A federal agent shot a man in Minneapolis on Wednesday night. It’s the second shooting in the city by a federal agent, one week after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Macklin Good.
Here’s the latest news on Thursday around the increased federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota. Find more coverage of ICE in Minnesota here.
7:15 p.m. | Judge orders release of Garrison Gibson
A Minneapolis man is out of jail Thursday, days after masked federal agents illegally broke down his door and arrested him.
On Sunday morning, agents carrying a battering ram but no judicial warrant smashed through Garrison Gibson's front door in north Minneapolis.
Authorities handed the 38-year-old Liberian man an order for removal in 2009. But they allowed him to remain in the U.S. provided he submit to GPS monitoring and check in regularly with ICE, which he did.
On Monday, Judge Jeffrey Bryan ordered ICE not to move Gibson out of Minnesota, but the agency sent him to Texas anyway before returning him to a Minnesota jail.
Thursday, Bryan ordered ICE to release Gibson, whom the judge found has no criminal record, and said the government lawyers missed an 11 a.m. deadline to respond to his petition for release.
Bryan also found that authorities never gave Gibson any explanation of what circumstances had changed to justify his detention.
-Matt Sepic, MPR News
5:30 p.m. | 911 logs reveal chaos, trauma after ICE agent fatally shot Macklin Good
Documents released by the city of Minneapolis on Thursday paint a picture of the chaotic scene following the fatal shooting of Renee Macklin Good last week by federal immigration agent Jonathan Ross.
“ICE, ICE fired shots into her windshield,” a caller told 911 as the operator urged them to catch their breath.
Public safety dispatch logs described multiple voices “yelling/screaming” in the background as a series of witnesses called for help.
“We had officers stuck in a vehicle and we had agitators on scene,” a federal agent who gave his first name as Phillip told a dispatcher. “And we have shots fired by our locals.”
“Do you have a description of the shooter?” the operator asked.
“No, I don’t have any of that stuff,” he replied, explaining he had gotten the information second hand. “We’re just trying to get assistance.”
“Still [attempting] to figure out who[’]s in charge,” another entry in the dispatch log read.
A crowd began to gather, and people threw snow and ice at the federal agents — but not, the dispatch entry noted, at the Minneapolis police. Two squad cars were reported as having their tires slashed, however.
“Contact who is in charge of feds and have them leave scene,” the dispatch log said, later adding, “crowd calmed down now that ICE is gone.”
— Curtis Gilbert, APM Reports
5 p.m. | Macklin Good family attorney vows to ‘get to the facts’
An attorney for Renee Macklin Good’s family told MPR News Thursday he sees a “path forward” for a civil lawsuit connected to her killing last week by an ICE agent.
“We have to get to the facts. Looking at the video is not enough to understand who is at fault and why were they at fault and whether or not there is recompense for this, and what changes can be brought about,” Antonio Romanucci told MPR’s All Things Considered program.
“Certainly, we would hope that there are changes brought about as a result of Renee’s death,” he added.
Romanucci’s firm helped secure a $27 million settlement from the city of Minneapolis over the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020.
It’s rare to see any type of criminal charge or successful civil lawsuits against a federal officer but Romanucci said he thinks there’s a course of action.
“I think any successful civil case is always an uphill battle. There is no such thing as an easy one. But we definitely see a path forward here, or else I don’t think we would be involved.”
Romanucci said his team plans a transparent investigation.
He said Macklin Good’s family emphasized they want people to know she was “much more than what she has been branded to be.”
“She was about love, she was not those words that the administration labeled her as after this happened. She is a mother, she is a committed partner, she’s a daughter, she’s a sister, she’s a PTA member, she’s an animal lover,” he said. “That’s the important message that the family wants.”
— Clay Masters and Gretchen Brown, MPR News
3:40 p.m. | Minneapolis church works to deliver groceries to immigrant families
Mutual aid networks in the state are working to support immigrant families. At Iglesia Dios Habla Hoy church in south Minneapolis, Senior Pastor Sergio Amezcua says they’ve delivered 12,000 boxes of groceries in the last six weeks and more than 20,000 families have registered to receive food.
“We’re doing it by the grace of God and by the help of thousands of volunteers we have in out network,” Amezcua told the MPR News program Minnesota Now. “They need help. We still have a lot to do.”
There are about 400 volunteers delivering to 1,500 families daily. The church is seeking more volunteers and donations can be made to their website.
— Nina Moini and Aleesa Kuznetsov, MPR News
3:05 p.m. | Ellison’s office launches online form to report incidents with federal agents
The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office on Thursday launched an online form people can use to share information, photographs and video of actions involving federal immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota.
Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday urged Minnesotans to peacefully and legally record ICE activity in their neighborhoods in part to “create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans” and “to bank evidence for future prosecutions.”
In a statement, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said information reported to his office may be important in enforcing state laws and “defending the State of Minnesota against actions that violate the State’s rights under the Constitution and applicable federal law.”
2:50 p.m. | NAACP asks for peaceful protests
A group of NAACP officials on Thursday called for people to be respectful and peaceful while protesting against ICE actions in the Twin Cities.
Cynthia Wilson, president of the NAACP’s Minneapolis branch, counseled community members to avoid escalating interactions with federal agents.
“We’re asking that if you protest, protest peacefully. If you agitate, you have to realize something comes with agitation, throwing things at the police officers, spitting on them. That’s considered assault. We’re asking you to protest with respect and with peace,” Wilson said.
Minnesota can be a blueprint for other states on how to address and handle these ICE interactions, she added.
— Regina Medina, MPR News
2:25 p.m. | Large federal agent presence continues outside Whipple Building
There’s been a large federal presence Thursday outside of the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling. Agents in full riot gear have been dispersing chemical irritants against protesters holding American flags upside down and signs that read “RESIST.”
Many who have been detained during the federal ICE operation surge in the Twin Cities are being held at the Whipple Building. Two ICE observers who were detained at the building for eight hours told MPR News holding cells had 40 to 50 people in them with many screaming and crying “let me out.”
— Sam Stroozas, MPR News
1:53 p.m. | Native American woman detained by ICE in metro area
The Native American Rights Fund, a legal advocacy group based in Boulder, Colo., says the nonprofit is working to assist a Native American woman who was detained on Wednesday by ICE in the metro area.
“We’ve been working to assist the coordination of legal aid for a Dakota woman that was an observer that was forcibly detained and is still incarcerated,” according to Jaqueline De León, a senior attorney with the nonprofit.
De León says her organization does not represent the woman but is coordinating with a Twin Cities based attorney.
The nonprofit is providing legal guidance and resources to Native Americans in Minnesota who have been stopped or detained by Immigrations Customs and Enforcement.
MPR News has reached out to ICE officials requesting comment regarding the detainee’s status in detainment and has not received a response.
NARF released an informational factsheet for Native Americans who may encounter federal immigration agents.
Tribal nations continue to encourage citizens to obtain and carry their tribal ID.
— Melissa Olson, MPR News
1:06 p.m. | ACLU sues to stop alleged racial profiling by ICE agents
The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota sued the Trump administration Thursday alleging federal immigration enforcement officers in the state unlawfully detained American citizens and engaged in racial profiling.
The ACLU along with local law firms is representing three Minnesotans who were detained and allege there was no warrant or probable cause to apprehend them.
The Trump administration has targeted Somali and Latino communities, said Catherine Ahlin-Halverson, an attorney with the ACLU.
"And because they are targeting Minnesotans based on their perceived ethnicity as Somali and Latino, agents are unlawfully using their enforcement authority against many more people of color and Native American people in Minnesota,” Ahlin-Halverson said.
The ACLU will ask a judge “to give specific direction to the agents that are on the ground here in Minnesota to follow the law in making stops and arrests, and we will hope that the court will proceed quickly in offering relief because of how dire the situation is on the ground.” Ahlin-Halverson said.
“People should not fear going to work to school to the grocery store to the hospital to their house of worship or anywhere in our wonderful state,” she added.
The ACLU says it plans to request an emergency order to prevent profiling by race.
The Department of Homeland Security has said its enforcement operations in Minnesota are aimed at rooting out fraud and arresting people in the country without authorization.
In a statement, DHS said agents use “reasonable suspicion” to make arrests and that no indiscriminate stops are being made. The agency called the allegations in the lawsuit “disgusting, reckless” and false.
— Dana Ferguson, MPR News
11:15 a.m. | Woodbury mayor says building will not be an ICE detention center
A building in Woodbury will not become an ICE detention center, the Woodbury mayor says.
City officials say they've been told the property owner is not planning to sell or lease it for use as an ICE facility, said Mayor Anne Burt, quashing recent rumors.
The announcement follows a couple weeks of speculation after the Washington Post reported that the federal government was considering a plan to convert warehouses across the United States, including one in Woodbury, into detention centers.
Burt said city staff worked to identify parties involved in any possible sale of the building and “through collaboration, communication and maybe just a little bit of pressure put an end to the possibility of this facility in our community.”
The federal government had been looking at the warehouse on Hudson Road because of its size, Burt added.
— Andrew Krueger, MPR News
7:20 a.m. | Trump threatens to use the Insurrection Act to ‘put an end’ to protests in Minneapolis
President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy troops to quell persistent protests against the federal officers sent to Minneapolis to enforce his administration's massive immigration crackdown.
The president's threat comes a day after a federal immigration officer shot and wounded a Minneapolis man who had allegedly attacked the officer with a shovel and broom handle. That shooting further heightened the fear and anger radiating across the Minnesota city since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good in the head.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the rarely used federal law to deploy the U.S. military or federalize the National Guard for domestic law enforcement, over the objections of state governors.
“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump said in social media post.
The Associated Press has reached out to the offices of Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for comment.
The Department of Homeland Security says it has made more than 2,000 arrests in the state since early December and is vowing to not back down. ICE is a DHS agency.
— Associated Press
7 a.m. | Residue from chemical irritants remains at site of Wednesday shooting
The site where a non-fatal shooting took place Wednesday in north Minneapolis at 25th and Lyndale avenues was quiet Thursday morning after being roped off the night before.
Torn police tape scattered the block, as well as evidence of pepper balls. Chemical irritants remain in the air after clouds of irritants were deployed, according to video and live stream of the night’s events.
Reports from Wednesday night said ICE left cars behind near the site.
— Jon Collins, MPR News
Happening Thursday
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The ACLU of Minnesota is expected to announce a new class action lawsuit against the federal government later this morning.
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The NAACP Minnesota–Dakotas State Conference will hold a press conference on ICE actions in Minnesota later this morning.
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Minneapolis City Council members and community stakeholders will launch their Evict ICE, Not Us campaign this afternoon.
Overnight | BCA conducting ‘independent’ investigation
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension announced late Wednesday that it’s investigating the shooting of a man by a federal agent in north Minneapolis.
“This will be an independent BCA investigation,” the agency said in a post on social media. The BCA said its team “has processed the scene and left the area,” and that more information would be released in the coming days.
The involvement of the BCA — or lack thereof — has emerged as a major point of contention in the investigation into last week’s fatal shooting of Renee Macklin Good by an ICE agent in south Minneapolis.
The BCA said it initially believed it would be working jointly with the FBI to investigate that shooting, but that the FBI reversed course.
11:10 p.m. Wednesday | DHS: Federal agent shot man in leg during struggle in north Minneapolis
A federal officer shot a person in the leg in north Minneapolis on Wednesday night after allegedly being attacked during an arrest.
On social media, the Department of Homeland Security said federal agents were conducting a “targeted traffic stop” just before 7 p.m. involving “an illegal alien from Venezuela” who attempted to evade arrest, fled the scene in his vehicle, crashed into a parked car and fled on foot.
DHS said that when an officer caught up to the man and tried to arrest him, he assaulted the officer and as they struggled two people came out of a nearby apartment and allegedly attacked the officer with a snow shovel and broom handle.
“Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life. The initial subject was hit in the leg,” DHS said, adding that the three people ran “back into the apartment and barricaded themselves inside.“
The DHS statement said the officer and the initial subject of the stop “are both in the hospital. Both attackers are in custody.”
Just before 10 p.m., the city of Minneapolis said “one adult male was shot by federal immigration enforcement agents in the 600 block of 24th Avenue North. He was transferred to a local hospital with apparent non-life-threatening injuries.”
Briefing reporters later in the evening Wednesday, Minneapolis police Chief Brian O’Hara said the incident began on Interstate 94 and ended up in front of the house in the Hawthorne neighborhood.
He could not confirm the details from the DHS statement that two people had run out of the house and assaulted the officer with a snow shovel and broom handle. Those items were at the scene but O’Hara said that “one person may have assaulted federal law enforcement,” adding that he didn't know if that involved the same person who was shot or someone else.
The chief said he asked the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to respond and they came to the scene.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said there was still a lot they didn’t know about what happened but noted this was the second shooting of someone in the city by an ICE agent in the past week.
“This is not sustainable. This is an impossible situation our city is being put in. We are trying to find a way forward to keep people safe, to maintain order,” he said. “We have residents that area asking the very limited number of police officers that we have to fight ICE officers on the street.”
