Anger Erupts in Congress Over Minneapolis ICE Shooting

Andrew Solender

An ICE officer's fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday ignited tensions on Capitol Hill, with Democrats raging about both the shooting itself and their Republican colleagues' reactions to it.

Why it matters: The shooting led to at least one heated exchange on the House floor, with Agriculture Committee ranking member Angie Craig (D-Minn.) laying into Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.).

A clip of the exchange shared with Axios shows the two lawmakers engaged in a roughly 40-second-long shouting match, with Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) eventually ushering Craig away.

Craig told Emmer — who defended the ICE officers in the wake of the shooting — that Republicans' political stunts in Minnesota got a woman killed, two sources briefed on the argument told Axios.

Emmer responding by angrily telling Craig to "take a walk," the sources said.

What they're saying: Gesturing to the House chamber during an interview Wednesday, Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) told Axios "certainly everyone in that room, at least on my side, is livid at what happened to this woman."

She added: "Not just a resident of Minnesota, a U.S. citizen ... a 37-year-old white woman, was shot, and then they lied about it."

Ramirez is one of several Democrats who have floated the threat of a government shutdown as a lever to try to constrain funding for ICE and try to force policy changes at the agency.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said: "They're disappearing people off the street, and this has nothing to do with citizenship at all, increasingly, in who they're going after."

What's next: Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) announced Wednesday that she plans to introduce articles of impeachment against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in response to the incident.

"Secretary Kristi Noem is an incompetent leader, a disgrace to our democracy, and I am impeaching her for obstruction of justice, violation of public trust, and self-dealing," Kelly said in a statement.

"It's one thing to be incompetent and dangerous, but it's impeachable to break the rule of law," she added. "I told my constituents ... that I would fight against Secretary Noem's agenda. This is me fighting back."

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.