Bulwark Takes - ICE Agent Kills U.S. Citizen In Minneapolis

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

Sam Stein and Tim Miller break down the shocking video from Minneapolis where an ICE agent fatally shot an American woman in her car. Sam and Tim give their take on the deadly escalation of federal ICE operations, and the dangerous spin already coming out from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

Hey, everybody. It's me, Sam Stein, managing editor at the Bullock. I'm here with Tim Miller. It is Wednesday, January 7th, about 150 p.m. We are coming to you in the wake of pretty startling video and news out from Minneapolis. There's been a shooting there involving someone who appeared to be protesting ICE operations. Ice has been ramping up operations in that city in light of a lot of focus on Somali fraud and things like that. This person was killed. by what appears to be an ICE agent or a federal officer. And we're going to be talking about that because the footage is horrifying. But secondarily, but no less important, is how the Trump administration has rushed, like rushed to essentially, I think, gaslight about what happened. And we're going to get into that too. Tim, you saw this a little bit after I did, but it's pretty fresh for you. do you want to talk a little bit about or do you want to show the video first to the degree

you can't show the video the video is horrifying so i guess everybody you know you can fast forward 30 seconds i get to my thoughts if you're going to hear it afterwards but uh i do think it's important to to watch it uh to get context what happens so how don't we do that first but let's play the video and we'll get reaction on the other side Get out of the fucking car. No! No! Shame!

Shame! Oh, my fucking God! What the fuck? What the fuck? You just fucking... What the fuck did you do? It's horrible. I mean, it's...

Whether... I mean, it's an execution is really what it is. And the person is killed that is in her car. Well, we know so far from Senator Tina Smith, Democratic Senator from Minnesota. She's a 37. seven-year-old woman, a citizen. Does it appear from that video that she is a target of this operation?

There's a lot of protesters out there. You can hear the other community members kind of blowing whistles and screaming at the ice agents. And you do see the one ice agent try to open her door and tell her to get out. And, you know, the other, you know, point is gun at her as she tries to pull away and then shoot and then shoots her three shots. it's just it is reminiscent to me a little bit of the george redis situation i'd interviewed george redis who was in california in the past with ice and he was trying to drive to work

and the ice agents were telling him that he can't go past and then he was trying to reverse to get out of the way and then they end up breaking down his window tackling him then he gets put in prison for like three days another american citizen and a veteran um it's reminiscent of that and this it's just tragic and we're going to wait to hear more about the woman that died. But like this is like this was an inevitable result of the way that I spent acting. And you have these masked agents in what appears to be a suburban neighborhood in Minnesota. Minneapolis. There's nobody even yeah, Minneapolis. There's nobody even making an allegation at this point that the driver of this car was like a was dangerous or a target of that investigation. The spokesperson for DHS is saying that they were

a protester who is a domestic terrorist or whatever. But like that rhetoric shows like they are they consider that person just be a protester. So they weren't there to arrest that, that the driver of that car. And so it's like, I mean, there's there was there's no need for pulling pulling a gun on somebody that is protesting. I mean, the woman's obviously trying to leave. She does.

And it's worth saying that the car does go kind of close to the guy that, that shoots her. But I, he, he avoids the car easily. while firing multiple shots and executing her. So, and his life didn't seem to be in that grave of danger. And, you know, there's just no reason to have. Like, why are masked agents showing up in these neighborhoods, menacing people, carrying weapons, pointing weapons at folks? Like, in an armed country like ours,

I've been saying for the start, I've been surprised that somebody hasn't tried to pull a weapon on one of the masked guys just because they are carrying a concealed weapon. And this is just kind of another version of that, like, horrifying potential outcome where if you have mass agents that are armed menacing people going in like they're going to be confrontations like this all it takes is one person to act improperly is it appears that this agent did and obviously we'll learn more but it's it's a tragedy but it's a tragedy it was inevitable and predictable and the administration's reaction to it is

sickening really yeah and i want to get into the reaction in a second but i i couldn't agree more We've created a Tinder box here, right? Ice agents show up in droves. We're talking about thousands that have come into Minneapolis. They're looking for people. They're arresting people. They're going to get protests. The protests they encounter then serve as justification for even harsher means and bigger crackdowns.

And it's a terrible, terrible cycle with the specifics of this incident. Look, I'm going to just channel what I'm seeing on right wing Twitter right now, which is she was going to run him over. like this guy was right in front of her car and she accelerated when she was told to get out of the car if i've had multiple people might mention say if that were if i had done that i would been shot too and my response to that is no you probably wouldn't have been shot you probably would not have been shot because frankly the officer would have taken down your license plate and you would have been you know dealt with in a non-vinyl house with a knock on the door you know like i got in trouble a couple of times the teen where my

mother got a knock on the door from those like was that your son driving 85 in the 40 like that's how you handle this sort of situation you don't take out a gun and fucking assassinate the person exactly and i'm not look who knows in the moment you're freaking out so you think you might get run over it was a proactive choice to take out your gun pointed into the side window and shoot and not just once multiple times and if the guy felt he was in such danger then why did he run after the car when it crashed right like if he thought this person was a domestic terrorist why did he run after it when it crashed anyways yeah this whole thing is just one more thing i just like this because why it's so pissed like there is no need for this like when i was on i was in that jubilee

debate one of the one of the maga kits said to me like what do you want like you want us to go to the door you know of the undocumented illegal immigrants and say mr illegal sir you know you're not supposed to be in this country like here's here's you know a notice for removal and i was like yeah my answer was Yes. That's what you're supposed to do. There's no need for this. Going after, again, if they're violent criminals or whatever, okay. But like going after people that are in this country illegally, violently masked, intentionally trying to screw with them and get people upset, you know, and raise tensions. That's what they're doing. Like, they're trying to raise tensions. They're trolling and they're messaging.

They're being unnecessarily aggressive. There is no, unless on this, street, there was somebody that was a violent criminal that they were worried about. There is no need for anybody to be taking out their guns at all. This is an immigration matter. We dealt with us for hundreds of years in this country with INS, where people, you know, sent letters and came to the door and say, hey, you know, and said, you have a notice for deportation. And then if people don't leave, you can go and, you know, whatever. And, like, go and find them and kick them out.

Like, you do not need masked armed agents going into neighborhoods, menacing and scaring people. And that's what these assholes are doing. And it was inevitable that something like this was going to happen. And it is a tragedy, but is also enraging. It's totally enraging. And on that, no, I mean, what's also enraging is the incredible rush by the Trump administration to just absolutely gaslight about the situation. I'm going to read Trisha McLaughlin's tweet, but I'm more impressed, I should say,

by Christie Nome's statement. But this is Trisha McLaughlin. And if people don't know Tricia, she's the key spokesperson for DHS, she's become somewhat notorious for just putting out utter bullshit statements that have no proximity to reality. And then people digest them in the moment because it's an official statement from a government spokesperson. And then like a couple days or weeks later, it's like, oh, wait, that was not true at all. So this is what she said in her Twitter statement. ICE officers in Minneapolis were conducting targeted operations when rioters began blocking ICE officers. and one of those violent rioters weaponized her vehicle attempting to run over our law enforcement officers, that's plural, in an attempt to kill them, an act of domestic terrorism, okay?

That's fucking ludicrous. It's just so, it's so insulting. Fuck you. This person dies. This is an American citizen that was murdered in our country by people that work for your agency. I have some fucking respect. an ICE officer fearing for his life the lives of his fellow law enforcement

and safety of the public I mean come on people we just saw the video fired defensive shots that's true there were shots multiple I don't say they're defensive he used the training and saved his own life

in that of his fellow officers again what we just saw the video this is a lady in a Honda pilot I'm sorry like the idea that this is a lady driving a Honda pilot okay like this is a suburb this is somebody who's probably on school pickup up like this is crazy like the idea that this person is a domestic terrorist that was trying to

use her honda pilot to kill ice officers is preposterous this last part is just the most insane the alleged perpetrator was hit in his deceased the ice officers who were hurt are expected to make full recoveries i don't know if you saw the video i did multiple times not a single fucking officer was hurt i mean did he get hurt from like the gun recoiling i what are we talking about there should be some there should be some commitment to just a modicum of truth and humility read what gnome said though we're going to we're going to play numb play numb and you can take numb after this let's play the video so a couple of questions there you asked about a shooting that we just had in minneapolis minnesota um it was an act of domestic terrorism uh what happened it was our ice officers were out in

enforcement action uh they got stuck in the snow because of the adverse weather that is in Minneapolis. They were attempting to push out their vehicle and a woman attacked them and those surrounding them and attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle. An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively shot to protect himself and the people around him, and my understanding is that she was hit and is deceased. We're continuing to gather more information, but this goes to show the assaults that our ICE officers and our law enforcement are under every single day. these vehicle rammings are domestic acts of terrorism we're working with the department of justice to prosecute them as such we will continue to protect our ice officers and in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies as well i mean like this stupid like cosplay like what is she where like why is she in a fucking costume like making this announcement i it is this is all the whole thing is absurd uh the the nobody ice agents were not pushing their vehicle out of anything they're not stuck in snow they're not pushing their vehicle

out of the snow no woman attacked them people were protesting exercising their first amendment rights to express that they're unhappy that masked thugs had invaded their neighborhood and that is allowed in a free country and i just it strikes me that we um in the fallout from our coup in venezuela um i saw a lot of accounts uh there's sort of the trump administration pushing this old video of Venezuela, a Venezuelan, a Maduro tank, like, running over protesters in Venezuela and saying, you know, saying this is like the kind of horrible behavior that they're, that they engage in the country of why we needed to depose Maduro. It was horrible, obviously. And it's like, that's what they're doing. I mean, not, I guess it wasn't a tank running these people over, but they shot, they took out a gun and they shot and murdered protesters.

Like, we live in a free country. People are allowed to express their displeasure with ice. And to have the Department of Homeland Security dressed up like Indiana Jones telling us that we are like pushing that the ice agents were like pushing their vehicles out of an iceberg when they were just sitting on a neighborhood street is an insult. It's ridiculous. Yeah. No, just like little things, but they matter, right? They weren't stuck in snow. They pulled up and stopped.

They tried to get this woman out of the car. She says, a woman attacked them, them, plural. Again, I don't know why it's just deeply bothers me that they kept saying them. If anything, the most generous interpretation was one officer felt he might have been run over. Okay. So it's not them, it's one, okay? Surrounding them, attempting to hit them, run them over. Vehicle ramings have become rampant.

This was not a vehicle, this was not them ramming another ice vehicles, a car trying to fleet. I mean, these little, little lies, they add up and they create this alternate reality. And the sad part is, is, of course, it works, right? Like, let's just be honest. It fucking works. Because there's plenty of people out there being like, yeah, this guy had no other alternative other than to shoot this woman in her car because she wouldn't get out. And that's just the consequences you face for when you don't respect law enforcement.

And the reality is that's just not, that shouldn't be the world you live in, where there's justified shootings of protesters. It just shouldn't be the world we live in. But it is. Anyways, I'm pretty heated about this one. Yeah, I don't even know what else to say. And the whole thing is infuriating. And I just feel horrible for that woman.

And I think the tragic part about this is, is it that, you know, I expect this stuff to escalate. To be honest, I thought looking back at last year, as horrible as it was, I thought it was, I expected more violent confrontations with ICE than there ended up being. And I thought the protesters honestly acted like with unbelievable grace and peacefulness and kind of silliness at times, whimsical, like with the costumes. And, you know, in those early days in Los Angeles, I was deeply worried that there were going to be a lot of violent conflicts with protesters that were going to lead to greater crackdowns.

And I think that we avoided that for the most part in 2025. And to have this in the first week of the new year, it's just horrible behavior by ICE. And this response to the administration, I think it's pretty ominous. All right, ma'am. Thank you for doing this. Appreciate you providing your thoughts. Thank you guys for watching this. You know, this is a tough one.

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