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Vice-President JD Vance was due to visit Minneapolis to show support for US immigration agents, whose aggressive tactics have drawn weeks of outcry since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot dead Renee Good, a 37-year-old US citizen and mother of three.Tensions appeared unlikely to subside after school officials in a nearby suburb said ICE agents had detained a five-year-old boy.Federal authorities showed little sign of softening their approach, announcing Thursday the arrest of two people in connection with a protest that disrupted a church service in St Paul on Sunday.Minneapolis has remained on edge as heavily armed federal officers roam the streets, rounding up suspects they assert are dangerous criminal immigration violators while sometimes ensnaring law-abiding US citizens.They have been met with throngs of demonstrators conducting their own patrols, blowing warning whistles and chanting at the agents.In Columbia Heights, a Minneapolis suburb, school officials said at a press conference that immigration officers had detained at least four children this month, including a five-year-old boy on Tuesday.A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, said the ICE had not targeted the child but his father, who she said left his son behind when he fled on foot after agents attempted to stop him.An officer remained with the child for his safety while others arrested the man, she added.Parents targeted by the ICE are asked if they want their children to be placed with someone they designate or removed with their parents, she said.She did not address the school district's allegation that three other children were detained.Separately, Trump administration officials said Thursday that they had arrested at least two people involved in a demonstration that interrupted a Sunday service in a St Paul church, where protesters alleged a pastor has been assisting the ICE.Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Kash Patel said one of the organisers was charged with violating a federal law that bars physical obstruction of reproductive health centers and houses of worship.Vance has taken a leading role in defending the Minnesota ICE shooting.Less than 24 hours after Good's death, Vance made a rare appearance in the White House briefing room, where he defended the officer involved, blamed the woman who was killed, and said the incident should be a political test ahead of the 2026 midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.Even some Republican supporters have grown wary of President Donald Trump's approach to immigration enforcement, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.However, the administration has expressed no intention of backing down after Trump deployed some 3,000 federal law enforcement officers to the Minneapolis area in what the DHS described as its largest immigration operation ever.The city is the latest Democratic-leaning jurisdiction that Trump has targeted with a federal show of force.Trump has said he acted partly in response to fraud allegations against some members of the state's sizable Somali American community; the president has described Somali immigrants as "garbage" and said they should be thrown out of the country.While Trump officials say the operations are a necessary response to lax Democratic policies on immigration, local Democratic leaders have accused ICE agents of racial profiling and argued that Trump is intentionally fomenting chaos to justify his aggression.In a speech in Toledo, Ohio, Thursday, ahead of flying to Minneapolis, Vance blamed protesters for the unrest."If you want to turn down the chaos in Minneapolis, stop fighting immigration enforcement and accept that we have to have a border in this country," he said. "It's not that hard."Vance is scheduled to host a roundtable event with local leaders and community members in Minneapolis, where he will discuss "restoring law and order in Minnesota" and meet with officers in a show of support, the White House said.The vice-president is also planning to discuss Trump's vow to cut off federal funding from sanctuary cities that do not cooperate with the administration's immigration crackdown, starting on February 1.Richard Carlbom, chair of Minnesota's Democratic Party, said he hopes Vance will promote calm but fears political agitation."I think he is simply coming here for political theatre. This entire situation we're being faced with is a retribution campaign by him and the president of the United States against Minnesotans," Carlbom told Reuters.Trump faulted Minnesota's leaders during his speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, saying: "We actually are helping Minnesota so much, but they don’t appreciate it."Patty O'Keefe, a 36-year-old Minnesotan and non-profit worker who was pepper-sprayed and detained by federal agents in January after documenting ICE movements in the city, did not welcome Vance's visit."He's calling for law and order when it's his federal agents who are creating chaos and escalating violence," O'Keefe said. "His divisive rhetoric is not welcome here."The president and the White House have tied the ICE operation to allegations of welfare fraud in the state.Since 2022, at least 56 people have pleaded guilty, according to the Justice Department."Minnesota reminds us that the West cannot mass import foreign cultures,” Trump said in Davos. 

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is sending "hundreds" more officers to Minnesota a day after tens of thousands of people marched through Minneapolis to protest the fatal shooting of a woman by an immigration agent, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in remarks that aired Sunday.The officers would be deployed to bolster the safety of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol officials already in Minnesota, Noem said on Fox News's *Sunday Morning Futures.Some 2,000 federal officers have already been dispatched to the Minneapolis-St Paul area in what the DHS has called its largest operation ever.The new deployments were scheduled to begin even as more than 1,000 rallies were planned nationwide this weekend to protest the federal government's deportation push and Wednesday's fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by an ICE officer.Minnesota officials have called the shooting unjustified, pointing to bystander video that they say showed Good's vehicle turning away from the agent as he fired.Noem and other US officials have maintained that the agent acted in self-defense because Good, a volunteer in a community network that monitors and records ICE operations in Minneapolis, drove forward in the direction of the agent who then shot her, after another agent had approached the driver's side and told her to get out of the car.In a separate appearance Sunday on CNN's *State of the Union, Noem said that other video footage showed Good protesting ICE agents at other locations earlier on Wednesday morning, but did not say if or when it would be publicly released.Minnesota authorities said on Friday that they were opening their own criminal investigation into the incident, after some state law enforcement officials said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was refusing to co-operate with state investigators.White House Border Security Czar Tom Homan said on *Fox News Sunday that he wanted to let the investigation play out, but added that he "truly believe that officer thought his life was in danger to take that action". 

Tens of thousands of people marched through Minneapolis on Saturday to decry the fatal shooting of a woman by a US immigration agent, part of more than 1,000 rallies planned nationwide this weekend against the federal government's deportation drive.The massive turnout in Minneapolis despite a whipping, cold wind underscores how the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer on Wednesday has struck a chord, fueling protests in major cities and some towns.At the start of the protest, a voice called out, "Say her name!" The crowd shouted back: "Renee Good!"**media[403336]**Her death has sparked strong emotions in this Democratic stronghold, and across the nation."We got ICE shooting women in the face for self-defence. It doesn't make any sense," said Alex Vega, a protester in Boston. "Let them come around here with that, and let's see what's really going to happen to ICE."Minnesota's Democratic leaders and the administration of President Donald Trump, a Republican, have offered starkly different accounts of the incident.Led by a team of Indigenous Mexican dancers, demonstrators in Minneapolis, which has a metropolitan population of 3.8mn, marched towards the residential street where Good was shot in her car.**media[403337]**The boisterous crowd, which the Minneapolis Police Department estimated in the tens of thousands, chanted Good’s name and slogans such as "Abolish ICE” and "No justice, no peace – get ICE off our streets”."I'm insanely angry, completely heartbroken and devastated, and then just like longing and hoping that things get better," Ellison Montgomery, a 30-year-old protester, told Reuters.Minnesota officials have called the shooting unjustified, pointing to bystander video they say showed Good's vehicle turning away from the agent as he fired.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, has maintained that the agent acted in self-defence because Good, a volunteer in a community network that monitors and records ICE operations in Minneapolis, drove forward in the direction of the agent who then shot her, after another agent had approached the driver's side and told her to get out of the car.**media[403338]**The shooting on Wednesday came soon after some 2,000 federal officers were dispatched to the Minneapolis-St Paul area in what the DHS has called its largest operation ever, deepening a rift between the administration and Democratic leaders in the state.Federal-state tensions escalated further on Thursday when a US Border Patrol agent in Portland, Oregon, shot and wounded a man and woman in their car after an attempted vehicle stop.Using language similar to its description of the Minneapolis incident, the DHS said the driver had tried to "weaponise" his vehicle and run over agents.The two DHS-related shootings prompted a coalition of progressive and civil rights groups, including Indivisible and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), to plan more than 1,000 events under the banner "ICE Out For Good" during the weekend.The rallies have been scheduled to end before nightfall to minimise the potential for violence.In Philadelphia, protesters chanted "ICE has got to go" and "No fascist USA" as they marched from City Hall to a rally outside a federal detention facility, according to the local ABC affiliate.**media[403339]**In Manhattan, several hundred people carried anti-ICE signs as they walked past an immigration court where agents have arrested migrants following their hearings."We demand justice for Renee, ICE out of our communities, and action from our elected leaders. Enough is enough," said Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of Indivisible.Minnesota became a major flashpoint in the administration's efforts to deport millions of immigrants months before the Good shooting, with Trump criticising its Democratic leaders amid a massive welfare fraud scandal involving some members of the large Somali-American community there.Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat who has been critical of immigration agents and the shooting, told a press conference earlier on Saturday that the demonstrations have remained mostly peaceful and that anyone damaging property or engaging in unlawful activity would be arrested by police."We will not counter Donald Trump's chaos with our own brand of chaos," Frey said. "He wants us to take the bait."More than 200 law enforcement officers were deployed Friday night to control protests that led to $6,000 in damage at the Depot Renaissance Hotel and failed attempts by some demonstrators to enter the Hilton Canopy Hotel, believed to house ICE agents, the City of Minneapolis said in a statement.Police Chief Brian O’Hara said that some in the crowd scrawled graffiti and damaged windows at the Depot Renaissance Hotel.He said the gathering at the Hilton Canopy Hotel began as a "noise protest” but escalated as more than 1,000 demonstrators converged on the site, leading to 29 arrests."We initiated a plan and took our time to de-escalate the situation, issued multiple warnings, declaring an unlawful assembly, and ultimately then began to move in and disperse the crowd," O'Hara said.Three Minnesota congressional Democrats showed up at a regional ICE headquarters near Minneapolis on Saturday morning, where protesters have clashed with federal agents this week, but were denied access.Legislators called the denial illegal."We made it clear to ICE and DHS that they were violating federal law," US Representative Angie Craig told reporters as she stood outside the Whipple Federal Building in St Paul with Representatives Kelly Morrison and Ilhan Omar.Federal law prohibits the DHS from blocking members of Congress from entering ICE detention sites, but the DHS has increasingly restricted such oversight visits, prompting confrontations with Democratic lawmakers."It is our job as members of Congress to make sure those detained are treated with humanity, because we are the damn United States of America," Craig said.Referencing the damage and protests at Minneapolis hotels overnight, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the congressional Democrats were denied entry to ensure "the safety of detainees and staff, and in compliance with the agency's mandate".She said DHS policies require members of Congress to notify the ICE at least seven days in advance of facility visits. 

A black-clad gunman killed two children and wounded 17 other people Wednesday, when he opened fire on students at a Minneapolis Catholic school, authorities said.The assailant, a man in his early 20s, fired dozens of rounds through the church windows and then took his own life, officials said. He was armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, they said."This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people. The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible," Minneapolis police chief Brian O'Hara told reporters.The shooting occurred two days after school started at Annunciation Catholic School, a private elementary school with about 395 students connected to a Roman Catholic church in a residential area in the southeast part of Minnesota's largest city.Local TV showed parents ducking under yellow police crime tape and leading students out of the school.Officials said the shooter did not have an extensive criminal history. They did not provide his name and said they were trying to identify a motive.Law enforcement was investigating multiple online videos to determine if they were posted by the shooter, according to two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.Local hospitals said they were treating 15 children and two adults, with many suffering gunshot wounds.School shootings occur on a regular basis in the US, spurring ongoing debates about gun laws and school safety. There have been more than 140 such incidents so far this year, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database."Don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church," Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey said at a news conference, visibly angry.US President Donald Trump said he had been briefed on the shooting and said the FBI was on the scene. "Please join me in praying for everyone involved!" he said on social media.The US department of homeland security is in touch with local authorities and monitoring the situation, Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem said on social media.There have been three other shootings in the midwestern city since Tuesday afternoon, including one at a high school, that have together left three people dead and seven wounded, according to police.Wednesday's shooting did not appear to be related to the others, O'Hara said.Minneapolis has experienced a significant rise in homicides in the years following the 2020 police killing of George Floyd, which prompted nationwide protests, civil disturbances and staffing shortages in the city's police department. The city recorded 54 homicides last year, down from 71 in 2021 but well above the 29 recorded in 2019.In June, Minnesota also experienced an incident of political violence, when a gunman posing as a police officer allegedly assassinated a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband in their home, and wounded another lawmaker and his wife.The suspect was arrested after a massive two-day manhunt and faces state and federal murder charges.Minnesota state law requires background checks for all gun sales and the state as a whole has a gun death rate below the national average, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun violence prevention group.