The vehicle’s driver was identified as Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins, an illegal immigrant from Portugal, and in the passenger seat was Solomon Antonio Serrano-Esquivel, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, DHS stated.
After identifying Sousa-Martins, officers approached the van, and instructed him to turn off the vehicle’s engine, according to the agency. However, “the driver refused and attempted to flee, then weaponized his vehicle and began ramming his van into several ICE vehicles.”
“He then drove his van directly at ICE officers, attempting to run them over. Fearing for their lives and public safety, the ICE officers defensively fired their service weapons, striking the driver. Sousa-Martins then wrecked his van between two buildings, injuring the passenger.”
Officers rendered immediate medical aid to the illegal immigrants and shifted them to a local hospital for treatment, with both of them in stable condition and expected to recover, according to DHS.
The department stated that none of the ICE officers were severely injured. The incident is still under investigation.
DHS stated that its officers were risking their lives daily in the performance of their duties.
“Continued efforts to encourage illegal aliens and violent agitators to actively resist ICE will only lead to more violent incidents, the extremist rhetoric must stop,” it said.
In the incident, which took place in Minnesota, the illegal “attempted to evade ICE by ramming his car into two officers AND multiple vehicles—causing officers to defensively fire their service weapons,” ICE said in a Dec. 21 post on X.
Meanwhile, some Democratic lawmakers are challenging the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement.
According to the department, 70 percent of people arrested by ICE are criminal illegal immigrants charged or convicted of a crime in the United States.
