Connect with us
DAPA Banner

Crypto World

ICE Agent Faces Felony Charges in Minnesota

Published

on

ICE shoots man in California stop

An ICE agent charged 2026 with two counts of felony second-degree assault faces a nationwide arrest warrant after allegedly pointing his duty weapon at the heads of two civilians in a moving vehicle during the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced Thursday.

Summary

  • Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr., 35, a Maryland resident and ICE Enforcement and Removal officer, allegedly pulled alongside a civilian vehicle on a Minneapolis highway shoulder on February 5 and pointed his weapon directly at the driver and passenger.
  • This is the first criminal case against a federal immigration officer stemming from Operation Metro Surge, which deployed approximately 3,000 federal agents to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and was linked to the fatal shootings of two US citizens.
  • Moriarty said Morgan acted “well beyond the scope” of federal authority and that “there is no such thing as absolute immunity for federal agents who violate the law in the state of Minnesota.”

An ICE agent charged 2026 with felony assault in Minnesota marks the first criminal case against a federal officer from Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s largest immigration enforcement operation, which deployed about 3,000 agents to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area between December and February and left two US citizens dead.

Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. allegedly drove an unmarked SUV on a highway shoulder on February 5 past slower traffic, then pulled alongside a civilian vehicle and pointed his duty weapon directly at both occupants while continuing to drive. The victims called 911 and filmed the Utah license plate on the SUV, which investigators traced to a rental linked to Morgan’s ICE partner.

Advertisement

Morgan gave a voluntary interview to Minnesota State Patrol after the incident, telling investigators he feared for his safety when the victims’ car pulled in front of him. He said he drew his weapon and yelled “Police! Stop!” Investigators noted the victims could not hear him because their windows were up and had no way to identify him as a law enforcement officer.

“For a federal agent, our opinion is that illegally driving on a shoulder, pulling up to a car and pointing a gun at the heads of two community members who are not doing anything at the time is well beyond the scope of their authority,” Moriarty said. The charges carry a maximum sentence of up to seven years in prison per count under Minnesota law.

Federal Response and What This Means for Operation Metro Surge

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has previously warned that the DOJ could investigate and prosecute state and local officials who arrest federal agents for performing official duties. Moriarty said Thursday that she is “not concerned about blowback” and that her office would hold people accountable under Minnesota law regardless.

Advertisement

Operation Metro Surge was described by DHS as its largest immigration enforcement operation ever. The surge led to thousands of arrests and drew mass protests across the Twin Cities. Two US citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Macklin Good, were shot and killed by federal officers during the operation. Trump fired Noem in March shortly after the surge ended, and Border Patrol sector chief Gregory Bovino announced his retirement the same month. Minnesota is separately suing the federal government for access to evidence in the three shooting cases.

The Morgan case moved faster than the shooting investigations because, Moriarty said, “virtually none of the obstacles around evidence collection that exist for the January shootings exist in this case.” A video and a license plate produced a clear evidentiary path. The shooting cases involving Pretti and Good remain under investigation.

The charges arrive at a moment when the administration’s immigration enforcement record is becoming a central midterm issue, with Democrats using controversies like this to keep pressure on vulnerable House Republicans whose votes will determine whether the CLARITY Act and other reform legislation can pass before the November election.

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Crypto World

Circle Launches USDC Bridge For Native Cross-Chain Transfers

Published

on

Circle Launches USDC Bridge For Native Cross-Chain Transfers

Stablecoin issuer Circle has launched USDC Bridge, a new user interface built on top of the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) that seeks to simplify native cross-chain transfers of the USDC stablecoin.

On Friday, Circle’s USDC X account said the bridge allows users to move the USDC (USDC) stablecoin in a “predictable, transparent way,” citing a native burn-and-mint transfer mechanism and no bridge complexities.

Gas fees will be handled automatically, fees will be shown upfront, and live status updates will be provided throughout the transfer, Circle added.

Source: Circle

The USDC Bridge builds on Circle’s CCTP, which was introduced in April 2023 and facilitates hundreds of millions of stablecoin transfers each day.

CCTP eliminated the need for wrapped and synthetic versions of USDC.

Advertisement

Cross-chain bridges seek to make the broader crypto ecosystem interoperable, functioning as a unified network rather than a collection of fragmented, isolated blockchains.

Making bridges as simple and easy to use as possible has been an area of focus for many crypto infrastructure firms. 

In the past, bridges have confused users and arguably slowed crypto adoption, especially for beginners struggling to navigate bridge interfaces, trade routes and gas fees.

USDC Bridge supports over a dozen blockchains

Cointelegraph found that USDC Bridge supports USDC transfers between at least 17 Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible blockchains, including Ethereum, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Base, Monad, Optimism, Polygon, Sonic and World Network.

Advertisement

Related: Ukraine arrests FBI-wanted cybercrime suspect, seizes $11M in assets

Circle’s CCTP supports a broader number of blockchains, including Solana, Sui and Aptos, which are not natively EVM compatible.

On Wednesday, Circle was hit with a class action for failing to freeze around $230 million worth of USDC that moved through its CCTP from the Drift Protocol exploit on April 1.

Circle is accused of aiding and abetting conversion and negligence. 

Advertisement

More than 100 members are involved in the class action. The law firm representing them, Mira Gibb, is seeking damages, with the final amount to be determined at trial.

Magazine: Are DeFi devs liable for the illegal activity of others on their platforms?