People gather around the site in south Minneapolis where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a woman on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump defended a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday, as Democrats in Congress unanimously condemned the action.
Video obtained from the Minnesota Reformer shows an ICE officer asking the driver of a maroon SUV to get out of the vehicle. As the vehicle begins to drive away, an officer fires three shots through the windshield and driver’s side window. The video shows no apparent injury to the officer, who exited the vehicle shortly after the shooting.
But Trump wrote on social media: “It’s hard to believe he’s alive.”
“The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, then violently, intentionally and viciously ran over the ICE officer who apparently shot her in self-defense,” Trump wrote.
Minnesota’s Democratic congressional delegation and other Democrats in Washington, D.C. strongly condemned the incident and questioned the administration’s subsequent comments.
“We need full transparency and an investigation into what happened, and I am deeply concerned that DHS statements do not appear to reflect video evidence and on-site reports,” Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the state’s senior senator, said in a statement.
A opinion Several members of the Minneapolis City Council identified the victim as Renee Nicole Good, 37. A photo of the SUV shows several stuffed animals hanging out of the glove compartment.
Trump, back officer of the GOP
Republicans in Congress largely supported Trump’s version of events, calling the shooting self-defense and blaming Democrats for rhetoric that they said led to violence.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the woman tried to run over the agent.
“One of these violent rioters armed her vehicle and attempted to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them – an act of domestic terrorism,” McLaughlin said. “An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow police officers and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called the victim a “domestic terrorist.”
House Republican Leader Tom Emmer supported the ICE officer.
“Our brave ICE agents put their lives on the line every day to protect our communities from dangerous criminals,” he said in a statement. “May God bless and protect them in their efforts. Shame on the elected officials who endanger these agents by spreading lies and hateful rhetoric.”
Democrats are calling for an investigation
Democrats on Capitol Hill condemned the attack and the government’s response.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called for a criminal investigation into the ICE officer who shot the woman.
“No evidence has been presented to justify this killing,” Jeffries, a New York Democrat, said in a statement. “Secretary Kristi Noem is a stone-cold liar and has no credibility whatsoever. The masked ICE agent who pulled the trigger should be criminally investigated to the fullest extent of the law for acting with depraved indifference to human life.”
Democrats in Minnesota said the ongoing immigration enforcement campaign in the Twin Cities has heightened tensions.
“For weeks, Donald Trump has directed ICE and DHS agents to racially profile and arrest Minnesotans in their homes, their workplaces and on our streets,” Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota said in a statement, adding that more than 2,000 federal immigration agents were in the state.
“Trump’s reckless and dangerous immigration policies are doing nothing to make us safer,” she continued. “Today in Minneapolis, these actions resulted in a masked federal agent fatally shooting a woman in the head.”
Democratic Sen. Tina Smith said the woman fatally shot by an ICE officer was a U.S. citizen. She asked ICE to leave Minnesota.
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, the first Somali-American woman elected to Congress and whose district includes the site of the shooting, said the woman was a legal observer, a neutral third party who attends protests or other public demonstrations to observe and record law enforcement actions against demonstrators.
“ICE’s actions today were irresponsible and reprehensible,” Omar said.
DHS practices, budget questioned
DHS received billions for immigration enforcement as part of the tax and spending cuts package passed by congressional Republicans last year. The funds can be used to hire recent ICE officers and detain and deport immigrants.
On Jan. 3, ICE announced it had hired 12,000 recent officers, doubling from 10,000 agents to 22,000.
A top Senate Democratic supporter, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, wrote on social media: “Democrats cannot vote for a DHS budget that fails to curb the agency’s growing lawlessness.”
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker said in a statement he was concerned DHS’s aggressive practices would lead to more tragedies.
“All evidence suggests that hiring standards have been lowered, training is inadequate and internal controls are inadequate,” he said. “These conditions have allowed agents to operate without proper oversight and, in some cases, unlawfully.”
Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego also criticized ICE’s hiring practices, specifically calling out White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, a leading architect of the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
“What happened is a disgrace and we need an investigation immediately,” Gallego said on social media. “It is clear that this agent did not have the proper training and that is because Stephen Miller is working diligently to hire as many agents as possible.”
Examination of the daycare center
The federal immigration operation in Minneapolis began last month intensified this week after a right-wing influencer reported daycare centers run by members of the Somali community as fraudulent.
In response, the Trump administration directed states to provide a “justification” for spending federal child care funds they receive on “legitimate” providers, and Noem has focused immigration enforcement on the city, which has a enormous Somali community.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing on fraud in Minnesota on Wednesday.
