Homeland Security is calling on the Minnesota governor and Minneapolis mayor to honor ICE arrest detainers of more than 1,360 criminal illegal immigrants.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent is in the hospital after getting ambushed and attacked with a shovel by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, according to a late-night Jan. 14 post on X from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The incident happened in Minneapolis as federal law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted traffic stop of the illegal immigrant, who according to the DHS was released into the country in 2022.
“In an attempt to evade arrest, the subject fled the scene in his vehicle and crashed into a parked car,” said the post, after which he fled on foot. When the law enforcement officer caught up to him, he began to violently assault the officer, along with two other subjects who emerged out of a nearby apartment.
During the struggle, the attackers used a snow shovel and broom handle.
“Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life,” hitting the initial subject in the leg, and resulting in the attackers scrambling back into the apartment.
At the moment, the officer and the subject are currently hospitalized, with the other attackers in custody, the DHS said.
Attacks on federal law enforcement officers have increased considerably. ICE personnel have faced more than a 1,300 percent increase in assaults and a 3,200 percent increase in vehicular attacks during the second Trump administration’s first year, according to figures released on Jan. 8 by the DHS.
The department blames “radical rhetoric by sanctuary politicians” for the surge in attacks against federal law enforcement. There was also an 8,000 percent increase in death threats against the officers.
Operation in Minnesota
ICE’s Operation Metro Surge, which was launched in December 2025, is currently ongoing in Minnesota, targeting criminal illegal immigrants in the region.
“We’ve arrested over 2,500 criminal illegal aliens in Minnesota since starting this operation with DHS,” ICE Director Todd M. Lyons said in a Jan. 14 statement. “We’re picking up the worst of the worst offenders, and as these cases come in, we’re finding that a significant number of the aliens we arrest—in addition to having serious criminal histories in the U.S. and abroad—are part of dangerous gangs that terrorize communities all over the nation.”
