough, but things have got to change,” said Minneapolis protester Rachel Hoppei, 52.
“We don’t want you,” she said of federal officers. “You have no right to be here. You’re destroying our communities.”
Minnesota officials said they had been denied access to evidence, case materials and witness interviews related to the shooting. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said it had withdrawn from the investigation as a result. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters in New York that Minnesota did not have jurisdiction over the case.
The ICE agent involved in the shooting was among roughly 2,000 federal officers deployed to the Minneapolis area in what the Trump administration described as the “largest DHS operation ever.” Officials said the deployment was part of a nationwide crackdown on migrants and linked to an investigation into alleged fraud involving some nonprofit groups in the Somali community.
Vice President JD Vance defended the officer during a press briefing, repeatedly describing Good’s actions as an “attack” and saying the agent deserved “a debt of gratitude.”
Vance said the same officer had been dragged by a car last year and required 33 stitches.
That account matched a June 2025 case in Bloomington, Minnesota, in which a migrant living in the country illegally attempted to flee during an arrest, dragging an ICE officer about 100 yards.
Court records identified the officer as Jonathan Ross, who suffered wounds to his arm and hand requiring 33 stitches. The driver was convicted last month of assaulting a federal officer. DHS declined to identify the agent involved in the latest shooting.
Further details have emerged about Good, who had a 15-year-old daughter and two sons aged 12 and six, according to the Washington Post.
Michelle Gross, president of the Minnesota-based Community United Against Police Brutality and a paralegal for the National Lawyers Guild, told Reuters she knew Good personally and said she had been participating in neighbourhood observer patrols at the time of her death.
Gross rejected claims by Noem that Good had been “stalking and impeding” agents throughout the day.
“There was absolutely no justification for deadly force,” Gross said. “People are just exercising their First Amendment right to videotape police.”
What happened in the moments before Good was killed remains fiercely disputed. Bystander videos show two masked officers approaching her car, which was stopped at a perpendicular angle on a Minneapolis street. As one officer ordered her out and reached for the door handle, the car briefly reversed before moving forward and turning to the right.
A third officer drew his gun and fired three times while stepping back, with the final shots fired through the driver’s window after the car’s bumper appeared to have passed his body.
It was unclear from the footage whether the vehicle made contact with the officer, who remained on his feet and was seen walking after the shooting.
President Trump said on social media that the woman “ran over the ICE Officer,” a claim that continues to be contested by witnesses and state officials. - January 9, 2025
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