Minnesota charges ICE agent in highway gun case

April 17, 2026

Summary

Minnesota prosecutors charged an ICE agent with assault after alleging he pointed a gun at motorists near Minneapolis in February.

Why this matters

The case is a rare example of state prosecutors charging a federal agent for actions taken on duty. It also adds to broader scrutiny of federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota after multiple incidents came under investigation.

Minneapolis prosecutors on Monday charged a federal immigration agent with assault, alleging he pointed a gun at motorists on a state highway during a federal immigration operation in the Twin Cities in February.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the case was one of 18 incidents involving federal agents under investigation by her office and that additional charges were possible.

Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr., 35, of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, faces two counts of second-degree assault.

According to the criminal complaint, Morgan pointed a handgun at two people in a car while trying to pass them in an unmarked vehicle on the shoulder of a highway near Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Feb. 5.

“Driving while pointing a weapon out of your moving vehicle at the victims who are in another moving vehicle could have led to yet another disastrous incident in a community that has already suffered too many,” Moriarty told reporters.

Morgan told state investigators he “feared for his safety and the safety of others” after a vehicle swerved in front of him and “cut him off.” He said he was returning to a federal building for gas near the end of his shift.

The motorists told investigators they saw a black sport utility vehicle speeding on the shoulder with no markings, lights, or sirens and did not know its occupants were law enforcement. The driver said he moved slightly into the shoulder to “cut him off a little bit,” causing the SUV to slow and return to the traffic lane.

Prosecutors said Morgan then pulled alongside the car, rolled down his window, and pointed a gun at the occupants while yelling. Morgan told investigators he shouted, “Police, stop!” after drawing his weapon. The driver later said he believed there was “a crazy person driving down the road aiming guns at people,” according to the complaint.

Moriarty said this case lacked many of the legal and practical obstacles involved in other investigations tied to the operation. Prosecutors said they interviewed both motorists and the two ICE agents in the SUV and obtained highway camera and cellphone video. An ICE supervisor told investigators neither Morgan nor his partner reported the incident after returning to base.

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Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated living veteran, was released on bail from a Sydney prison Friday, 10 days after he was charged with war crime murder over the deaths of five Afghans in Afghanistan.

Judge Greg Grogin granted bail in Sydney after finding the former Special Air Service Regiment corporal had shown exceptional circumstances warranting release. Prosecutors opposed bail, arguing Roberts-Smith, 47, could flee Australia or interfere with witnesses and evidence.

Roberts-Smith was arrested April 7 and charged with five counts of war crime murder tied to killings in Uruzgan province in 2009 and 2012. Under Australian law, war crime murder is the intentional killing during armed conflict of a person not taking an active part in hostilities, such as a civilian, prisoner of war, or wounded soldier.

He was driven from Sydney’s Silverwater Correctional Complex late Friday, apparently wearing the same clothes he wore when police removed him from a commercial airliner at Sydney Airport last week, according to media images.

Roberts-Smith received the Victoria Cross and the Medal for Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan. He is the second Australian veteran of that war to be charged with a war crime.

The charges followed a 2020 military report that found evidence that elite Special Air Service Regiment and commando troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers, and other noncombatants.

In a 2023 civil case, a judge found similar allegations against Roberts-Smith were substantially true when rejecting his defamation claims against newspapers. At that trial, Roberts-Smith said he had never killed an unarmed Afghan and denied committing a war crime, saying he was the victim of false claims by fellow soldiers and of others’ envy of his medals.

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Two U.S. citizens were sentenced for helping North Korea place remote IT workers at American companies, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday.

Kejia Wang and Zhenxing Wang, both of New Jersey, received prison terms of 7 1/2 years and nine years, respectively. Prosecutors said they provided infrastructure for the scheme, including running or managing “laptop farms” in the United States that let North Korean workers connect remotely and appear to be based in the country.

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