ICE Agent Kneels on Pregnant Woman as Bystanders Hurl Snowballs at Him

https://newrepublic.com/post/204539/ice-agent-kneels-pregnant-woman-minneapolis

As always, the story Minneapolis residents are sharing is different from what ICE claims.

Rachel Kahn

Masked ICE agents stand in the snow questioning a Black man.
Christopher Juhn/Anadolu/Getty Images

ICE agents violently restrained a woman in Minneapolis on Monday, dragging her through the snow and pinning her face down as onlookers shouted that the woman was pregnant.

During what was supposed to be a β€œtargeted vehicle stop,” according to ICE officials, protesters swarmed the agents. Esme Murphy, a WCCO reporter,Β was on the scene, where she saw ICE holding a woman on the ground.

β€œPlease let her go! She’s pregnant!” one onlookerΒ shouted.

β€œGet her off of her fucking stomach,” another said.

In response to this, one agentΒ fired a TaserΒ into the crowd. β€œWho wants more?” he taunted, according to WCCO.

β€œWe kept yelling, β€˜She is pregnant, she’s pregnant,’” resident Tonika DeutchΒ told Murphy. β€œThey put their knees on her. We kept telling them, β€˜She can’t breathe, let her up, let her up.’”

The woman was then dragged by one arm, as the crowd continued to yell and plead with the ICE agents. Bystanders threw snowballs, and ICE agents fired pepper spray into the crowdβ€”hitting Murphy, the reporter, as well as her photographer.

ICE called the Minneapolis Police Department for backup. Once they arrived, the officers determined there was β€œno violence occurring” against the agents. β€œWe have been training our officers for the last five years very, very intensely on de-escalation, but unfortunately that is … often not what we are seeing from other agencies in the city,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told WCCO.

According to ICE, they succeeded inΒ arresting the targetsΒ of their operation: a young Ecuadorian couple who were abducted from their car, its windows shattered by agents. The woman is currently in custody in Illinois, and it’s not known where her husband is being held. Two U.S. citizens were alsoΒ arrestedΒ for assaulting federal officers, according to CBS.

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