DHS deploying hundreds more federal agents to Minneapolis, Noem announces
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday the government is sending additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement operations amid rising tensions following the fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen.
Noem told "Sunday Morning Futures" host Maria Bartiromo that DHS will be sending hundreds more agents on Sunday and Monday to Minneapolis to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents to do their work "safely."
"If they conduct violent activities against law enforcement, if they impede our operations, that's a crime, and we will hold them accountable to those consequences," she said, referring to clashes between some protesters and federal agents outside an ICE facility and the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building over the weekend.
The protests, which have spread to other cities, including Los Angeles, Portland and New York, come after an ICE officer fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, who DHS alleges "weaponized her vehicle" and "attempted to run a law enforcement officer over."
EXPERT WARNS PAINTING SLAIN ANTI-ICE ACTIVIST AS ‘GEORGE FLOYD 2.0’ WILL FAIL
Video of the shooting has become a political flashpoint, with some saying it supports the government’s position that the agent acted in self-defense and others saying the footage calls into question DHS’ explanation and raises broader concerns about the use of force by ICE officers.
The shooting remains under federal investigation.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey wrote in an op-ed in The New York Times that the Trump administration pushed a "false narrative" about the shooting and demonized Good.
NEW VIDEO SHOWS MINUTES LEADING UP TO DEADLY MINNEAPOLIS ICE SHOOTING
"The chaos that ICE and the Trump administration have brought to Minneapolis made this tragedy sadly predictable," he wrote.
"I’ve watched multiple videos, from multiple perspectives — it seems clear that Ms. Good, a mother of three, was trying to leave the scene, not attack an agent," he added.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital on Thursday that since Operation Metro Surge began, DHS law enforcement has arrested more than 1,500 individuals, including alleged murderers, pedophiles, rapists, and gang members across Minnesota.
"Every single day our law enforcement officers put their lives on the line to arrest the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from American communities," McLaughlin said. "We will not let rioters slow us down from making Minnesota safe again—something Governor Walz and Mayor Frey REFUSED to do."