MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
A federal agent shot a man in the leg Wednesday night in Minneapolis as protests against the Trump administration's aggressive tactics there continue. The Department of Homeland Security said the man was an immigrant and was fleeing a traffic stop. They say he struggled with the officer. Two other people joined the confrontation with a shovel and a broom. Then, according to DHS, the officer shot the initial suspect. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz addressed his state last night shortly before news of the latest shooting.
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TIM WALZ: Folks, I know it's scary, and I know it's absurd that we all have to be defending law and order, justice and humanity while also caring for our families and trying to do our jobs. So tonight, let me say, once again, to Donald Trump and Kristi Noem, end this occupation. You've done enough.
MARTIN: This morning, President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act over the unrest. This would allow him to deploy the U.S. military nationally and to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disorder. NPR's Martin Kaste has been reporting on what the legal line is for federal agents.
MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE: Yesterday was another day of angry scenes in Minneapolis as protesters confronted immigration officers.
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UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting) ICE out now. ICE out now. ICE out now.
KASTE: David Bier is watching these videos come in. He runs the immigration studies program at the libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute. He's on the lookout for scenes of federal officers who stop people for, quote, "immigration checks," such as this moment earlier this week in a snowy Minneapolis neighborhood.
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UNIDENTIFIED ICE AGENT #1: But where were you born?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: And I am not going to give you a ID.
UNIDENTIFIED ICE AGENT #1: Then we're going to put you in the vehicle until we can ID you.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: I belong here. I should be walking around here free. I shouldn't be afraid in my life at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED ICE AGENT #1: Ma'am.
DAVID BIER: This is beyond anything we've seen play out in the interior of the United States, where you have, essentially, people being forced to produce their documents.
KASTE: Bier says checking people based on characteristics such as skin color or jobs or accents wouldn't normally fly in a city away from the border. But right now, it does. In September, the Supreme Court allowed such stops to go on while a lawsuit challenging them works its way through appeals.
BIER: You know, we'll see what the Supreme Court ultimately says, but so far, they've been willing to allow them to continue, and we're seeing the consequences of it, which is a lot of hostile, aggressive interactions with people on the street.
KASTE: When it comes to the people protesting and documenting immigration enforcement, the Trump administration is increasingly referring to such actions as criminal. Here's DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on CNN recently, talking about the fatal shooting of her Renee Macklin Good during a confrontation with ICE in Minneapolis.
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KRISTI NOEM: We will continue to look at this individual and what her motivations were. We know that there was - throughout that morning, she had harassed and impeded law enforcement operations.
KASTE: And on social media, activists have been posting videos of ICE officers who threatened to arrest them just because they're following them.
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UNIDENTIFIED ICE AGENT #2: So when we leave the Home Depot, and we continue to see this car follow us, we're going to assume you're following us. So...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Is that illegal, though?
UNIDENTIFIED ICE AGENT #2: Yeah, it is. It is, actually. So that's why I'm warning you. If you continue to follow us, you both will be arrested.
KASTE: It's not illegal to follow officers. But...
JIM BUEERMANN: There is a legitimate officer safety issue for the ICE agents when they discover people are following them.
KASTE: Jim Bueermann is president of the Future Policing Institute and a former police chief in Redlands, California. He says police are sometimes ambushed, so he would tell his officers to try to find out why they're being followed. He would not tell his officers to threaten arrest. Looking at the Twin Cities, he worries about the current hostility between the feds and local leaders and what that might mean if somebody sees an ICE arrest and decides to call Minneapolis cops.
BUEERMANN: They've got to go out and verify that these are real federal agents that are scooping this person up. So I think they're going to go, but it's going to get complicated. This is a very messy situation.
KASTE: Minnesota has cited this lack of coordination between feds and local police in a lawsuit to stop this immigration enforcement surge. And there have been other signs of potential trouble around the country, as the Philadelphia sheriff last week threatened to arrest ICE agents who break the law, and California banned ICE officers from wearing masks. Bueermann says he hopes a clash between locals and the feds can be avoided, given, as he puts it, all the testosterone floating around.
Martin Kaste, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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