The contentious encounters stem from a dramatic shift in the approach to immigration enforcement, current and former officials say.<\/b>
\nUS President Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping immigration crackdown increasingly is sparking violent confrontations with both migrants and American citizens, a development grimly underscored by an ICE officer\u2019s fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman this week.
Under \u200cTrump\u2019s orders to ramp up deportations, masked immigration officers have surged into Democratic-led cities, sprayed tear gas in residential streets, tackled people in car parks and pointed guns at bystanders trying to film them.
A federal officer \u200din Minneapolis dragged a woman through a snowy street in an incident last month that the city\u2019s police chief called an \u201cegregious disregard for human dignity\u201d.
These contentious encounters, which have come amid a push to quickly recruit and train thousands of new officers, have stemmed from a dramatic shift in the approach to immigration enforcement, according to current and former immigration officials.
The White House demanded a steep increase in immigration arrests in late May, leading officers to change tactics, embracing showy sweeps over more targeted arrests of people with serious criminal records. Since then, officers have been met with more public backlash and resistance, at times creating tense \u2060stand-offs.
\u201cIt\u2019s this high-visibility, high-footprint, high-contact form of operation that invites danger,\u201d said former ICE official Scott Shuchart, who served in Joe Biden\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n