Mayor Jacob Frey’s remarks after ICE agent fatally shot woman in Minneapolis

At a City Hall news conference, Minneapolis officials said a 37-year-old woman was fatally shot during an encounter with federal immigration agents. Mayor Jacob Frey condemned the shooting, rejected claims that it was self-defense and said the city moved quickly to get the woman medical care, support her family and clear ICE agents from the scene. State and federal authorities are investigating.

Below is a transcript of Mayor Jacob Frey’s remarks at the news conference.

“A lot of information is swirling around right now, and we collectively are going to do everything possible to get to the bottom of this, to get justice and to make sure that there is an investigation that is conducted in full. But what we do know is that a 37-year-old woman is dead and that she was shot by ICE.

We’ve dreaded this moment since the early stages of this ICE presence in Minneapolis. Not only is this a concern that we’ve had internally, we’ve been talking about it. They are not here to cause safety in this city. What they are doing is not to provide safety in America. What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust. They’re ripping families apart. They’re sowing chaos on our streets and, in this case, quite literally killing people. So, they are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense. Having seen the video of myself, I want to tell everybody directly that is bullshit. This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed.

As soon as it happened and we learned of the incident, we had several priorities. The first of course, was to get the victim to the hospital and to get care as soon as possible. To the family, I’m so deeply sorry. There’s nothing that I can say right now that’s going to make you or your relatives, friends of the victim feel any better. There were, I believe, two Minneapolis police officers that responded and were in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

The second was to get ICE off of the scene. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of ICE and federal officers that were there at the time. Having them there was only causing more chaos, having them there was only making a difficult situation even more problematic, and one that, yes, they created themselves.

There’s little I can say again that will make this situation better, but I do have a message for our community, our city, and I have a message for ICE. To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite. People are being hurt. Families are being ripped apart. Long-term Minneapolis residents that have contributed so greatly to our city, to our culture, to our economy, are being terrorized, and now somebody is dead. That’s on you, and it’s also on you to leave. It’s on you to make sure that further damage, further loss of life and injury, is not done. We’re going to be working towards justice as quickly as we possibly can right now, and justice is what we’ve all got to get.

We are better than a bunch of ICE agents being deployed to cities around the country and ripping apart families and communities. We’re better than that, and so we are going to meet that hate with love. We are going to meet that despair with hope. We are going to meet that injustice with constitutional justice ourselves, and we’re going to make sure that in this very difficult moment, we do not take the bait that these ICE agents are trying to create, and that the federal government, to be clear, wants.

They want us to respond in a way that creates a military occupation in our city. They want an excuse to come in and show the kind of force that will create more chaos and more despair. Let’s not let them. Let’s rise to this occasion. Let’s show them something far more beautiful than the kind of division that they’re trying to stoke. Let’s show them unity of purpose, of love and the courage of our conviction.

Our conviction, to be clear, is rock solid, and it is for our neighbors, all of our neighbors. It’s for people who have lived here for 80 years. It is for new immigrants who have made this city a better place. That’s the kind of love that we’re going to show up with right now. If you’re angry, I get it. I am too. If you’re feeling that kind of despair, it’s understandable. Let’s show them who we can be. Let’s show up with peace. March, protest, to hug one another, to love all the way with peace. Do not give them what they want.