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MINNEAPOLIS — Federal officers have encountered opposition in nearly all of the cities targeted by President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign. But it was in Minnesota — a state in daily conflict with the Trump administration this year — that a 37-year-old woman was shot and killed by an immigration officer.

Trump has focused on several blue states in the divide-and-conquer campaign that has characterized his second term, and now he has turned to Minnesota, where the killing of George Floyd and the protests it sparked stained his first presidency.

Trump last month called the state’s Somali population “garbage” in the wake of a massive federal investigation into COVID-19 and medical aid fraud tied to organizations serving Somali immigrants, among others. The fraud cases led Minnesota’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz — former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 running mate — to announce this week he will not run for reelection.

In June, a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband were assassinated by a Trump supporter, although conservatives insist the gunman was actually a leftist working at Walz’s behest. On Sunday, the victims’ family begged Trump to take down a social media post echoing those conspiracy theories.

Memories of the chaos that followed the killing of George Floyd

Amid that mounting tension, the Trump administration announced Tuesday that it was sending more than 2,000 federal officers to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in what it claimed would be the biggest immigration enforcement operation in history.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who killed Renee Good during a protest Wednesday against the immigration raids opened fire just blocks from where, in 2020, a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd. The parallels were painful and frightening for many in the area, including Stephanie Abel, a 56-year-old Minneapolis nurse, who is keeping her gas tank full and cash handy in memory of the chaos that followed that slaying.

“I thought the federal government would realize that now is not the time to be toying with people,” Abel said. “What are they going to try to do to get Minneapolis to ignite?”

Floyd’s death sparked the biggest protests of Trump’s first term. The president, who is still publicly bitter about the unrest, contends it should have been met with a stronger show of force.

That’s the approach Trump has adopted in his second term, trying to cow blue states by surging military and immigration agents into their cities and insisting that anyone who doesn’t comply with federal demands will face severe consequences.

Immigration operations that started last summer in liberal strongholds such as Chicago,Los Angeles and Portland also generated large protests. Good is at least the fifth person killed during ICE enforcement efforts.

On Thursday, Vice President JD Vance said Good’s death was “a tragedy of her own making,” blamed “leftist ideology” and said the media had encouraged protests against Trump’s immigration crackdown. Vance spoke at the White House to announce a new assistant attorney general position to prosecute the abuse of government assistance programs that will focus on Minnesota.

Federal investigators have Somalis in their sights

The Twin Cities operation is intertwined with a conservative effort to make Minnesota the poster child for government fraud. Though prosecutions for the fraudulent use of hundreds of millions of dollars of federal COVID-19 and health aid by social service groups began in the Biden administration, Trump and conservatives have seized on the scandal in recent weeks.

In November, Trump called Minnesota “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” after a report by a conservative news site, City Journal, claimed federal money was fraudulently flowing to the militant group al-Shabab. There has been little, if any, evidence, proving such a link. Nevertheless, the president said he would end Temporary Protected Status for Somalis in Minnesota.

The allegations got a new charge late last month when conservative influencer Nick Shirley posted an unconfirmed video claiming that day care centers in Minneapolis run by Somalis had fraudulently collected over $100 million in government aid.

Jamal Osman, a Somali immigrant and Minneapolis city councilman who lives just a few blocks from the location of the ICE shooting, said he and other prominent Somalis in the area have been swamped with angry calls and messages since Trump made his statements. The vitriol, he said, mainly comes from out of state.

“We have whole groups of people who’ve never been to Minnesota,” Osman said in an interview. “Minnesota is probably one of the nicest places to live. It’s a beautiful area with very nice people and we blended in, it’s all very nice. We don’t really see bad things happening here normally.”

The Trump administration on Tuesday said is withholding funding for programs that support needy families with children, including day care funding, in five Democratic-led states over concerns about fraud. Joining Minnesota on the list were California, Colorado, Illinois and New York.

‘Leave our state alone’

Minnesota’s place on a list of targeted blue states is not unexpected.

Under Walz, Minnesota has become something of a beacon for liberals as an example of a state that expanded the public safety net even as the nation swung to the right. Since Trump’s first election, the state has seen large increases in education spending, free school breakfasts and lunches, and improved protection of abortion rights.

Trump lost Minnesota by only 4 percentage points in 2024, making it significantly less liberal than California and New York. Still, it has been reliably Democratic throughout the Trump years, a rarity in the swingy upper Midwest.

The state’s political tilt reflects the size of the Twin Cities metro area and its robust population of college-educated liberals, which overwhelm the state’s more conservative rural reaches.

It’s the sort of cleavage that has defined national politics during Trump’s years in office.

“Minnesota is a microcosm of a lot of the tensions we have in our society,” said David Schultz, a political scientist at Hamline University in St. Paul. “We’re a country that’s hugely polarized, Democrats-Republicans, urban-rural.”

On Thursday, Minnesota was an ominous indicator of the damage those divisions can inflict. Minneapolis schools remained closed after immigration agents clashed with high school students at one campus on Wednesday. The state’s National Guard remained on standby at Walz’s directive.

Walz begged Trump to ease up, saying Minnesota’s residents are “exhausted” by the president’s “relentless assault on Minnesota.”

“So please, just give us a break,” Walz said during a news conference Thursday. “And if it’s me, you’re already getting what you want, but leave my people alone. Leave our state alone.”

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s government on Thursday denied an allegation by the U.S. government that authorities in Mogadishu destroyed an American-funded warehouse belonging to the World Food Program and seized food aid earmarked for impoverished civilians.

The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that it has suspended all assistance from Washington to Somalia’s federal government over the allegations, saying the Trump administration has “a zero-tolerance policy for waste, theft and diversion of life-saving assistance.”

A senior U.S. State Department official said authorities at the Mogadishu port demolished the warehouse of the World Food Program, a Rome-based U.N. agency, at the direction of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud “with no prior notification or coordination with international donor countries, including the United States.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private reporting from American diplomats in the region.

Somalia’s foreign ministry said that the food in question wasn’t destroyed and that “the commodities referenced in recent reports remain under the custody and control of the World Food Program, including assistance provided by the United States.”

The foreign ministry said expansion and repurposing works at the Mogadishu port are underway as part of broader developments, but ongoing activities there have not affected the custody and distribution of humanitarian assistance.

Somalia “remains fully committed to humanitarian principles, transparency, and accountability, and values its partnership with the United States and all international donors,” it said. It gave no other details.

The WFP told The Associated Press in a statement that its warehouse in Mogadishu port had been demolished by port authorities. The organization said the warehouse contained 75 metric tones of specialized foods intended for the treatment of malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls and young children.

In a later update, the WFP said it had “retrieved 75 metric tons of nutritional commodities” without explaining further details on how the material was retried.

The U.S. State Department said: “We’re glad to hear reports that certain commodities have been recovered and continue our investigation into diversion and misuse of assistance in Somalia. We’ve urged the Federal Government of Somalia to promptly follow through on their commitment to provide an account of the incident.”

Located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia is one of the world’s poorest nations and has been beset by chronic strife and insecurity exacerbated by multiple natural disasters, including severe droughts, for decades.

The U.S. provided $770 million in assistance for projects in Somalia during the last year of Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, but only a fraction of that went directly to the government.

The U.S. suspension comes as the Trump administration has ratcheted up criticism of Somali refugees and migrants in the United States, including over fraud allegations involving child care centers in Minnesota. It has slapped significant restrictions on Somalis wanting to come to the U.S. and made it difficult for those already in the United States to stay.

It wasn’t immediately clear how much assistance would be affected by the suspension because the Trump administration has slashed foreign aid expenditures, dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development and not released new country-by-country data.

South Sudan, another African country facing conflict and food shortage, is also heavily affected by U.S. aid restrictions. On Thursday, the U.S. suspended foreign assistance to a county in South Sudan’s Jonglei state, and similar assistance to Western Bahr el-Ghazal state was under review, the U.S. Embassy in South Sudan said in a statement.

That statement charged that South Sudanese officials “take advantage of the United States instead of working in partnership with us to help the South Sudanese people.”

The U.S. measures “follow continued abuse, exploitation, and theft directed against U.S. foreign assistance by South Sudanese officials at national, state, and county levels,” it said.

There was no immediate comment from South Sudan’s government.

WASHINGTON — The Senate advanced a resolution Thursday that would limit President Donald Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks against Venezuela, sounding a note of disapproval for his expanding ambitions in the Western Hemisphere.

Democrats and five Republicans voted to advance the war powers resolution on a 52-47 vote and ensure a vote next week on final passage. It has virtually no chance of becoming law because Trump would have to sign it if it were to pass the Republican-controlled House. Still, it was a significant gesture that showed unease among some Republicans after the U.S. military seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid over the weekend.

Trump’s administration is now seeking to control Venezuela’s oil resources and its government, but the war powers resolution would require congressional approval for any further attacks on the South American country.

“To me, this is all about going forward,” said Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, one of the five Republican votes. “If the president should determine, ‘You know what? I need to put troops on the ground of Venezuela,’ I think that would require Congress to weigh in.”

The other Republicans who backed the resolution were Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Todd Young of Indiana.

Trump reacted to their votes by saying on social media that they “should never be elected to office again” and that the vote “greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security.”

Democrats had failed to pass several such resolutions in the months that Trump escalated his campaign against Venezuela. But lawmakers argued now that Trump has captured Maduro and set his sights to other conquests such as Greenland, the vote presents Congress with an opportunity.

“This wasn’t just a procedural vote. It’s a clear rejection of the idea that one person can unilaterally send American sons and daughters into harm’s way without Congress, without debate,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

Lawmakers’ response to the Venezuela operation

Republican leaders have said they had no advance notification of the raid early morning Saturday to seize Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, but mostly expressed satisfaction this week as top administration officials provided classified briefings on the operation.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who forced the vote on the resolution, said he believes many Republicans were caught off guard by the outcome. He said that Trump’s recent comments to The New York Times suggesting U.S. oversight in Venezuela could last for years — combined with details revealed in the classified briefings — prompted some lawmakers to conclude that “this is too big to let a president do it without Congress.”

The administration has used an evolving set of legal justifications for the monthslong campaign in Central and South America, from destroying alleged drug boats under authorizations for the global fight against terrorism to seizing Maduro in what was ostensibly a law enforcement operation to put him on trial in the United States.

Republican leaders have backed Trump.

“I think the president has demonstrated at least already a very strong commitment to peace through strength, especially in this hemisphere,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. “I think Venezuela got that message loudly and clearly.”

A vote on a similar resolution in November narrowly failed to gain the majority needed. Paul and Murkowski were the only Republicans voting in favor then.

Young in a statement said he supported the operation to capture Maduro, but was concerned by Trump’s statements that his administration now “runs” Venezuela.

“It is unclear if that means that an American military presence will be required to stabilize the country,” Young said, adding that he believed most of his constituents were not prepared to send U.S. troops to that mission.

House Democrats were introducing a similar resolution Thursday.

The rarely enforced War Powers Act

Trump criticized the Senate vote as “impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief” under the Constitution.

Presidents of both parties have long argued the War Powers Act infringes on their authority. Passed in 1973 in the aftermath of the Vietnam War — and over the veto of Republican President Richard Nixon — it has never succeeded in directly forcing a president to halt military action.

Congress declares war while the president serves as commander in chief, according to the Constitution. But lawmakers have not formally declared war since World War II, granting presidents broad latitude to act unilaterally. The law requires presidents to notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying forces and to end military action within 60 to 90 days absent authorization — limits that presidents of both parties have routinely stretched.

Democrats argue those limits are being pushed further than ever. Some Republicans have gone further still, contending congressional approval is unnecessary altogether.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close Trump ally who traveled with the president aboard Air Force One on Sunday, said he would be comfortable with Trump taking over other countries without congressional approval, including Greenland.

“The commander in chief is the commander in chief. They can use military force,” Graham said.

Greenland may further test the limits

Graham’s comments come as the administration weighs not only its next steps in Venezuela, but also Greenland. The White House has said the “military is always an option” when it comes to a potential American takeover of the world’s largest island.

Republicans have cited Greenland’s strategic value, but most have balked at the idea of using the military to take the country. Some favor a potential deal to purchase the country, while others have acknowledged that is an unlikely option when Denmark and Greenland have rejected Trump’s overtures.

Democrats want to get out in front of any military action and are already preparing to respond. Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego said he expected soon to introduce a resolution “to block Trump from invading Greenland.”

Greenland belongs to a NATO ally, Denmark, which has prompted a much different response from Republican senators than the situation in Venezuela.

On Thursday, Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, met with the Danish ambassador to the United States, Jesper Møller Sørensen. Also in the meeting were the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, and the head of Greenland’s representation to the U.S. and Canada, Jacob Isbosethsen.

“There’s no willingness on their part to negotiate for the purchase or the change in title to their land which they’ve had for so long,” Wicker, R-Miss., said afterward. “That’s their prerogative and their right.”

Wicker added that he hoped an agreement could be reached that would strengthen the U.S. relationship with Denmark.

“Greenland is not for sale,” Isbosethsen told reporters.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Federal immigration agents shot and wounded two people in a vehicle outside a hospital in Portland on Thursday, a day after an officer fatally shot a woman in Minnesota, authorities said.

The shooting drew hundreds of protesters to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building at night, and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield vowed to investigate “whether any federal officer acted outside the scope of their lawful authority” and refer criminal charges to the prosecutor’s office if warranted.

The Department of Homeland Security said the vehicle’s passenger was “a Venezuelan illegal alien affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring” who was involved in a recent shooting in the city. When agents identified themselves to the occupants during a “targeted vehicle stop” in the afternoon, the driver tried to run them over, the department said in a statement.

“Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired a defensive shot,” it said. “The driver drove off with the passenger, fleeing the scene.”

There was no immediate independent corroboration of that account or of any gang affiliation of the vehicle’s occupants. During prior shootings involving agents from President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdowns in U.S. cities, including the fatal one Wednesday in Minneapolis, video evidence has cast doubt on the administration’s characterizations of what prompted the shootings.

Trump and his allies have consistently blamed the Tren de Aragua gang for being at the root of violence and drug dealing in some U.S. cities.

The Portland shooting escalates tensions in a city that has long had a contentious relationship with Trump, including due to his recent failed effort to deploy National Guard troops there. The city saw long-running nightly protests outside the ICE building.

According to the Portland Police bureau, officers initially responded to a report of a shooting outside Adventist Health hospital at 2:18 p.m. Thursday.

A few minutes later, police received information that a man who had been shot was asking for help in a residential area a couple of miles away. Officers went there and found a man and a woman with gunshot wounds. Officers determined that they were injured in the shooting with federal agents, police said.

Their conditions were not immediately known. Portland police said officers applied a tourniquet to one of them.

City Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney said during a meeting that “as far as we know, both of these individuals are still alive, and we are hoping for more positive updates throughout the afternoon.”

At a nighttime news conference, Police Chief Bob Day said the FBI was leading the investigation and he had no details about the events that led to the shooting.

Mayor Keith Wilson and the City Council called on ICE to end all operations in Oregon’s largest city until a full investigation is completed.

“We stand united as elected officials in saying that we cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts,” they said in a statement. “Portland is not a ‘training ground’ for militarized agents, and the ‘full force’ threatened by the administration has deadly consequences.”

Wilson also suggested at a news conference that he does not necessarily believe the federal government’s account of the shooting: “There was a time we could take them at their word. That time is long past.”

Democratic State Sen. Kayse Jama, who lives near where it took place, said Oregon is a welcoming state — but he told federal agents to leave.

“You are not welcome,” Jama said. “You need to get the hell out of Oregon.”

The city officials said “federal militarization undermines effective, community‑based public safety, and it runs counter to the values that define our region. We’ll use every legal and legislative tool available to protect our residents’ civil and human rights.”

They urged residents to show up with “calm and purpose during this difficult time.”

Several dozen people gathered in the evening near the scene where police found the wounded people.

“It’s just been chaos,” said one, Anjalyssa Jones. “The community is trying to get answers.”

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, urged protesters to remain peaceful.

“Trump wants to generate riots,” he said on the social platform X. “Don’t take the bait.”

WASHINGTON — The White House said Thursday that it was not feasible to save the East Wing because of structural issues, past decay and other major concerns as officials shared details of President Donald Trump’s planned ballroom at a public meeting of the commission charged with approving it.

Josh Fisher, director of the White House Office of Administration, said an unstable colonnade, water leakage, mold contamination and other problems made it more economical to tear down the East Wing to make room for the $400 million ballroom than to renovate it.

“Because of this and other factors, the cost analysis proved that demolition and reconstruction provided the lowest total cost ownership and most effective long-term strategy,” Fisher told members of the National Capital Planning Commission.

It was the most comprehensive explanation to date for the dramatic demolition of the East Wing, which caused a public stir when it began in October with little advance notice.

The commission’s chairman, Will Scharf, who is also a top White House official, said he thought the project would ultimately be approved.

The project’s architect, Shalom Baranes, joined Fisher to provide a high-level view of the proposal to the commission. Baranes showed the panel renderings of the ballroom and views of the White House complex from the north and south with the addition.

Baranes said the design could include adding a second story to the West Wing colonnade to help make the White House more uniform with the new ballroom on the east side. But such a step would also dramatically alter the iconic space outside the Oval Office.

Fisher and Baranes said the project includes more than just a ballroom, and will also streamline visitor access to the White House and make unspecified improvements to Lafayette Park across the street.

Some of the 12 commissioners raised concerns, most vocally Democrat Phil Mendelson, who asked several questions about the ballroom’s size and location and whether those might change going forward. Baranes said “anything’s possible,” but added that the plans had been thoroughly studied.

Mendelson, who is also chairman of the D.C. Council, asked if the planned ceiling height of 38 to 40 feet could still be lowered before the final structure is finished and received assurances that the number wasn’t fully set. “It still seems to me it’s overwhelming the existing building,” Mendelson said.

Baranes said the idea would be to build the ballroom’s height to ensure it matches the rest of the White House. “The heights will match exactly,” he said.

Scharf listened to those and other questions Mendelson raised. Upon completion, however, the ballroom is expected to be larger than the rest of the existing White House.

Mendelson also asked why the project hadn’t been presented in its entirety to the commission before the East Wing was demolished. Fisher said some aspects of the ballroom construction were of a “top secret nature” and needed to be dealt with.

Scharf repeated his past assertions that the planning commission doesn’t usually have jurisdiction over site work and demolition on any project, including at the White House.

After the meeting, he expressed confidence that the project will receive the go-ahead.

“I certainly, based on the presentation today, I fully expect that the commission will … approve this project,” Scharf told reporters. “I think you just saw a very positive response to these preliminary drawings.” He acknowledged Mendelson’s concerns and suggested they would be addressed.

Only commissioners were allowed to ask questions and offer feedback at the meeting. A more formal review, including public testimony and votes, is expected after the White House submits a more detailed proposal. The panel’s next meeting is Feb. 5.

Before the meeting adjourned, Scharf argued that the White House needed a larger, more elegant space for major functions. He recalled visiting Windsor Castle last year with Trump and said, that when the president likely hosts King Charles III of Great Britain, “more likely than not, he will be hosted in a tent on the South Lawn with porta-potties.”

Scharf also said after the meeting that the commission is interested in more than whether the ballroom is a good idea. He said their concerns extend to how it affects the White House visitor experience and how the building fits in with others in the area and across the city.

Plans only recently offered

The White House in December submitted its ballroom plans to the commission, which is one of two federal panels that review construction on federal land — usually before ground is broken. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued to halt construction of the ballroom, accusing the Trump administration of violating federal laws by proceeding before submitting the project for the independent reviews, congressional approval and public comment.

Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the Trust, said in a statement afterward that the White House presentation was a “good and necessary first step.” She urged the administration to comply with all legally required review and approval processes before starting construction.

A summary on the commission’s website said the purpose of the “East Wing Modernization Project” is to “establish a permanent, secure event space within the White House grounds” that provides increased capacity for official state functions, eliminates reliance on temporary tents and support facilities, and “protects the historic integrity and cultural landscape of the White House and its grounds.”

A comprehensive design plan for the White House prepared in 2000 identified the “need for expanded event space to address growing visitor demand and provide a venue suitable for significant events,” the summary said. It added that successive administrations had “recognized this need as an ongoing priority.”

Ballroom’s size and scope has grown

Trump, a Republican serving his second term, has been talking about building a White House ballroom for years. Last July, the White House announced a 90,000-square-foot space would be built on the east side of the complex to accommodate 650 seated guests at a then-estimated cost of $200 million. Trump has said it will be paid for with private donations, including from him.

He later upped the ballroom’s capacity to 999 people and, by October, had demolished the East Wing. In December, he updated the price tag to $400 million — double the original estimate.

The White House had announced few other details about the project but has said it would be completed before Trump’s term ends in January 2029.