MINNEAPOLIS: Outrage is spreading in Minneapolis after an ICE officer shot and killed a woman during an immigration enforcement operation as President Donald Trump said the officer acted in self-defence. 

Local leaders and residents have voiced anger over the incident, with calls for clear answers and accountability as tensions rise in the city.

Jacob Frey, the mayor, called the government’s stance “bullshit” and urged ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officers carrying out a second day of mass raids to leave Minneapolis.

A video of the incident, which has not been verified by AFP, shows a Honda SUV apparently blocking unmarked law enforcement vehicles as they try to drive down a snow-covered street.

The driver, whom the mayor said was a 37-year-old woman, tried to drive off as officers approached and attempted to open the door. One agent fired three times with a handgun as the vehicle pulled away.

President Donald Trump, who has ordered nationwide anti-immigrant raids, accused the victim of “viciously” running over the agent.

“The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting,” he said on Truth Social, adding the agent “seems to have shot her in self-defence.”

The incident took place during protest action against immigration enforcement in the south of the city in the Midwestern state of Minnesota.

“Attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them — an act of domestic terrorism,” the Department of Homeland Security, which runs ICE, said on X.

“An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots.

“The alleged perpetrator was hit and is deceased. The ICE officers who were hurt are expected to make full recoveries.”

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will be involved in the investigation into the shooting, along with the FBI, officials said.

Minnesota’s governor Tim Walz called the federal government’s response to the incident “propaganda” and vowed the state would “ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation.”

Large crowds chanting anti-ICE slogans gathered near the scene of the shooting.

Anti-ICE protests

There have been passionate protests against immigration operations under the Trump administration, which has vowed to arrest and deport what it says are “millions” of undocumented migrants.

The DHS said the violence was a “direct consequence of constant attacks and demonisation of our officers.”

The shooting reportedly happened at 34th Street and Portland Avenue in Minneapolis.

Nearby, ICE officers pepper-sprayed and shoved protesters, footage broadcast by local CBS affiliate WCCO showed.

Dozens of protesters and bystanders were seen at the scene after the incident.

“There’s no way whatever this person did that they deserved to be killed for it,” one bystander told the broadcaster.

Trump has made preventing unlawful immigration and expelling undocumented migrants priorities during his second term, and has tightened conditions for entering the United States and obtaining visas.

During his campaign, Trump likened undocumented migrants to “animals”, frequently linking them, without evidence, to criminal behaviour.

ICE — which critics accuse of turning into a paramilitary force under Trump — has been tasked with deporting an unprecedented number of undocumented migrants.

Trump’s White House called Minneapolis Mayor Frey a “scumbag” over comments after the shooting in which he accused ICE of “causing chaos and distrust.”

US authorities said as many as 2,000 officers had been deployed to Minneapolis and surrounding areas to carry out immigration sweeps, partly in response to claims of fraud involving some Somali residents.

In November 2025, a judge threw out charges against two people accused of using their vehicle to ambush officers carrying out immigration enforcement in Chicago.

LONDON: Britain has confirmed it helped the United States during an operation to seize a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic. 

UK officials said the assistance was provided after a request from Washington, stressing that the support was lawful and limited, even as the move drew sharp criticism from Moscow.

The vessel had thwarted an earlier attempt to board it last month near Venezuela, where a US raid on Saturday toppled the country’s authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro.

“UK Armed Forces provided pre-planned operational support … to US military assets interdicting the Bella-1 in the UK–Iceland–Greenland gap following a US request for assistance,” the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

A Royal Navy ship “provided support for US forces pursuing and interdicting” the vessel – which recently changed its name to the Marinera – while the Royal Air Force (RAF) provided “surveillance support from the air,” it added in a statement.

“The UK and US defence and security relationship is the deepest in the world and the UK provided enabling support in full compliance with international law,” the ministry insisted.

The seized tanker had been sanctioned by Washington under measures targeting Iran, and had been “initially flying a false flag”, according to the MoD.

The vessel had “turned off its transponders while at sea and sought to reflag while being pursued, indicating its nefarious links to global sanctions evasion,” it added.

Recent assessments showed the tanker has been involved in illegal activity, “linked to international terrorism and crime including Hezbollah”, the Iranian-backed Lebanese force, the ministry said.

“The Russian flagging of the vessel shows their role in this interconnected shadow activity we are seeing across the world, which threatens our national security, harms our economy and undermines global security,” it added.

Defence minister John Healey said in a statement Britain “will continue to step up our action against shadow fleet activity to protect our national security, our economy, and global stability”.

“The US is the UK’s closest defence and security partner,” he added.

“The depth of our defence relationship with the US is an essential part of our security, and today’s seamlessly executed operation shows just how well this works in practice.”

Healey told parliament later that “no UK personnel took part in the boarding” of the tanker, which he said was “falsely flagged” and under US sanctions.

That allowed it to be “lawfully intercepted and subjected to the law of the interdicting state”, he added, paying tribute to the “immense courage and professionalism” of US forces in “dangerous and deteriorating” conditions at sea.

Healey’s department said Britain had also provided “basing” support to the United States, after unconfirmed reports that some US aircraft have been gathering on Royal Air Force bases since the weekend.

• US says it seizes vessel despite ship being escorted by Russian navy.
• Vessel thwarted earlier attempt to board it near Venezuela.
• Russia’s Transport Ministry slams seizure of oil tanker. 

WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic after pursuing it from off the coast of Venezuela, in an operation condemned by Moscow.

Washington says the tanker is part of a so-called shadow fleet that carries oil for countries such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of US sanctions, and seized it despite the ship being escorted by the Russian navy.

The vessel had thwarted an earlier attempt to board it last month near Venezuela, where a US raid on Saturday toppled the country’s authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro.

“The vessel was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a US federal court,” US European Command, which oversees American forces in the region, said in a statement on X.

After the operation, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth posted that the US blockade on Venezuelan oil was in full effect “anywhere in the world.”

Russia’s Transport Ministry slammed the seizure, saying “freedom of navigation applies in waters on the high seas, and no state has the right to use force against vessels duly registered under the jurisdiction of other states.”

The US military also announced a second sanctioned tanker ship had been seized in the Caribbean Sea.

Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem posted on X that both vessels “were either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it,” and included a video of US forces roping down from a helicopter onto an unidentified ship and proceeding toward the bridge with weapons ready.

US to control oil sales ‘indefinitely’ 

Last weekend, US special forces snatched Maduro and his wife from Caracas and flew them to New York to face trial on drug charges.

Since then, President Donald Trump has said that the United States will “run” Venezuela and US companies will control its critical oil industry.

In Caracas, after several days of shuttered shops and intermittent public transport, the capital’s streets were again busy Wednesday with pedestrians, street vendors, cars and motorbikes.

The North Atlantic operation came despite Russia reportedly sending a submarine and other naval assets to escort the empty tanker and saying the vessel was sailing under the Russian flag.

The vessel, formerly known as the Bella-1, in recent weeks switched its registration to Russia, changed its name to the Marinera and the tanker’s crew reportedly painted a Russian flag on the tanker.

It had been en route to Venezuela before it evaded the US blockade, and has been under US sanctions since 2024 over alleged ties to Iran and Hezbollah.

Trump said Tuesday that Venezuela said 30-50 million barrels of “high?quality, sanctioned” Venezuelan crude will be shipped to US ports, with the revenue — perhaps more than $2 billion at current market prices — placed under his personal control.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright added Wednesday that Washington will control sales of Venezuelan oil “indefinitely.”

It was not clear whether Venezuela’s new ruler — interim president Delcy Rodriguez — had agreed to hand over the oil, how the plan would work, or what its legal basis would be.

Rodriguez – a long-time member of Maduro’s inner circle as vice president and energy minister – has vowed cooperation with the United States amid fears that Trump could pursue wider regime change.