On Wednesday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a woman during a federal operation in Minneapolis.
Soon after, President Donald Trump stepped in to defend the officer. He said he had watched the video of the incident and claimed the shooting appeared to be justified, arguing that the officer acted to protect himself.
“I have just viewed the clip of the event which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a horrible thing to watch,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He then described the women involved in harsh terms.
“The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and 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 said.
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Trump added that the ICE officer survived the incident and is recovering in the hospital.
He used the moment to attack political opponents.
“The situation is being studied, in its entirety, but the reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis,” he wrote.
Trump said officers are simply trying to keep the country safe.
“They are just trying to do the job of MAKING AMERICA SAFE. We need to stand by and protect our Law Enforcement Officers from this Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate!” he added.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that an ICE officer shot and killed a woman during the Minneapolis operation. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said federal agents were confronted by what she called violent rioters trying to interfere.
But local leaders strongly rejected that version of events.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he watched the same video and reached a very different conclusion.
“Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly, that is bull,” Frey said. “This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed.”
Frey said the federal government misrepresented what happened and demanded accountability.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz also demanded a full investigation. He said the video shows the situation is unclear and does not back up claims of domestic terrorism.
The shooting happened as the Trump administration sharply increased immigration enforcement in Minnesota. Hundreds of federal agents were recently deployed to the state as part of a wider crackdown.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
