PULSE POINTS

❓WHAT HAPPENED: A Venezuelan migrant was shot in the leg after attacking a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer with a shovel during a targeted enforcement operation in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: ICE officers, a Venezuelan migrant, and others who attacked law enforcement during the operation.

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📍WHEN & WHERE: Wednesday evening, near North Sixth Street and North 24th Avenue in Minneapolis.

💬KEY QUOTE: “Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired defensive shots to defend his life,” DHS officials said.

🎯IMPACT: Leftist agitators are protesting ICE operations in Minneapolis, with some confrontations between them and federal officers turning violent.

The target of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) action—a Venezuelan migrant—was shot in the leg on Wednesday evening. Officials say the migrant assaulted an ICE officer by striking him with a shovel, trying to hit his head, and the officer fired in self-defense.

After this clash, the Venezuelan ran into a nearby home, where three other targeted migrants were located, and they barricaded the residence. ICE eventually breached the building with a specialized tactical unit, and all four migrants were eventually detained.

Homeland Security officials explained that the officer faced an attack not only from the primary suspect but also from two others who came out of a nearby apartment, wielding a snow shovel and a broom handle. “Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired defensive shots to defend his life,” DHS officials said in a statement.

Leftist agitators in Minneapolis protested following the incident, with demonstrators confronting police officers well into the night. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) and Police Chief Brian O’Hara held a joint news conference, calling for calm while criticizing ICE. Frey stated, “We have ICE agents throughout our city and throughout our state who, along with Border Patrol, are creating chaos. This is not the path we should be on in America,” implicitly suggesting that violent illegal aliens should be effectively exempted from federal immigration law and left alone.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche blamed Minnesota’s Democrat leaders for inciting violence against officers, saying, “Minnesota insurrection is a direct result of a FAILED governor and a TERRIBLE mayor encouraging violence against law enforcement. It’s disgusting.” Notably, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has previously compared ICE to Adolf Hitler’s Gestapo, and likened the current immigration enforcement operations in the North Star State to an “occupation.”

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