Minneapolis did not wake up to a federal “operation” today. It woke up to a killing.

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A firsthand account from the scene of an ICE shooting, tear gas deployment, and a city urged to bear witness

I arrived near the scene shortly after an ICE agent shot and killed a woman during an enforcement action that federal officials quickly labeled self-defense. Hours earlier, I had been in a meeting with COPAL1, discussing how to responsibly document and amplify immigrant stories amid an increasingly hostile enforcement climate. That conversation ended abruptly. News broke. We stopped talking and went to witness what was unfolding ourselves.

What we encountered was not calm, and it was not controlled. Neighbors gathered, not as organizers or provocateurs, but as people trying to understand what had just happened on their street. City leaders would later say video evidence contradicted the federal account. On the ground, tension escalated as ICE agents attempted to leave the area. Snowballs were thrown at their vehicles. In response, agents deployed tear gas into the crowd. I was caught in it. My eyes burned. Breathing became difficult. This was not crowd control from a distance, it was chemical force used against bystanders in a residential neighborhood.

This is the gap Minneapolis is staring into tonight: between the language of federal authority and the lived reality on its streets. Between statements issued from Washington and what local leaders, witnesses, and residents saw with their own eyes. What happened here was no abstract immigration policy. It was police tape across familiar intersections, tear gas hanging in winter air, and a city once again forced to ask who holds power, who controls the narrative, and who absorbs the consequences.

A person collapses to the pavement after being exposed to tear gas during an ICE enforcement action in Minneapolis. Another bystander kneels to help, using water to ease the effects as chemical agents drifted through a residential intersection.
A person collapses to the pavement after being exposed to tear gas during an ICE enforcement action in Minneapolis. Another bystander kneels to help, using water to ease the effects as chemical agents drifted through a residential intersection.
A national correspondent films a live report while bystanders gather nearby following the fatal shooting of a woman by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. The moment captures the strain of reporting as events continued to evolve on the ground.
A national correspondent films a live report while bystanders gather nearby following the fatal shooting of a woman by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. The moment captures the strain of reporting as events continued to evolve on the ground.
Minneapolis police provide security as an ICE vehicle leaves a residential intersection following a fatal enforcement action. Chemical agents had been deployed earlier in response to crowd activity.
Minneapolis police provide security as an ICE vehicle leaves a residential intersection following a fatal enforcement action. Chemical agents had been deployed earlier in response to crowd activity.
A Minneapolis City Council member, who himself lost an eye after being struck by a police-fired rubber bullet during an earlier protest, addresses demonstrators through a megaphone. He urges them to remain as witnesses as police lines and armored vehicles hold the intersection.
A Minneapolis City Council member, who himself lost an eye after being struck by a police-fired rubber bullet during an earlier protest, addresses demonstrators through a megaphone. He urges them to remain as witnesses as police lines and armored vehicles hold the intersection.

Footnotes

  1. COPAL (Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Acción Latina) is a Minnesota grassroots organization founded in 2018 that focuses on building community power, supporting immigrant and Latino/Latine families, and advancing civic participation, workers’ rights, housing access, and social justice through organizing and advocacy.  ↩

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