U.S. immigration operation ends in multi-car crash in Minnesota

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- A federal immigration operation in the U.S. city of Saint Paul in the state of Minnesota ended in a car crash on Wednesday and injured several people.

The Saint Paul Police Department said federal agents were pursuing a person in a vehicle when it crashed into other cars in Cathedral Hill neighborhood, adding that the pursued driver and another motorist were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security official Tricia McLaughlin told Patch and Newsweek that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities attempted to stop a targeted vehicle, as its driver, who had entered the United States from Honduras, tried to evade law enforcement. He drove recklessly and crashed into multiple vehicles, including an ICE one.

Saint Paul's Mayor Kaohly Her said in a statement that the incident showed the ongoing ICE presence was creating chaos and endangering residents in the city, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

Because of the reckless way ICE was running its operation, one person ended up in the hospital and several residents had their cars damaged, she added, calling for an end to the federal immigration enforcement campaign in the region known as Operation Metro Surge.