Legal experts have begun to weigh in on the harrowing video from Minneapolis of an ICE agent fatally shooting a woman through the driver's side window of her car as she began to pull away from them — and at least some believe that state criminal charges could be imminent.
The Department of Homeland Security has denied any wrongdoing in the incident, arguing that the officer credibly feared for his life and was justified in using deadly force.
However, experts watching video footage of the shooting don't think DHS's version of the story adds up.
"Secretary of Defense Kristi Noem now says that the middle aged white woman who was shot in the head and killed by an ICE agent was a 'domestic terrorist,'" wrote lawyer and newsletter writer Amee Vanderpool on X. "Watch the video of it that is everywhere. You can see for yourself that every word out of Noem's mouth here is a lie."
"Let a jury decide whether that officer was justified in using deadly force, not MAGA meatheads on social media," wrote former federal prosecutor and ex-Republican staffer turned liberal punditry editor Ron Filipkowski.
"I just saw the video from Minneapolis. Barbarous behavior," wrote Georgia State University constitutional law professor Anthony Michael Kreis, adding, "I will be shocked if the state doesn’t indict."
"#ICE brutality is the equally ugly twin of police brutality," wrote Harvard Kennedy School professor and former NAACP president Cornell Brooks. "Racially profiling Black & Brown migrants for deportation is as dangerous for all Americans as racially profiling Black & Brown citizens for incarceration. Reckless racist law enforcement is a public safety threat."