Minneapolis couple, 6 children trapped in car after ICE deploys tear gas under it during clashes

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: A family of eight, including six children, was trapped in their vehicle after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents threw a tear gas canister under their car.

The family was returning home from a youth sports event in Minneapolis when this incident occurred.

The ordeal left two children, including an infant, hospitalized.

The parents said all of the children escaped physical harm, but were shaken because of this episode that took place during the Minneapolis protest.

Donations are being collected to support the family’s medical needs and help them replace their car.

Minneapolis couple had to perform CPR on their six-month-old baby

Shawn and Destiny Jackson, alongside their six children — an 11-year-old, a seven-year-old, four-year-old twins, a two-year-old, and a six-month-old baby— were trapped as federal agents and anti-ICE protesters clashed in Minneapolis.

"They stopped at my car, and they proceeded to yell in and said, 'Get out of here.' Well, they used profanity. And my husband screamed and said, 'We're trying,'" Destiny said.

Despite the escalating situation, the couple tried to stay calm. "They said it again, and we said, 'We're trying, if you guys will move.' And of course, everybody saying what happened with Renee, you know, we weren't going to pull off while they were right there. That's what we were trying to avoid," Destiny Jackson explained.

She said the agents then went to the back of their vehicle and released a tear gas canister underneath it.

"Within seconds, there was a big boom, and our car was up in the air, and we slammed down, and all of our airbags deployed and all of our doors locked. And tear gas just started forming, a ball of gas just started forming around the car," Destiny recalled.

"I managed to feel around and open up everybody's, like, I unlocked everybody's door and I hopped out, and I just started pulling as many kids as I could out," she said. 

"The last person to get out of the car was my infant child," she added. "And when he came in, he was, like, lifeless. It was like foam or bubbles coming out of his mouth. I had to give him mouth-to-mouth and CPR."

"I couldn't even breathe myself, and all I remember is between every breath, I was saying, 'I'm going to give you every breath I have until you get yours back.'"

"It was like they didn't have a care in the world for us," Shawn said. 

According to CNN, initial reports said tear gas exposure caused breathing difficulties for a six-month-old infant inside the vehicle.

DHS says ICE didn't target family

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in a now-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter), falsely shared, “It is horrific to see radical agitators bring children to their violent riots.” 

When CNN asked why the message was removed, assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin clarified, “because the people were victims of the rioters but didn’t bring their kids to the riot.”

In a statement to CNN, McLaughlin said, “DHS law enforcement NEVER targeted this family or their innocent children,” adding that agents were responding to protests and “followed their training and reasonably deployed crowd control measures.”