Authorities have arrested an individual who allegedly tried to deflate the tires of law enforcement vehicles, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a Jan. 24 post on X.
“During the riots, one individual was apprehended for obstructing law enforcement personnel and utilizing caltrops to deflate the tires of law enforcement vehicles. Upon apprehension, the subject was found in possession of a bag containing several similar devices,” DHS said, without giving more details on the individual. Caltrops are small, spiky devices spread across a terrain to impede the movement of vehicles and people.
The agency also did not clarify which riots were being referred to. In a response post, journalist Andy Ngo suggested the incident was related to the riots in Minnesota.
“The rioters in Minnesota are using the Antifa tactics from 2020. Antifa distribute guides on making these sharp nail devices. They were regularly thrown across streets in Portland to slow down @PortlandPolice,” Ngo said.
Leftist agitators have organized riots, carried out attacks, and attempted to thwart law enforcement on a daily basis in response to the Trump administration’s “robust enforcement” of law and order, DHS said in a statement on Jan. 23.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal law enforcement have arrested more than 10,000 illegal immigrants from Minnesota since Trump assumed power on Jan. 20 last year, it said.
“Even as they face a 1,300 percent increase in assaults against them, a 3,200 percent increase in vehicular attacks against them, and an 8,000 percent increase in death threats against them, the brave men and women of ICE will not be deterred,” it said.
On Saturday, a protester was arrested in Minnesota after allegedly biting off a finger of an agent from Homeland Security Investigations.
Referring to the incident in a Jan. 25 post on X, Attorney General Pam Bondi said she was directing “federal prosecutors to file charges for this HEINOUS assault on our brave law enforcement officer.”
Minnesota protests
Protests in Minnesota have intensified since the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer on Jan. 7 after she appeared to attempt to hit the agent with her vehicle during an enforcement operation. According to federal authorities, the ICE officer acted in self-defense.
On Jan. 24, in another incident, a federal officer shot an armed man, Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during a struggle to disarm him.
Pretti, 37, an intensive care unit nurse, allegedly approached Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun while they were trying to arrest an illegal immigrant wanted for violent assault.
The fatal shooting of Pretti led to hundreds of protestors flooding the scene of the incident, following which, authorities were forced to deploy crowd control measures.
In a Jan. 26 statement, the office of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz criticized ongoing federal law enforcement actions.
“The federal occupation of Minnesota long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement. It is a campaign of organized brutality against the people of our state. And today, that campaign claimed yet another life,” Walz said.
“All of us understand the potential this incident has to further inflame tensions on our streets.
“The federal government must de-escalate. I once again call on the President to remove the 3,000 agents from Minnesota who are sowing chaos and violence.”
In a Jan. 24 post on Truth Social, Trump asked why Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey failed to deploy resources to deal with the protests.
“Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers? The Mayor and the Governor called them off? It is stated that many of these Police were not allowed to do their job, that ICE had to protect themselves—Not an easy thing to do!” he wrote.
“We are there because of massive Monetary Fraud, with Billions of Dollars missing, and Illegal Criminals that were allowed to infiltrate the State through the Democrats’ Open Border Policy.
“The Mayor and the Governor are inciting Insurrection, with their pompous, dangerous, and arrogant rhetoric!”
This article was originally published by The Epoch Times.
