Since January 2025 there have been at least 38 documented shootings by U.S. immigration agents, resulting in 10 deaths and 22 individuals wounded, according to the latest figures compiled by Wikipedia. Of those killed by immigration agents, three were U.S. citizens. At least 13 of the shooting incidents involved the victim driving a vehicle. A clear pattern has emerged from these shootings, and the response by federal agencies, including the phrases used by these agencies to justify the shootings. First, before any investigations, federal agencies blame the victim. The victim is charged with assaulting the federal agent. The victim is accused of “weaponizing” the vehicle to “ram” a federal vehicle or run-over a federal agent, giving the federal agent no other choice except to shoot in self-defense. However, in 7 of these 13 cases these charges were dismissed by the judge before any trial, because they were so easily proven to be false, according to the New York Times. Another four of these 13 cases are still waiting for a court date. Shooting incidents not involving vehicles have a similar pattern of falsehoods. In a high-profile case on January 14 in Minneapolis, a federal agent claimed that he was forced to fire his weapon because three people attacked him using a shovel and a broom. However, a video from security cameras showed that there were no such tools in the area, that the victims were running away from the agent, and that any confrontation lasted only 12 seconds, according to the Minnesota Reformer. The victim of this Minneapolis shooting was charged with assault. Nonetheless, the federal agent has since been arrested and is facing assault charges and charges for filing a false police report.
In the fiscal year before President Trump returned to the White House, there were three shootings by immigration agents; the year before that, there were five. Because standing in front of a vehicle may put an agent in a position where deadly force may be needed, it is therefore against all law enforcement training and violates federal protocols. Shooting inside a vehicle also violates all law enforcement training. Federal policy only authorizes the use of deadly force if the agent has a “reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury.”
