Political battle lines quickly formed in the wake of an ICE agent firing upon a woman Wednesday morning in a vehicle driving at him in Minneapolis, with the Department of Homeland Security labeling the woman a “domestic terrorist” while some Democrats quickly labeled the federal officer a “murderer.” 

Left-wing-leaning officials and commentators invoked the memory of George Floyd, whose death in police custody led to mass protests and violent riots in 2020, first in Minneapolis, then nationwide. However, there was no reported violence last night in Minneapolis, as estimated thousands held a vigil for the Tuesday morning shooting victim Nicole Good.

Still, news of the shooting earlier in the day quickly went viral, with DHS stating that “rioters began blocking ICE officers and one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them—an act of domestic terrorism.” 

Conversely, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., echoed what many leftwing activists and Democrats thought of the shooting, saying that “it was not ‘domestic terrorism.’ It was state sanctioned violence. A family will forever live with the pain caused by the admin's reckless and deadly actions. Abolishing ICE is not enough. They must be held accountable.” She called the shooting “murder” on CNN.

Multiple politicians and commentators noted that the scene of Wednesday’s shooting was just a number of blocks away from where Floyd, a black male, died while being detained in Minneapolis police custody, which resulted in Derek Chavin, a white Minneapolis police officer, being convicted of murder.

The political battle began forming late last year when the Justice Department charged its 78th defendant in a $250 million fraud scheme involving the Feeding Our Future nonprofit in Minnesota. Some of those charged are members of Minnesota’s Somali community.

The department has been investigating fraud in the state for several years. And earlier this week, the Trump administration began a massive deployment of hundreds of Department of Homeland Security agents to the Twin Cities area as it escalates its federal crackdown amid a widening fraud scandal.

The shooting on Wednesday occurred amidst the backdrop of Democratic resistance to the  arge-scale ICE operations targeting illegal immigrants that is being carried out by the Trump Administration in several states including Minneapolis.

Viral video appeared to show the woman’s SUV parked perpendicular on a one-way street, partially obstructing an ICE truck as it drove toward her.

The ICE agent who would become involved in the shooting can be seen walking from the back of the car toward the front of her car from the passenger’s side as two other federal officers in a truck pulled up to her car as the woman waved her hand out the window. 

The two officers exited their truck and approached the woman’s car from the driver’s side. The two officers can be heard telling the woman to get out of her car. One of the officers grabbed at the driver’s side vehicle door.

In contradiction to the orders given by the officers, the vehicle went into reverse a bit, and then began to drive forward. The video shows the officer who had moved to the front of the car draw his weapon as the car moved forward toward him, and it seemed to show the car making contact with the officer prior to him firing his first shot. Two additional shots can be heard, and the woman’s car veered right and accelerated down the street before smashing into another car. The woman would die from apparent gunshot wounds.

Local media identified the female driver who was shot and killed as 37-year-old Good, whose mother said she would be surprised if her daughter had been involved in anti-ICE protests.

The Trump Admin stance: “Self defense” against a “domestic terrorist”

The Trump administration quickly and publicly concluded that the ICE agent had acted in “self-defense” and that the female driver had been engaging in “domestic terrorism” – both claims that would be hotly contested by Democratic Minnesota officials such as Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, as well as by fellow Democrats nationwide.

“I have just viewed the clip of the event which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "It is a horrible thing to watch. The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense. Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital. The situation is being studied, in its entirety, but the reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis. They are just trying to do the job of MAKING AMERICA SAFE.”

DHS announced on X on Wednesday that Secretary Kristi Noem "holds press conference on domestic terror attack in Minneapolis against ICE agents.”

Noem told the media that “ICE officers and agents approached the vehicle of the individual in question who was blocking the officers in with her vehicle — and she had been stalking and impeding their work all throughout the day. ICE agents repeatedly ordered her to get out of the car and to stop obstructing law enforcement, but she refused to obey their commands. She then proceeded to weaponize her vehicle and she attempted to run a law enforcement officer over.”

“It’s very clear that this individual was harassing and impeding law enforcement operations. Our officer followed his training, did exactly what he has been taught to do in that situation, and took actions to defend himself and his fellow law enforcement officers,” Noem said, adding, “The officer was hit by the vehicle. She hit him. He went to the hospital. A doctor did treat him. He has been released.”

DHS contended that “an ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots. He used his training and saved his own life and that of his fellow officers.”

Walz tweeted in response, “I’ve seen the video. Don’t believe this propaganda machine. The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.”

Democrats label the ICE agent a “murderer”

Minneapolis Mayor Frey said Wednesday, “To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis. … This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in someone dying. … Let’s unite around hope and love and peace and getting justice.”

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a far-left Democrat, claimed that “the president is deliberately weaponizing the federal government against the people of Minnesota to inflict pain and instill terror.” Ellison added: “We must stand up to this horrendous injustice, and in doing so, we must not stoop to Donald Trump’s level. We’re right to be heartbroken and angry, but we cannot give Donald Trump the excuse he wants to continue escalating this violence against Minnesotans.”

Walz had held a prior press conference on Tuesday in which he had attacked the Trump administration’s ICE operations in his state and had said that “I don’t think any governor in history has had to fight a war against the federal government.” 

The former Democratic vice presidential nominee also said that “we’ve never been at war with our federal government” as he blamed the Trump administration for the shooting.

“We have been warning for weeks that the Trump administration’s dangerous sensationalized operations are a threat to our public safety — that someone was going to get hurt. Just yesterday I said exactly that. … Today that recklessness cost somebody their life,” Walz said. “Our administration is going to stop at nothing to seek accountability and justice.”

Walz said that the shooting “was totally predictable … and it was totally avoidable.”

“You can be assured that whether it is the state patrol or whether it’s the National Guard, their deployment is there to protect Minnesotans from whatever it is – if it’s an act of nature, if it’s a global pandemic, or in this case if it’s a rogue federal agent,” Walz said, adding that “we have someone dead in their car for no reason whatsoever.”

The Democratic governor, who recently announced he was not running for a third term, said that “Donald Trump will make this about me. He will make this about politics. But this is about public safety.”

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, an avowed socialist, also weighed in Wednesday by tweeting that “an ICE agent murdered a woman in Minneapolis – only the latest horror in a year full of cruelty. As ICE attacks our neighbors across America, it is an attack on us all. New York stands with immigrants today, and every day that follows.”

Tim Miller of The Bulwark, an anti-Trump publication, also tweeted Wednesday that “I'm not sure the point of the frame by frame analysis of this execution.” Rania Khalek of the far-left BreakThrough News tweeted that “they are trying to justify a street execution by forces loyal to the President.”

Tommy Vietor, a former Obama national security official and co-host of Pod Save America, claimed that “this is just an execution by this ICE officer.” Krystal Ball, a co-host of Breaking Points, also contended that “this is an execution plain and simple.”

“Reckless rhetoric from political leaders”

The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association (MPPOA) released a statement on Wednesday arguing that “irresponsible, reckless rhetoric from political leaders attacking law enforcement has real and dangerous consequences for officers on the street.”

“When officers are vilified, demonized, or used as political props, it fuels hostility, emboldens bad actors, and puts lives directly at risk,” the group said. “MPPOA calls on leaders to stop the inflammatory language and respect the legal and investigative process.”

The Democratic Party tweeted Wednesday that “ICE shot and killed a woman on camera today. We all saw the video. The Trump administration is lying.”

Stephen Miller, a key White House adviser, responded that “the Democrat Party is committed to inciting a violent insurrection to keep millions of foreign criminal trespassers on our soil.”

Border Czar Tom Homan said on X that “the incident in Minneapolis today is yet another tragic example of the results of the hateful rhetoric and violent attacks against the men and women of ICE.” He argued that “these brave men and women are forced to conduct law enforcement operations in heightened threat environments every day. Like all Americans, our officers have a right to self defense.”

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., tweeted Wednesday that “Democrats need to stop encouraging citizens to interfere with lawful actions of law enforcement. It’s dangerous. It creates tragedies. And it’s wrong – ICE is doing the right thing and protecting us by taking violent illegal aliens off the streets.”

The invocation of George Floyd

Large and often-violent protests occurred in Minneapolis and swept across the U.S. in the summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd, accompanied by rioting, looting, arson, and violence.

Walz referenced “the murder of George Floyd” on Wednesday and said back then there were “disruptors” who “want to cause chaos” and said “there were those who destroyed property and put people at risk.”

“I feel your anger. I’m angry. They want a show. We can’t give it to them. We cannot. If you protest and express your First Amendment rights peacefully, as you always do. We can’t give them what they want,” Walz told the people of Minneapolis. “To Minnesotans: Do not take the bait. Do not allow them to deploy federal troops into here.”

Walz said that “Minnesota will not allow our community to be used as a prop in a national political fight” and that “we do not need any further help from the federal government.”

The Democratic governor said that “I have issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard.”

Walz said it was a “patriotic duty” for Minnesotans to protest and to tell the Trump administration “how wrong this is” but he urged the protests to be peaceful.

Rep. Tina Smith, D-Minn., “noted the ICE shooting Wednesday took place only blocks from where George Floyd was murdered by police in 2020,” according to the Washington Post.

“There is an element of PTSD and shared trauma that I think the people who live in and around this neighborhood are no doubt experiencing today,” she told the outlet.

“We have so many painful memories of the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. And I believe that the governor and the mayor are correct to be prepared,” Smith told NPR. “I, of course, fully support my neighbors' rights to speak out and to demonstrate against what they've seen. And that needs to happen in a peaceful way. And I think it's important that we protect people's safety as that will, I think, inevitably unfold over the coming days.”

CNN host Jake Tapper, during an interview with Ilhan Omar, who is Somalian, said that “I know that this neighborhood – only four blocks away from this shooting is where George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer. South Minneapolis – one of our reporters on the ground said that a lot of the people there are really angry and also really worried about this tension turning into something more violent on the streets.”

Quin Hillyer, a columnist at The Advocate, said that “this is every bit as bad, in its own way, as the police's murder of George Floyd.”

David Shuster, a former MSNBC anchor, wrote on X that “this may turn into another George Floyd incident. The woman driver was murdered not because she posed a threat, but because an agent was mad she disobeyed his orders.”

Escalation of anti-ICE violence

The shooting on Wednesday comes amidst a measurable uptick in violence aimed at ICE agents.

DHS said on X on Wednesday that the shooting “is the direct consequence of constant attacks and demonization of our officers by sanctuary politicians who fuel and encourage rampant assaults on our law enforcement who are facing 1,300% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats.” Noem said that the ICE agent involved in the Wednesday shooting had himself been the victim of prior anti-ICE violence.

A number of far-left activists have been charged with attempted murder for ambushing agents at an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas, back in July.

The FBI said that “an Alvarado Police Officer was shot while responding to a suspicious persons call at the Prairieland Immigration Detention Facility” and that “upon arrival, the officer encountered multiple individuals fleeing on foot. While engaging those individuals, the officer was shot in the back from an unidentified subject.”

The Justice Department said that a federal grand jury had “indicted nine North Texas Antifa Cell operatives, and seven more were charged by information, with offenses including rioting, using weapons and explosives, providing material support to terrorists, obstruction, and attempted murder of an Alvarado police officer and unarmed correctional officers at the Prairieland Detention Center.”

In a separate incident which occurred in Dallas in September, a gunman opened fire upon an ICE vehicle and an ICE facility, killing two detainees and wounding another person inside.

DHS said at the time that “the shooter fired indiscriminately at the ICE building, including at a van in the sallyport where the victims were shot” and that “three detainees were shot.”

The man had used ICE tracking apps to carry out his attack, and he committed suicide following the shooting. Authorities found ammunition with an “Anti-ICE” message scrawled on the shell casings next to his body.