ICE agent charged with assault after ‘pointing gun at people from moving car’ in Minneapolis | US News

An ICE agent has been charged with assault for allegedly pointing his gun at people in a car after pulling alongside them on a major road in Minneapolis.

Prosecutors in the city, where thousands of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents were deployed at the orders of US President Donald Trump from December, said Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr is accused of two counts of second-degree assault, both of which carry possible seven-year jail terms.

The 35-year-old was on duty and driving a rented, unmarked SUV on the hard shoulder of a highway in the city on 5 February when a car moved into the same lane to try to slow Morgan’s vehicle down.

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The driver of the other vehicle didn’t know he was an officer, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said on Thursday.

After the other car returned to the legal lane, she said, Morgan pulled up alongside and pointed his service weapon at the two people in the vehicle.

The car’s driver told investigators they feared it was a “crazy person driving down the road aiming guns at people”.

According to the warrant, Morgan then merged his SUV back into traffic ahead of the alleged victims, who took photos of the SUV’s licence plate on their phones.

Morgan and his partner, who was not charged, told investigators they were returning to their base at the end of their shift.

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The accused didn’t claim they were involved in a “law-enforcement operation or activity or responding to any emergency situation”.

Morgan told Minnesota State Patrol officers that the other vehicle “swerved over in front of him and cut him off”, and said “he feared for his safety and the safety of others” when he drew his gun and yelled: “Police, stop”.

However, the warrant said the people in the other vehicle couldn’t tell Morgan was a law enforcement officer and couldn’t hear him because their windows were up.

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Morgan has not commented publicly since the charges were announced. Nor has the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), of which ICE is a part.

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Around 3,000 federal officers were sent to the Minneapolis-St Paul area between December and February in what the department called its “largest immigration enforcement operation ever”. Similar deployments took place in Los Angeles and Chicago.

The Minnesota operation led to thousands of arrests, angry mass protests and the fatal shootings of two US citizens, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in January.

Criticism of the officers’ aggressive tactics has been widespread, with Donald Trump sacking Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in March shortly after the Minnesota surge ended.

Minnesota authorities continue to investigate the conduct of federal officers during the immigration crackdown, insisting they can’t trust the federal government to investigate itself.