<\/p>\n
In October,<\/span> a Border Patrol agent shot a U.S. citizen accused of hitting his vehicle while trailing an immigration operation in Chicago. The Border Patrol agent then took to a work group chat to react to the news that he was being deployed to another city.<\/p>\n \u201cCool. I\u2019m up for another round of \u2018fuck around and find out,\u2019\u201d he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMinneapolis is the next \u2018round.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n For the woman injured of that non-fatal shooting in October and her attorney, the shooting of another U.S. citizen in Minneapolis on Wednesday came as a bracing reminder of her experience. Once again, a motorist had been shot by a federal agent.<\/p>\n \u201cMinneapolis is the next \u2018round,\u2019\u201d said lawyer Christopher Parente, who represents Marimar Martinez, the woman shot in Chicago.<\/p>\n Parente said Wednesday he had watched video of the shooting in Minneapolis and spoken with his client about the eerie similarities to her shooting in Chicago, which left Martinez with seven wounds.<\/p>\n \u201cWe both said, \u2018Of course this happened,\u2019\u201d Parente told The Intercept. \u201cIt is no surprise to either Marimar or myself that this happened, and unfortunately, it is going to continue to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The shooting in Minneapolis is the latest of a series involving agents from either U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Customs and Border Protection deployed in American cities on the orders of President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n In September, an ICE officer shot and killed an immigrant, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez<\/a>, who was accused of hitting and dragging the officer. The following month in Los Angeles, a federal agent shot a TikTok creator who was accused of hitting law enforcement vehicles that had boxed him in \u2014 although video <\/a>obtained by the Los Angeles Times suggested that his car was not moving. A judge dismissed charges against the TikToker days ago.<\/p>\n Across the country, police often justify shootings<\/a> by claiming that motorists have used their vehicles as a deadly weapon, even though police chiefs themselves acknowledge that such shootings are dangerous and ineffective<\/a>.<\/p>\n Part of the reason that the shootings keep happening is that immigration officials appear to have taken no steps to rein in agents who shoot civilians, Parente said. In the Chicago case, Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum testified in a November 5 court hearing that he had faced no discipline.<\/p>\n Federal prosecutors initially charged Martinez with assaulting federal agents during the October 4 immigration raids undertaken as part of Operation Midway Blitz<\/a>, the Trump administration\u2019s name for its Chicago crackdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n Exum\u2019s text messages appear to have been so potentially damaging for the government\u2019s case, however, that prosecutors dismissed the charges against Martinez shortly after the messages were made public.<\/p>\n In one, Exum bragged about the number of times he had hit Martinez.<\/p>\n \u201cI fired 5 shots and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n