A woman is dead after accelerating her vehicle into an ICE agent during an encounter in Minneapolis on Wednesday. The ICE agent fired what the Department of Homeland Security described as a defensive shot, with video footage appearing to show the woman’s vehicle making contact with that agent. Seconds before, law enforcement seemingly ordered her to exit her vehicle.
ABC News contributor Robert Boyce pointed out that “this could be a justified shooting if that officer was brushed aside or feared for his life. … The body-worn camera is really going to tell the tale, because it also has audio,” Boyce said. “But from what I’ve seen so far, an officer was brushed aside by the vehicle.”
Despite the obvious risk to the officer — and the questions about whether the officer was justified in using deadly force — Democrats recklessly rushed to declare the shooting a “murder” and “heinous killing,” accusing the ICE agent of wrongdoing.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey responded to the shooting by saying, “What [ICE is] doing is not to provide safety in America. What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust; they’re ripping families apart, and they’re sowing chaos on our streets, and in this case, quite literally killing people.”
Gov. Tim Walz said, “We’ve never been at war with our federal government.” New York City communist Mayor Zohran Mamdani claimed that “ICE murdered a woman.” Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar called the shooting “state violence.”
New York Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman seemingly claimed ICE agents are “thugs” trying to “murder Americans.” Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries called the shooting a “heinous killing [that] must be criminally investigated to the full extent of the law.” Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “Accountability for this killing is not optional. … Our nation must reject this violence and unequivocally denounce it.”
Graham Platner, who is running for U.S. Senate in Maine, said: “Dismantling ICE is the moderate position. Unmask these thugs, arrest them, and make them answer for these horrors.”
Leftist influencer Harry Sisson posted, “The ICE agent who shot that woman in the face and killed her in Minneapolis needs to be indicted on murder charges TODAY.” He also stated that “ICE just killed someone in broad daylight in Minneapolis. This sh-t has to stop. We cannot keep doing this.”
Krystal Ball accused the agent of murder: “Looking like ICE thugs murdered an American protester. Trump threatened to launch a war against Iran if they treat protesters in this fashion.”
At a time when ICE agents have faced repeated attacks — from the September shooting that ultimately left two detainees dead to the July attack by Antifa on an ICE facility and other incidents of car-ramming — such incendiary rhetoric is far from harmless.
By immediately declaring the officer guilty and framing the shooting as “murder” or a “heinous killing,” Democratic leaders are implicitly justifying resistance by any means necessary. If the state is committing what the left claims is state-sanctioned murder, the logic is clear: There should be more anti-ICE violence.
Months of incendiary rhetoric, coupled with Democrats’ immediate assumption of wrongdoing, have turned ICE agents’ enforcement duties into life-threatening situations. Labeling likely defensive actions as “murder” or “heinous killings” provides moral cover for further attacks.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2
