Federal immigration agents deployed tear gas, pepper spray and other chemical irritants against protesters in Minneapolis this week, escalating confrontations that have turned the city into a flashpoint over immigration enforcement policies under the Trump administration.
The clashes occurred blocks from where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Nicole Good last week, touching off widespread protests and drawing more than 2,000 federal agents to the Twin Cities area.
On Monday and Tuesday, agents responded to protests by firing tear gas, pepper spray and other chemical agents at crowds that included children. Multiple eyewitnesses reported seeing young people with streaming eyes and runny noses after being exposed to the irritants.
At multiple locations around East 34th Street and Park Avenue in Minneapolis’ Powderhorn neighborhood Tuesday morning, federal immigration agents detained three people and deployed chemical agents. At least two of those arrested were observers and not targets of enforcement operations, according to local reports.
Eyewitness Moses Wolf told reporters that no single incident precipitated the tear gas deployment on Park Avenue. “I turned around for one second and there was this whole entire cloud of it, and pepper spray came with that,” Wolf said.
Another witness, Neph Sudduth, described agents throwing canisters as they departed. “They were finally leaving, it was the last car of the convoy. They just threw two or three canisters out at us as they left,” Sudduth said.
In one incident captured on video, an immigration officer rolled down his window and sprayed a protester point blank in the face with a chemical agent.
The confrontations intensified Wednesday evening after a second shooting in a week involving federal agents. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said a federal immigration agent shot an undocumented Venezuelan man in the leg following a traffic stop at approximately 6:50 pm.
According to DHS, the man fled the traffic stop, crashed his vehicle, then ran toward a house on the 600 block of 24th Avenue North. When the officer caught up to him, they got into a fight, after which two bystanders allegedly attacked the officer with a snow shovel and 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 said. “The initial subject was hit in the leg.”
The man’s injuries were described as non life threatening. DHS said both alleged attackers were taken into custody, though it remains unclear when or how arrests were made.
At least 100 people gathered at the scene, where officers deployed pepper spray, threw pepper balls and used flash bangs as protesters tossed items at agents. The crowd used horns and whistles while federal agents dispersed chemical irritants.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the crowd constituted an unlawful assembly, with some people throwing fireworks and rocks at officers. He urged people to leave immediately.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey sharply criticized federal operations while appealing for peaceful protest. “I’ve seen conduct from ICE that is disgusting and is intolerable. If it were your city, it would be unacceptable there too,” Frey said Wednesday night.
The mayor noted that “a huge percentage of the shootings that have taken place so far this year in Minneapolis have been by ICE,” raising questions about whether the federal presence was creating safety or undermining it.
However, Frey also warned protesters against escalation. “We cannot counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our own brand of chaos,” the mayor said, urging residents to go home and protest peacefully.
Governor Tim Walz delivered a forceful condemnation of federal operations Wednesday night. “They’re pulling over people indiscriminately, including U.S. citizens, and demanding to see their papers at grocery stores, at bus stops, even at our schools. They’re breaking windows, dragging pregnant women down the street, just plain grabbing Minnesotans and shoving them into unmarked vans,” Walz said.
The governor characterized federal enforcement as no longer about immigration but rather “a campaign of organized brutality.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday she planned to send more agents to Minnesota this week to quell protesters and continue enforcing immigration policies.
President Donald Trump defended operations Tuesday, saying, “We have taken out killers, rapists and drug dealers, people from mental institutions that came in illegally.” ICE has posted on social media about arrests of people accused of sex crimes who they allege are in the country illegally.
The initial shooting that sparked ongoing protests occurred January 7 when ICE officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37 year old Renee Nicole Good in south Minneapolis. Federal officials claimed Good was attempting to run over law enforcement officers. Local officials and Good’s family have vehemently disputed this characterization.
Good’s family described her as a “beautiful light” who “brought joy to anyone she met.” A GoFundMe for Good’s family raised more than 1.2 million dollars within one day, far surpassing its 50,000 dollar goal, with at least 32,000 individual donations.
Hours after Ross shot Good, Border Patrol agents arrived at Roosevelt High School and deployed tear gas as students were being dismissed, further inflaming community tensions.
Thousands marched peacefully Saturday from Powderhorn Park past the site where Good was killed, in one of more than 1,000 planned demonstrations against ICE nationwide that weekend.
Community response networks have organized neighborhood patrols to monitor and alert residents about ICE activity. Protesters use whistles to warn when federal agents approach, creating an early warning system across affected neighborhoods.
Wrecktangle Pizza in Minneapolis’ LynLake neighborhood became a focal point Monday when employees and community members chased off federal agents who tried to enter the restaurant. The establishment has since raised over 83,000 dollars for affected families.
The state of Minnesota, along with the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to halt the deployment of thousands of immigration agents. State Assistant Attorney General Brian Carter argued at the first hearing that “what we need most of all right now is a pause. The temperature needs to be lowered.”
U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez promised to keep the case “on the front burner” and gave the Justice Department until Monday to file a response to the request for a restraining order. Local leaders argue the government is violating free speech and other constitutional rights with the surge of law enforcement.
The legal challenge comes as multiple Department of Justice prosecutors have resigned over the handling of cases related to the Good shooting. Six federal prosecutors in Minnesota, including the top prosecutor involved in fraud investigations, resigned over DOJ attempts to investigate Good’s wife. Four prosecutors in the civil rights division also reportedly resigned following a decision not to investigate the shooting.
Minneapolis officials issued a statement demanding ICE leave immediately. “The City of Minneapolis again demands that ICE leave the city and state immediately. We stand by our immigrant and refugee communities. Know that you have our full support,” the statement read.
The confrontations have drawn national attention to Minneapolis as a test case for how communities and local governments will respond to aggressive federal immigration enforcement. The deployment of chemical weapons against protesters, including children, has raised questions about proportionality and appropriate crowd control tactics.
Cary Wang, a medic with 50/51, a nonpartisan grassroots group, provided medical help Tuesday to several people affected by chemical agents. “I think it’s part of their strategy to intimidate and show that they’re immune to any type of repercussions,” Wang said.
Sam Luhmann, a 16 year old who witnessed Tuesday’s confrontations, described seeing armed immigration officers “pounding on doors” and arresting people before they “started tackling protesters” and deployed what appeared to be tear gas and pepper balls. “It seemed like a war,” Luhmann told reporters.
The teenager had driven from Chicago with his brother specifically to help community members monitor immigration enforcement, the same way they did when agents were deployed to Chicago last year under Operation Midway Blitz.
Christian Molina, 40, said he was pulled over by agents who rammed his car and questioned his immigration status. He was released only after telling agents he was a U.S. citizen. “It’s not safe out here. It’s not safe, you know? People aren’t safe,” Molina said, adding he was grateful agents didn’t shoot him.
In another incident, masked, armed federal immigration agents broke down the door of a home in north Minneapolis on Sunday without a warrant, using a battering ram to gain entry in an attempt to arrest a Liberian man. The man’s wife and nine year old daughter were inside the home.
The escalating confrontations have prompted some public figures to alter plans. Comedian John Mulaney postponed three Minneapolis shows scheduled for the weekend, citing safety concerns. “I don’t feel comfortable asking thousands of people each night to leave their homes, gather at the venue, and then make their way home when the situation is so unsafe,” Mulaney said in a statement.
As tensions continue, the fundamental question remains whether federal immigration enforcement operations will proceed as planned or whether legal challenges, political pressure, and sustained community resistance will force changes in approach.
For now, the streets of Minneapolis remain contested terrain where federal agents, local officials, and community members clash over fundamental questions about immigration policy, constitutional rights, and the appropriate use of force against civilians, including children, exercising their First Amendment rights to protest.
