ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — In Minnesota’s state capital, a dramatic incident unfolded on Sunday involving an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer who discharged a weapon at a Cuban immigrant residing unlawfully in the United States. This occurred after the individual reportedly struck the officer and another agent with an SUV, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

The confrontation escalated when the man attempted to escape on foot and allegedly bit an ICE officer as agents sought to restrain him outside his St. Paul apartment, detailed Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement.

Fortunately, the individual was not injured by the gunfire, and the agents hit by the vehicle sustained injuries that were not life-threatening. Nevertheless, all parties involved were transported to a hospital for medical evaluation, McLaughlin confirmed.

This incident comes amid growing tensions in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region as federal authorities intensify immigration enforcement. Just last week, a confrontation between ICE officers and protesters occurred in nearby Minneapolis.

McLaughlin noted that the man apprehended on Sunday originally entered the United States in 2024 through a program started by former President Joe Biden’s administration. This now-defunct initiative allowed migrants lacking proper entry documentation to enter the country while their asylum claims were being processed.

The incident occurred Sunday morning. St. Paul police said in a statement that they were called to the area by reports of shots being fired, only to learn that the ICE agent had fired the shots.

ICE agents saw the man getting into his SUV and approached the vehicle, McLaughlin said, identifying themselves as ICE agents. When the man refused to roll down his window, they told him that they would break it if he continued not to comply, she said.

The man drove off, striking one agent, and went to a parking lot of his apartment complex, where agents stopped him again and ordered him out of the SUV, McLaughlin said. He rammed his SUV into an ICE vehicle, striking the second agent, prompting the shots, which did not hit him, she said.

After ramming another ICE vehicle, the man got out of his SUV and attempted to flee into his apartment, but agents brought him to the ground, McLaughlin said.