Protests sweep US as Trump administration defends ICE agent in fatal shooting of woman

Mass protests have spread across the United States after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent killed a woman in Minneapolis, as Vice President JD Vance publicly defended the federal agency’s actions.

Demonstrations and vigils were held on Wednesday in Minneapolis and in major cities nationwide, drawing thousands of protesters condemning the killing and opposing ICE’s expanded enforcement operations.

The protests were triggered by the killing of Renee Nicole Macklin Good during an ICE operation in Minneapolis, part of a nationwide crackdown on immigrants that has intensified under the current administration.

In Minneapolis, marches and vigils took place in several parts of the city as some outraged residents condemned the shooting and called for ICE to leave. Protesters shouted “Go arrest ICE,” demanding that local law enforcement forces detain the ICE agent who killed the woman.

The main gathering was near the scene of the shooting, which is about one mile from where George Floyd was murdered in 2020 by a city police officer, sparking worldwide anti-racism protests.

Protest rallies were reported in other major US cities, including New York, New Orleans, Miami, Seattle and other cities nationwide.

In Los Angeles, dozens gathered at Placita Olvera to call for an end to immigration raids that have brought terror to American communities.

Minneapolis Public Schools announced that classes were cancelled for the rest of the week, "due to safety concerns". It comes after federal agents reportedly made arrests outside a high school on Wednesday.

Macklin Good, 37, was a US-born citizen from Colorado who had recently moved to Minneapolis and never been charged with anything involving law enforcement beyond a traffic ticket.

Trump and the US Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, have claimed that the woman was trying to run over the agent with her vehicle, which DHS called “an act of domestic terrorism,” but videos circulating online and witness accounts to reporters have undermined those statements.

Trump’s immigration crackdown turns deadly in Minneapolis; president says killer acted in ‘self-defense’

A reported immigration enforcement operation carried out under US President Donald Trump’s expanded crackdown ends in a fatal shooting in Minneapolis.

Vance blamed the killing on the woman. "A tragedy of her own making," Vance said in a post on X, defending the ICE agent in Minneapolis for shooting the woman in self-defense.

Vance said he wanted ICE agents to know that he and the entire Trump administration, the president included, supported ICE's brutal conduct and stood behind them. He assured the immigration law enforcement agents that "we're going to work even harder to enforce the law."   

The Trump administration has been trying to frame the mother of three as a radical pro-immigration activist, describing Macklin Good as a domestic terrorist who had attempted to ram federal agents with her car. Her ex-husband said she was no activist and that he had never known her to participate in a protest of any kind.

The ICE crackdown operation began in Los Angeles in June and later expanded to Washington, DC, Chicago, Memphis, Portland, Charlotte and other major US cities.

The protesters opposed to the crackdown have been called rioters by the Trump administration.

The anti-immigration protesters allegedly attacked federal agents, prompting Trump to send in thousands of National Guard troops to ICE's help.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses at the scene told media that Macklin Good posed no real threat to the ICE agents who killed her, shooting her in the face at point-blank range through the windshield, and not allowing first-responder medics to treat her after the incident.

One of Macklin Good's neighbors told CNN she was at home when she heard the ICE agents outside. She said she heard the agents shouting at Macklin Good, who was driving an SUV, then one agent tried to open her car door, and the driver went into reverse and began pulling away.

"An ICE agent stepped in front of her vehicle and said, 'Stop!' and then - I mean, she was already moving - and then, point blank, shot her through her windshield in the face," she told the US news network.

Minnesota State Governor Tim Walz dismissed the Trump administration's accounts of the incident as lies.

"Don't believe this propaganda machine," Walz wrote in response to a Department of Homeland Security post about the shooting.

"The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice."

Top Democrats, including former vice president Kamala Harris and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, also released statements. Harris called the Trump administration's version of events "gaslighting".

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he had watched videos of the shooting that show it wasn’t self-defense and was avoidable.

Frey slammed the federal deployment of more than 2,000 officers to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. “They’re ripping families apart. They’re sowing chaos on our streets, and in this case, quite literally killing people.”

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