By John L. Micek | jmicek@masslive.com
Massachusetts lawmakers took to social media on Saturday to react to the reports of a fatal shooting in Minneapolis by federal immigration agents.
“YOU ARE COWARDS. You are all absolute, pathetic, untrained, unprofessional COWARDS,” U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-6th District, posted to his campaign’s X account on Saturday afternoon.
“Todd Lyons and the rest of you not only need to be defunded, you need to be PROSECUTED,” Moulton, a Marine veteran, said of the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
During an interview later in the day on MSNow, Moulton described senior White House adviser Steven Miller as a “domestic terrorist,” after Miller had reportedly described the deceased shooting victim as the same.
The person was shot amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said. The details surrounding the shooting weren’t immediately clear, the Associated Press reported.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the AP in a text message that the person had a firearm with two magazines and that the situation was “evolving.”
Shortly before 1 p.m. on Saturday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a statement saying U.S. Border Patrol officers were approached by someone wielding a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.
“We cannot keep living like this and people can’t keep dying like this. Stop funding DHS. Impeach Kristi Noem. Hold these agents accountable,” U.S. Sen. Ed Markey said in a post to X.
U.S Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., offered a similar sentiment.
“Horrific. Trump’s federal agents shot and killed another person,” Warren wrote in a post to X. “Republicans in control of Congress could put a stop to this chaos. Enough. Get ICE out of Minnesota, stop funding this violence, and end the assault on our communities.”
U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-2nd District, called for ICE’s abolition.
“To protect the American People, we must abolish Trump’s paramilitary secret police force. That’s why I voted HELL NO to another cent for ICE,” he said on X.
U.S. Reps. Lori Trahan, D-3rd District, and Katherine Clark, D-5th District, linked Saturday’s events to ICE’s reported detention of a 5-year-old boy earlier in the week.
“Trump and Kristi Noem’s ICE recruits unqualified agents, hands them a gun and mask and sends them into our communities. Then they lie when horrific actions like detaining 5-year-old Liam Ramos happen. Republicans in Congress refuse to hold this administration accountable. Democrats will change that,” Trahan posted to X.
Clark, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, echoed that sentiment, saying that federal agents detained “5-year-old Liam Ramos and used him to bait people out of their homes.”
“An innocent preschooler was snatched up by Trump’s secret police — but silence from the GOP. No outrage. No anger. What is it going to take for them to stand up against this terror?” Clark posted to X.
U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-4th District, who also voted no when the House approved a Homeland Security funding bill, called ICE a “broken agency” in a post to X earlier in the week.
“Under Secretary Kristi Noem’s failed leadership, ICE has morphed from an arm of the law into a presidential paramilitary. Rather than targeting criminals and prioritizing border security, ICE is harassing American citizens and immigrant communities,” the Newton Democrat said.
“The appropriations bill adds zero policy riders to reverse and reform these broken tactics, such as masking; warrantless street-grabs; operations in sensitive locations like schools; and derelict standards and training for the use of force,” Auchincloss, a Marine veteran, said.
U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-8th District, another “no” vote on that funding bill, said earlier in the week that “ICE, under the direction of Kristi Noem, has completely gone off the rails and is violating the basic rights of American citizens.”
U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-1st District, the top Democrat on the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, was similarly a “no” vote on the funding bill.
“Republicans refuse to demand accountability and reform within ICE, which should be held to the same standards as our local and state law enforcement,” Neal posted to X. “This isn’t about immigration. It’s about the rule of law and the basic civil liberties that define our democracy.”
