U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who defended Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Wednesday after an officer fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis, is expected to speak as tensions mount in the city, which has recently seen a large immigration enforcement operation.
Local officials have disputed ICE’s self-defence claim, with the mayor calling for ICE to leave the city.
An FBI investigation is underway after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
Renee Nicole Good, 37, was shot in her car in a residential area of the city.
Federal and local officials have vastly different versions of events. The Trump administration said the woman was shot as she deliberately tried to run over the agent, but the Minneapolis mayor said that characterization was “bullshit.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called for people to remain calm and the city’s school district cancelled all classes and activities as a safety precaution on Thursday and Friday.
Despite demands from local officials for ICE to leave the state, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said they are not going anywhere. She is expected to speak at 11 a.m. ET.
Rights group calls for removal of ICE in Minnesota, arrest of officer
Levy Armstrong, who is part of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), which will be holding a news conference later today, said the group is calling for the immediate removal of ICE from Minnesota, as well as the arrest of the officer who shot Good.
The group also wants a local law enforcement agency to investigate the shooting “because we don’t trust the FBI under Kash Patel,” Levy Armstrong said.
Patel was appointed head of the FBI by Trump last year.
Last night, as protests simmered, a candlelight vigil was held and a makeshift memorial appeared where Good was shot on Portland Avenue in a residential neighbourhood.
Levy Armstrong spoke at the vigil about the “open wounds” that have lingered in Minneapolis in the five years after the police killing of George Floyd.
The lawyer explained that the Twin Cities of Minnesota and Saint Paul have developed organized communities of resistance “because we have been engaged in sustained protest for many, many years against government oppression and against police violence.”
ICE shot to kill, says civil rights lawyer
Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer, told CBC News this morning her understanding is that Good had been acting as a citizen observer of ICE agents and appeared to have been attempting to leave the scene when she was shot.
“An ICE agent got in front of her vehicle and opened fire, literally shooting her in the head. So they intentionally took a kill shot. You know, they could have shot a tire, but instead they shot a mother of a six-year-old,” the lawyer said.
Levy Armstrong said ICE agents have been present in the state for weeks amid an ongoing immigration operation the Trump administration has labelled the “largest immigration operation ever.”
“They have not been reigned in by anyone … and so it’s really the power of the people at this point,” she said of the protests.
Protests in Minneapolis and other cities
Protests began early this morning in Minneapolis and have started gaining momentum in some other U.S. cities, such as New York.
In Minneapolis, demonstrators gathered outside the Whipple Building, the federal headquarters where ICE agents have been based in the area.
The protesters are carrying signs and chanting, including demands calling on ICE to leave Minnesota.
Public schools closed in Minneapolis
Public schools in Minneapolis are closed for the rest of the week, with the school district citing “safety concerns related to [Wednesday’s] incidents around the city.”
The district posted a message online saying all classes, programs, activities and athletics including adult education would be cancelled Thursday and Friday “out of an abundance of caution.”
Culled from CBC News
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