The Department of Homeland Security has complained its immigration agents are being prevented from taking bathroom breaks by “hostile” protesters.
The DHS has sent around 3,000 ICE and Border Patrol agents to the state as part of “Operation Metro Surge,” causing protests to flare in Minneapolis, particularly after the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother-of-three, on a residential street on January 7.
“Today, Border Patrol agents who were in the Minneapolis-St Paul area as part of a targeted enforcement operation were repeatedly harassed and blocked by hostile crowds while simply trying to take bathroom breaks,” the DHS wrote on X Wednesday.
“At each gas station where the agents stopped to use the restroom, groups of agitators appeared, yelled at them, stalked them, and even tried to prevent law enforcement vehicles from leaving, creating unsafe conditions.
“At one stop, individuals in the crowd threw food at the agents,” the statement continued. “At their final gas station stop, someone spit on an agent. When an agent moved to detain the person who spit on him, the crowd tackled and attacked the agents while surrounding them.
“To safely clear the area agents had to use crowd control measures to disperse the hostile crowd.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was quick to accuse Good of “stalking” ICE officials in her Honda SUV and claimed she was intending to use her vehicle to commit “an act of domestic terrorism” when she was shot dead.
Noem also leapt to the defense of Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent involved, by saying he had been in fear for his life and was injured in the confrontation.
Her position was echoed by Trump and Vice President JD Vance, the latter speaking up angrily on Ross’s behalf and berating the media over its coverage.
Vance is scheduled to visit the city Thursday on a trip that will reportedly include meetings with ICE personnel and a speech praising their efforts while condemning Minneapolis’s “sanctuary” policies, which he claims restricts cooperation between state and federal authorities.
Mayor Jacob Frey has demanded the government’s forces “get the f*** out of Minneapolis,” Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to restore order, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has placed the National Guard on standby.
Frey, Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison have meanwhile been subpoenaed by the Department of Justice as part of an investigation into accusations that local law enforcement have conspired to impede the government’s operations.
ICE has provoked further animosity on the ground since Good’s death by shooting another person in the leg and by detaining a five-year-old boy.
The protesters have also caused uproar among conservatives by demonstrating inside a St Paul church on Sunday, disrupting prayer services.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced earlier Thursday, prior to Vance’s visit, that two people – Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen – have been arrested in connection with that episode.
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