Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Scott Jennings Says ICE Agents In Minneapolis Expected To Exhibit Standard Of Behavior Most People Can’t Meet

Scott Jennings Says ICE Agents In Minneapolis Are Expected To Exhibit Standard Of Behavior Most People Can't Meet (Screenshot/CNN)

CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents operating in Minneapolis are held to an unrealistic standard.

Unrest targeting ICE in Minneapolis broke out after Homeland Security said an ICE officer, attacked by three individuals during a focused traffic stop, fired on a Venezuelan national who was in the country unlawfully. Jennings said on “The Arena with Kasie Hunt” that the idea that careful policing builds trust falls apart when activists instead urge the public to harass and provoke officers rather than cooperate with them.

“If the community were being encouraged to support the agents, that would be good. They’re being encouraged to confront the agents, to blow whistles in their faces, to agitate them,” Jennings said.

Jennings added that the officers are asked to show what amounts to patience while being verbally harassed and physically challenged in volatile situations.

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“These police officers are being expected to exhibit superhuman patience that I would suspect none of us would be able to do,” Jennings said. “If we were being confronted this way, and, again, I just go back to the story in question: three illegal aliens beating a man with a shovel. What is he supposed to do?”

Federal authorities deployed hundreds of ICE agents to the Minneapolis region after disclosures of widespread benefits fraud, prompting President Donald Trump in November to move to end Temporary Protected Status for Somali nationals in the city. Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis later said in a December interview that local law enforcement would not assist federal immigration actions.

During an immigration operation on Jan. 7, an ICE officer shot and killed Renee Nicole Good after an encounter captured on the agent’s phone, which showed her reversing her vehicle, fixing her gaze on the officer, and then driving forward as her wife urged her to accelerate while other agents tried to take her into custody.

(Featured Image Media Credit:Screenshot/CNN)