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Interview with Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX): Woman Shot, Killed by ICE Officer in Minneapolis; Trump Comments on ICE Shooting of Minnesota Woman; Minnesota Governor Walz Comments After ICE Agent Kills Woman. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired January 07, 2026 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00]

KEILAR: ... right now, considering Democrats are in the minority.

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): You're right. Look, when you're in the minority party in Congress, in the Senate, in the House, it is tougher to have leverage on what the president does. I voted against the 10s of billions of dollars for DHS. that is in large part enabling the abuse that we're seeing by ICE in communities across America. And so the mayor and the governor there should have some say in whether ICE actually is present in Minnesota.

And I saw the mayor earlier, just a quick clip, asking ICE to leave to get out of the city. But unfortunately, Donald Trump has used ICE to intimidate communities, to basically terrorize certain communities. Again to divide the country, to create resentment among some against others. And so, you know, we're going to have to make sure that we do oversight here in Congress.

But also any ICE agent and really any law enforcement agent but any ice agent -- because they're giving law enforcement agents a bad name right now -- anyone that violates the law they should be prosecuted. If this person violated the law, if it becomes clear as the investigation is done, then that ICE agent should be prosecuted.

KEILAR: And I wonder how you're seeing this because and we should note on the Hill today, there are Minnesota state officials who are testifying about these allegations of fraud on fraud in the state. It is these allegations of welfare fraud in Minnesota. And also there have been a number of convictions in past years having to do with this welfare fraud where there's a big concentration of allegations and convictions when it comes to the Somali community there in Minnesota, which is predominantly American citizens.

But that is what has really raised the attention of President Trump. And we've seen this uptick in federal agents deployed to Minneapolis in the wake of his attention to that fraud scandal. How are you looking at this escalation over time and just these interaction of events?

CASTRO: Well, it seems like Donald Trump has done in Minnesota now with the Somali-American community what he has at times done to Muslims across the country, to the Mexican-American community across the country, when he had bought 2,000 Facebook ads that talked about an invasion of the country, and then you had the shooting in El Paso, Texas in August of 2019. Where the shooter said, basically, that he saw these folks as, quote-unquote, Hispanic invaders to Texas.

The president makes a target of certain people in certain communities, and now, increasingly, is then sending federal agencies after those people in those communities. And it's a very dangerous mix, and it looks like that may have played a part today.

KEILAR: And I'm looking now at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus tweeting, it's quoting this clip from the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, Get the F off our streets. You say that he was asking ICE to leave. He, you know, he's saying it in a way, obviously, that we don't often hear from elected officials, the Hispanic caucus clearly endorsing that.

Why? You know, talk to us about why you think that's Important, necessary. Obviously some people are going to take issue with that. What? I mean, explain this to us.

CASTRO: Yes, I mean, I think for the mayor it's obviously a very emotional time and for the community it's a very emotional time on video. Again, it's pretty clear that this ICE agent shoots the woman when he doesn't have to. And again, you're talking about an agency that is out of control. that has become, in many ways, lawless and reckless under Kristi Noem, who's unqualified for that position.

And so they are abusing communities, and those communities really are fed up. And so I think that's why you saw the mayor react the way that he did.

KEILAR: Congressman Joaquin Castro, thank you so much for being with us. Obviously, rapidly developing set of circumstances there in Minneapolis as we are getting new video in, and we appreciate you being with us.

CASTRO: Good to be with you.

KEILAR: Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We're getting fresh reaction from President Trump on Truth Social, the president echoing what we've heard already from members of his administration, describing this effectively as a violent, willful, and vicious act by the driver of the vehicle, the 37-year-old woman who was killed by the ICE agent.

Let's go over to the White House and CNN's Kristen Holmes. Kristen, what else is the president saying?

[15:35:00]

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris and Brianna, I mean, we've been hearing from Whitney all day about what a tense situation this is. And President Trump is now making this even more political than it already was at one point blaming the radical left for this shooting. I do want to read to you from the statement here.

And just before I do, some of what he says in here is unconfirmed. It is not something that we have heard from any of our reporters on the ground who are sourcing this. It's not something that we saw in the videos. So just do want to be very clear on that, that this is his words about the woman who was killed today.

"I have just viewed the clip from the event which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was a horrible thing to watch. The woman was screaming -- or the woman screaming was obviously a professional agitator." Again, these are his words. "And the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully and viciously ran over the ICE officer who seems to have shot her in self-defense. Based on the attached clip, it's hard to believe he is alive, but he is now recovering in the hospital. The situation is being studied in its entirety, but the reason these incidents are happening is because the radical left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our law enforcement officers and ICE agents on a daily basis. They are just trying to do the job of making America safe. We need to stand by and protect our law enforcement officers from this radical left movement of violence and hate."

I will again note that there is a woman who is dead today who was shot by one of these ICE officers. We have no idea in terms of he was laying out here the idea that the woman screaming in the video we do hear yelling in the video was a professional agitator. That is not something that we have any knowledge of or reporting on there.

But just one thing to note, you know, you were just talking to the congressman about this. There is a lot of blame from Democrats on Kristi Noem and Department of Homeland Security. But ultimately, at the end of the day, Department of Homeland Security is enforcing and pushing the agenda of President Trump and the White House. So they're on the ground, these ICE agents, because of President Trump's agenda and because of orders that he has put in place that does not just fall squarely on Kristi Noem or the Department of Homeland Security.

So clearly here, he is standing by the ICE officer and by Department of Homeland Security's account of the events. He did link one version of the video to this post that he put on Truth Social. But clearly here, again, he is backing this officer and saying that it was self- defense.

SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes live at the White House. Thank you so much.

I want to go to Josh Campbell, because, Josh, you spoke to this a moment ago, the video that President Trump has linked to this truth social post shows a different angle of what transpired. It's not clear from that video whether it was necessary for this officer to open fire, but it does give more insight into what happened. And you had mentioned a moment ago that fundamentally it, again, doesn't appear that it was necessary for them to open fire.

But something that I do want to point out in the president's post here, he says that based on the attached clip, it's hard to believe that the officer is alive. He's now recovering in the hospital. I mean, from what you gathered, the officer walked away from what happened, right? There's one angle of him walking in one direction and then another video that shows that officer again walking seemingly unaffected in the other direction. Is that what you saw as well?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's exactly what we see. And the unfortunate reality is that whenever we see these questionable incidents here in modern times, politics quickly infuses here in the situation. So we have, again, the president there who was making, you know, claims about what occurred that don't appear to be based on any full facts that have been gathered. He even says in a statement, we're studying this in its entirety.

On the flip side, I'll note that you had a Democratic lawmaker on a short time ago who said that the ICE agent wasn't in any danger, according to his view. Which objectively, if you look at the video, the ICE agent appears to be struck by the vehicle, the front left of that car. And so again, the unfortunate part here is that politics quickly takes hold and then people formulate opinions when this thing isn't even a day old yet.

And this is something that investigators would typically have to look. Are there other angles that are available? I think, you know, two things can be true, and that is one, if an ICE agent has a vehicle coming at them and they are in fear their life, they can use deadly force under that agency's policy. But the flip side is there's an aspect of judgment.

KEILAR: So sorry, Josh, sorry to interrupt you. And obviously there is an aspect of judgment. Let's listen in to Governor Tim Walz in Minnesota.

[15:40:00]

GOV. TIM WALZ, (D) MINNESOTA: Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson, Colonel Schaefer of the Minnesota National Guard, and Colonel Bogojevic of the Minnesota State Patrol. This morning, we learned that an ICE officer shot and killed someone in Minneapolis. My deepest condolences to the family, to the loved ones who had to learn about this tragic event on national television.

We've been warning for weeks that the Trump administration's dangerous, sensationalized operations are a threat to our public safety, that someone was going to get hurt. Just yesterday, I said exactly that. What we're seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear headlines in conflict.

It's governing by reality TV. And today that recklessness cost someone their life. I've reached out to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and I'm waiting to hear back.

Let me be clear. The Trump and his -- Donald Trump and his administration may not care much about Minnesota. That's been pretty evident, but we love this state. We won't let them tear us apart, will not turn against each other. To Minnesotans, I say this, I feel your anger. I'm angry. They want a show. We can't give it to them. We cannot. If you protest

and express your First Amendment rights, please do so peacefully as you always do.

We can't give them what they want. The hearts and minds of the people in this state are on our side. To Americans, I ask you this, please stand with Minneapolis. To Minnesotans, know that our administration is going to stop at nothing to seek accountability and justice.

The State Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are working on the investigation. We have activated the State Emergency Operations Center. State Patrol Minnesota National Guard leadership is connected with the Minneapolis Police Department, the Saint Paul Police Department, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, the DNR, and Minnesota's Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

We have activated dozens of members of the State Patrol's Mobile Response Team. And from here on, I have a very simple message. We do not need any further help from the federal government. To Donald Trump and Kristi Noem, you've done enough. There's nothing more important than Minnesotan safety.

I've issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard. We have soldiers in training and prepared to be deployed if necessary. I remind you a warning order is a heads up for folks. And these National Guard troops are our National Guard troops, their teachers in your community, their business owners, their construction professionals. They are Minnesotans.

Minnesota will not allow our community to be used as a prop in a national political fight. We will not take the bait. We will continue to update you, Minnesota, as we get more information. Now I'd like to turn it over to Commissioner Bob Jacobson of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

BOB JACOBSON, COMMISSIONER, MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: Thank you, Governor. As the governor mentioned, my name is Bob Jacobson. It is my honor to serve as the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. First of all, I want to acknowledge the reason that we are all here. The loss of life is not anything anyone would ever want.

We fully expect that the community will want to peacefully demonstrate their anger or frustration. Minnesota residents and visitors have the right to peacefully demonstrate. We recognize that demonstrations are often driven by strong emotions, beliefs, and certainly a desire to be heard. Our role is to help ensure everyone can express themselves without anyone getting hurt.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety's role through the Minnesota State Patrol is to ensure safety, protect constitutional rights, keep roads accessible, and above all, to prevent harm. Our top priority is public safety. Our focus is keeping demonstrators, community members, drivers and law enforcement safe, especially during moments of heightened tension or uncertainty. Demonstrations must remain safe and lawful, particularly around

roadways. We will join with our partners to support safety while respecting the right to protest. With that in mind, I'd like to share a few safe and lawful ways to demonstrate.

Minnesotans can safely and legally express their views in many ways, including getting together peacefully with others in public spaces, marching or walking, not on roadways.

[15:45:00]

Making your voice heard through chants, speeches and displaying signs, being present in public areas where pedestrians are allowed, gathering in designated or permitted areas, and these actions will allow people to express themselves while protecting the safety of everyone involved. Unsafe or illegal actions could result in fines or arrests. Certain behaviors create serious hazards that threaten public safety, disrupt emergency services, or put people at risk.

These actions could result in fines. Or arrest demonstrating on or entering a freeway on foot. Walking on highways. Throwing objects starting or setting fires, damaging property or graffiti. Using illegal fireworks displaying or using illegal weapons. Reckless or dangerous driving especially near pedestrians. And certainly assault of aggressive or riotous behavior toward anyone.

We all want definitive answers to what happened today. Our Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is working in conjunction with the FBI to investigate this morning's shooting. As you know, we don't comment on active investigations but also keep in mind that this is an investigation is also in its infancy. So any speculation about what had happened would be just that, and we will not engage in speculation.

With that, I will turn it back over to the governor. Thank you.

WALZ: We'd be glad to take any questions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The National Guard (INAUDIBLE).

WALZ: Yes, and I can let General Schaefer talk about this. It so happens it's a training weekend. We've got about 7,500 troops in training at our sites, trading sites across the state. What it is, and in the National Guard, you give a warning order, which is a heads up of something could be coming. That just allows people to think about what they would need, what it would mean to mobilize, what it would mean to put them in.

And I could let the General talk a little bit about this. Obviously, since the summer of 2020, we had a lot of work done on teams being ready to make sure that civil unrest. And what that means, and I think Commissioner Jacobson is very clear, and I want Minnesotans to hear this from me.

The desire to get out and protest and to speak up to this administration of how wrong this is, that is a patriotic duty at this point in time, but it needs to be done safely. And I think the commissioner simply just laid out some of those parameters. We can do that. This is the peaceful resistance that we need. Simon, you want to say a few things about what that means to have them on the ready.

BRIG. GEN. SIMON SCHAEFER, U.S. NATIONAL GUARD: Yes, sir. Thank you, Governor. So for the military, Minnesota National Guard is comprised of 13,000 soldiers and airmen. We live all across and work throughout Minnesota. A warning order is just an initial step to increase your preparations. The Minnesota Guard is always prepared to respond and support state agencies and the citizens of Minnesota.

So what that means for us today is just some additional checks on equipment that already -- is ready at all times. And maybe some additional phone calls to service members who might be activated, but nothing, no activations. We are embedded with our state agencies here at the operations center to just continue parallel planning in the events that we are needed to support.

WALZ: I would make note, Mary, and to Minnesotans on this about the National Guard, they're there to protect you and protect your constitutional rights. These are our neighbors. They don't wear masks.

They don't bust in from somewhere else. They're not here to cause the hassles to you or what we saw today, the tragedy. Having them at the ready to make sure because when we see these types of things happen and we saw it after the murder of George Floyd, there's folks that want to cause chaos.

There's the disruptors in it. And why the vast majority of those protests were peaceful expressions, their First Amendment rights, there were those that destroyed property and put people at risk. The National Guard is there to make sure that peaceful protests are able to be done and that those that want to do the destruction are stopped from doing that.

Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) WALTZ: Yes, and well, and I think apparently by a federal agent, not by Minnesotans who were there to express their First Amendment rights. I think we've seen this to have folks ready. The gatherings that were down there today, I think this shocked everyone. People showed up as they should.

There's people putting flowers down on a memorial. There's people expressing their anger. It's just as these situations develop, we decide when we need to move these people out.

And I think the local reporters know well on this both unfortunately and and for us the the upside of this is is that we're very good and we've had practice at this. And and I just want to again implore Minnesotans -- I am not telling you not to express your anger or your your frustrations or the outrage that we have.

[15:50:00] Look this was -- this was totally predictable, as I said it yesterday, and it was totally avoidable. And I just wanted to remind you, too, that local law enforcement, we get no coordination. They don't tell us they're coming. They don't say why they're sending the largest deployment in American history to Minneapolis.

They're not, they're not making us any safer. We don't have any of that coordination. They should be talking to us when we do these things. Let us know we are going to be down here. This is going to happen. We don't have that.

So when you see local law enforcement or state patrol, or if it would take the National Guard, we're there responding to the chaos they've created too. But our role is to make sure that we're protecting Minnesotans so that something like this doesn't happen.

(INAUDIBLE)

WALZ: I have not. The question was, have I spoken to the individual's family? No, we do not have a definitive ID on this individual.

And I look, I'm going to note to all of you, I think it's really important and the professionals do this and they train me to do this. This is an open investigation. You need to be very careful about it. I know that many of you, myself included, have seen a very difficult video to watch, one where there's a family member watching their family member be shot and killed in front of them.

It's beyond me. That apparently from the federal government from the Homeland Security director herself has already determined who this person was, what their motive was and they hadn't even been taken out of the vehicle. This is -- we're not living in a normal world. And so no I have not.

And I want to be very careful because I know how painful this is. I know a painful is right now I'm saying person and all that this is a human being. It's very well as a, you know, an individual's child, a parent, and we don't know that yet. So, no, I have not. But once we do, we will. So, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In terms of you mentioned adding to the State Patrol, could you say more about how many State Patrol people are on the ground right now? And then also, OK, I'll just ask.

So the governor was mentioning mobilizing more of the state patrol. How many like state patrol people are like on the ground in Minneapolis right now? And should there have been more state patrol people on the ground like a couple of weeks ago when ICE came?

COL. CHRISTINA BOGOJEVIC, CHIEF OF MINNESOTA STATE PATROL: So the question was how many are in, how many state patrol troopers have been deployed to the city of Minneapolis? Right now we don't talk typical numbers because that is considered security information. We do have a specialized team that does deal with crowd control.

And so they have been deployed, but again, they are from all over the state of Minnesota. So they will come in in tears to the state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have already been on the ground. To some extent before today.

BOGOJEVIC: No, they, they, it was in response to this event.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just to clarify the intention of deploying National Guard, is there any chance of National Guard to deploy against federal agents to protect Minnesotans?

WALZ: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. What was it?

BOGOJEVIC: The National Guard, the Minnesota National Guard ever deployed against federal aids to protect Minnesotans, given the context of what happened earlier today.

WALZ: Well, I said this yesterday. We've never been at war with our federal government. I think in this case, the National Guard is their main mission. They have a dual mission.

There's the federal mission when they're under Title 10 orders, and then they're under Title 32 orders. In this warning order, there's nothing officially been done yet. If I am to activate them as the commander-in-chief of the Minnesota National Guard, I will issue the executive order to the Minnesota National Guard, and then they will be put in state duty status.

And as you've seen over the last few years, that could be flood prevention, that could be after a wind blowing storm up in the north, up in Bemidji, or it could be COVID or George Floyd response. In this case, again, it doesn't necessarily change the mission. They're there to protect Minnesotans. They're there to serve Minnesotans.

I think the thing that is so challenging in the moment we're in is we don't see a desire to work with us on public safety. We hear a demonization of our state. We see people coming in who don't know our community, and we see this massive display for the TVs that we're trying to understand, how is this coordinated?

And some of you watch the videos on there. Total chaos. And look, I have very limited work in this, is the training in the National Guard, but I've had a lot of training now to watch how our professionals operate.

After this person was shot, federal agents milling around? touching the vehicle at a crime scene and things, I don't know what to tell you. And I don't quite know how to respond to the question other than my primary responsibility as governor is the protection of the people of Minnesota. And you can be assured whether it's the state patrol or whether it's the National Guard, their deployment is there to protect Minnesotans from whatever it is.

[15:55:00]

If it's an act of nature, if it's a global pandemic, or in this case, if it is a rogue federal agent, I don't -- I don't know at this time, and I want to be very careful. It's unprecedented that we have the federal government's already determined exactly what's happened here in the motives of an individual that we don't even know the name. They don't know the name, and that's very difficult.

So one more, Dana. Dana.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To the presidents tweet. He says, quote, we need to stand by and protect our law enforcement officers from his radical left movement of violence and wondering what you think of that. If you're worried for law enforcement.

WALZ: Look, and I understand the uniqueness of this moment in this week following this week, seeing what's happening in the backdrop of a -- of a show hearing in D.C., my job is to govern and my job is to see what the facts are. This happened a couple of hours ago and we're already pitting American against American.

All of you saw a video in your eyes. We have a chaotic situation caused by the largest deployment in American history of federal agents into a community with no communication to locals. We had a chaotic situation where an individual is in their car, shot and killed.

And so, look, I want to be very cautious here because Donald Trump will make this about me. He will make this about politics. This is about public safety and this is about normalcy. To Americans who are watching this, if you're in Portland or you're in L.A. or you're in Chicago, or you're wherever they're coming next.

Stand with us. Stand with us against this. This this was so, so preventable, so unnecessary and I don't know. I hope maybe we're at their McCarthy moment.

Do you have no decency? Do you have no decency? We have someone dead in their car for no reason whatsoever. And I -- I don't I don't want to be right about this, but I said if they do this, they're going to create a chaotic situation where someone innocent is going to get killed and they did it. And and now we hear more political rhetoric, enough.

Enough is enough and so to Minnesotans don't take the bait. Do not take the bait. Do not allow them to deploy federal troops into here.

Do not allow them to invoke the Insurrection Act. Do not allow them to declare martial law. Do not allow them to lie about the security and the decency of this state.

And let's let this investigation play itself out. Let's make sure we protect our neighbors. I encourage you to use your First Amendment rights and all of your constitutional rights but do so in a peaceful manner.

We'll gather back with you as soon as we gather more information that needs to be put out. But again, stay safe, Minnesotans, and we'll be back with you.

Thank you, Bob. SANCHEZ: We've been listening to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz there,

asking of the Trump administration, have you no decency? Wondering if this is Trump's McCarthy moment, as he describes it. Saying, we have someone dead in their car for no reason whatsoever, though he said he wanted to be very cautious because this was a chaotic situation.

He added this was preventable, it was unnecessary. He added that for weeks, he had been warning that this immigration crackdown was going to lead to innocent people getting hurt. He also offered condolences to the family of this person who was killed.

He also went on to say that he was putting the Minnesota National Guard on alert in case they needed to be deployed later at night. Obviously, officials bracing for the community's outrage to flow into the streets.

KEILAR: Yes, and he was stressing repeatedly, these are members of your community. He said at one point, they're not wearing masks. He said, these are teachers. These are people working in construction in Minnesota, and they're here to protect the community. They're here to protect law enforcement.

So he stressed time and again, as did the commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, they're expecting there to be protests, but they're imploring people to remain peaceful. We are seeing people gathered there in Minneapolis after what has been a momentous day.

This just blocks from where George Floyd was killed, another tragedy that will go down in history in Minneapolis, and that is the killing of a 37-year-old woman by an ICE officer competing leading narratives right now and many videos of the scene as we continue our coverage next on "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt, which starts right now.

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