Federal immigration officer detained in Texas following Minneapolis gunfire incident

An ICE agent was apprehended in southern Texas, months after allegedly injuring a Venezuelan national during a deportation sweep in Minnesota.

Federal immigration officer detained in Texas following Minneapolis gunfire incident

An officer employed by U.S. immigration authorities has been captured in the southernmost region of Texas, months after a man was struck by gunfire during a deportation sweep in the upper Midwest.

The accused, a 52-year-old enforcement agent, was located in a border county by state investigators and taken into custody on May 15. He stands accused of discharging his firearm through a residential entryway and wounding a Venezuelan national in the leg during a January operation in Minnesota's largest city.

Prosecutors in the Twin Cities area say the wounded individual and his roommate were legally present in the country. The officer and a partner had reportedly chased the roommate to the duplex before the shots were fired.

Federal officials initially accused the two residents of attacking officers with yard tools. Those federal accusations were later thrown out by a judge, leading the immigration agency and federal prosecutors to probe whether the agents had fabricated details about the encounter.

This marks the second prosecution of a federal agent tied to the controversial Minnesota enforcement surge. The agency's own leadership had previously acknowledged that two personnel had misrepresented what transpired.

A dispute has erupted between the county prosecutor and federal watchdog officials over who participated in the arrest. The officer had not yet retained counsel according to digital court filings.

The episode has deepened the clash between state and federal authorities regarding which level of government may hold federal agents criminally responsible for conduct during official operations.

Source: AP News

Source: Google News MT