WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) — The fatal shooting of a U.S. woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis has continued to reverberate across the United States, triggering protests in dozens of major cities.
With federal officials and local authorities offering starkly different accounts of the shooting, observers said that the escalating chaos could further strain partisan tensions and spotlight growing public anger over immigration enforcement tactics.
CONFLICTING NARRATIVES
On Wednesday in Minneapolis, 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent during a federal enforcement operation involving her vehicle.
The shooting has sparked widespread controversy nationwide, with sharply divergent accounts from federal and local officials highlighting partisan tensions over immigration enforcement.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance defended the ICE agent involved, claiming the woman had attempted to run over officers.
“The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defense,” Trump wrote on social media platform X, only hours later.
“She tried to run somebody over with her car, and the guy defended himself when that happened,” Vance said at a White House press briefing on Thursday, accusing the media of “lying about this attack.”
While republicans have stressed the necessity of ICE enforcement and the risks faced by agents, calling for additional federal support, Democrats, in contrast, have criticized what they see as excessive use of force, pushed for limits on ICE authority, and demanded a transparent investigation.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz have demanded that ICE leave the city and state immediately, arguing that the presence of ICE is causing chaos.
“We’ve dreaded this moment since the early stages of this ICE presence in Minneapolis,” said Frey. “This was a federal agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying.”
Democratic House lawmaker Ilhan Omar told CBS on Sunday that it is “not acceptable” for Trump and other officials to have issued public statements condemning the shot women “without a full investigation.”
Amid the partisan dispute, the FBI has taken full control of the case, limiting Minnesota authorities’ access to evidence — a move Governor Walz criticized as undermining transparency and impartiality, arguing that “people in positions of power have already passed judgment.”
ESCALATING TENSIONS
Amid ongoing differences between the Republican-led federal government and Democratic-led local authorities, nationwide protests have continued, further straining relations between local communities and federal authorities.
On Thursday morning, outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, demonstrations turned confrontational as hundreds of protesters chanted at ICE agents, with officers deploying tear gas and arresting some demonstrators.
In downtown Minneapolis on Friday night, about 30 people were detained after a march blocked roads and caused minor damage. Meanwhile, nationwide protests flared in major cities across the country — including New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and Seattle — calling for changes to federal immigration enforcement and an end to ICE operations.
“Frankly, this is the predictable outcome of the militarization of police forces, the hiring of masked thugs armed to the teeth, and the ugly branding of anyone who disagrees with this administration as ‘the enemy,'” Greg Cusack, a former member of the Iowa House of Representatives, told Xinhua.
CONCERNS OVER IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT
Since the start of Trump’s second term, the federal government has dramatically intensified arrests and deportations and tightened legal immigration through various measures.
On Nov. 5, the White House published a summary stating that “since taking office, the Trump Administration has arrested 150,000+ illegal immigrants, deported 139,000+ illegal immigrants, and released just nine illegal immigrants into the U.S.”
Yet analysts and polling data show that most Republican and MAGA-aligned voters support stricter immigration policies, even as those measures have sparked legal challenges and public criticism. Some Americans argue that the administration has, in certain cases, overstepped legal boundaries and bypassed proper procedures.
In a July analysis, the Brookings Institution noted that Americans have strong “procedural objections” to the way the Trump administration is carrying out its policies.
The article noted that many Americans believe the administration has acted too quickly and made numerous mistakes, disapprove of ICE agents wearing masks rather than uniforms during raids, dislike the way detention facilities are being used, and support the right of immigrants to challenge deportation in court.
Trump “has handled deportations in a very tough manner, and there are many images of masked agents in unmarked vehicles grabbing people off the street,” Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua earlier. “This disturbs a number of people due to its brutality and cruelty.”
According to a Pew Research Center survey released in December, 53 percent of Americans say the administration is doing “too much” when it comes to deporting immigrants living in the United States illegally, up from 44 percent in March.
“Trump’s handling of deportations is unpopular … The aggressive deportations we’ve seen, often against people without criminal records or even with legal standing to be in the United States, fall far outside what swing voters expected,” Christopher Galdieri, a political science professor at Saint Anselm College in the northeastern state of New Hampshire, told Xinhua. ■
