Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers Open Fire - Two Hospitalized In Frightening Exchange

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Two people were hospitalized in Maryland following an alleged shooting involving an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, authorities said. Details about the identities, genders, and ages of the individuals who were shot were not immediately available, The Mirror US reported.

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However, Allison Pickard, a Democratic councilwoman in Anne Arundel County, told the Baltimore Banner that an ICE agent fired a weapon after one individual allegedly attempted to hit the agent with a vehicle.

The incident occurred in the Parke West area of the city, a residential neighborhood known for its affluence.

“We took two patients to the hospital with unknown injuries,” said Lt. Josh Bramble, a county fire department spokesperson. He was uncertain whether one of the individuals taken to the hospital was a law enforcement officer.

According to Pickard, the neighborhood where the incident occurred was diverse and had a “high immigrant, Hispanic population.” Officials did not immediately release information about the severity of the injuries.

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A man was seen running from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outside a local Walmart and ran toward the Parke West area when gunfire erupted, according to the Baltimore Banner. The individual then drove a truck between two residences as agents continued to pursue him, a neighbor told the outlet.

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Another neighbor, who declined to be identified, told the Baltimore Banner that she believed ICE agents fired shots from their vehicle, describing the incident as especially alarming because children may have been playing outside on Christmas Eve.

The incident comes two days after an undocumented Cuban national struck two ICE officers with an SUV in St. Paul, Minnesota, prompting agents to open fire, according to authorities. Officials said the suspect also bit an ICE agent after attempting to flee the scene on foot. The St. Paul Police Department said the suspect was taken into custody without injury, while the agent struck by the vehicle sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Police said the ICE agent involved was the one who discharged a firearm. Officers responded to the scene after receiving reports of gunfire, said the reports.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Juan Carlos Romero entered the United States in 2024 using the CBP One app, which was introduced during the Biden administration, which did little to enforce U.S. immigration laws.

Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Associated Press that ICE agents approached Romero after seeing him get into an SUV and identified themselves. She said agents warned they would break the vehicle’s window if he did not roll it down. Romero then drove off, striking one agent, and continued to an apartment complex parking lot, where agents attempted to stop him again and ordered him to exit the vehicle.

McLaughlin said Romero then crashed his SUV into an ICE vehicle and struck a second agent. At that point, an agent fired shots at the SUV, but none struck Romero, she said.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to reassess an old immigration policy that turned away asylum seekers at ports of entry along the southern border of the U.S. after the Trump administration asked the justices to reexamine a Ninth Circuit decision that said the barrier was illegal.

The Biden administration ended the practice, which the government calls “metering.” However, the Trump administration wants to keep its options open as it cracks down on immigration.

“The Constitution entrusts the power to manage the border to the political branches, not the judiciary,” U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in November. Citing connections to active policies, Sauer said that “the decision below improperly ‘undercuts Congress’ authority’ to set asylum policy. It also ‘severely intrude[s] on the executive branch’s prerogative to manage our country’s borders.’”