Newly released video undermines ICE account of Minneapolis migrant shooting

Minneapolis has released a video showing the lead up to the shooting of a Venezuelan migrant in January that appears to contradict Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents accounts of the incident.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had initially said an officer shot a man in the leg after being attacked with a shovel and broom handle .

Federal charges against two migrants involved were then dropped in February after ICE officials said two officers appeared to have made false statements.

Footage from city-owned cameras, released on Monday, appears to contradict the original account on the length of the struggle and the DHS claim that an agent was struck with a snow shovel.

The newly released video is dark and grainy and shot from a distance. It shows only a struggle between two men - one who appears to toss aside a shovel before any contact is made - and ICE agents.

The footage shows one man running up the street, chased by another. He falls, gets up, and keeps running toward the house. The three men then briefly struggle on the ground.

One of the men, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, was shot in the leg during the interaction.

After the 14 January incident, the DHS issued a statement saying the shooting happened after a car chase involving a Venezuelan national who was in the country illegally. After the pursuit, the man got out of his car and an altercation broke out between him and the federal agent, it added.

The DHS statement went on to say "the officer fired defensive shots" while "fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals".

Two men, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Sosa-Celis, were charged with forcibly assaulting, resisting or impeding federal officers in the performance of their official duties before those charges were dropped.

The incident became one a series of violent interactions, including the fatal shootings US citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good, with ICE agents that became a catalyst for protests in Minneapolis, one of the city's targeted by the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

The city did not provide context when sharing the video on Monday, which had been first reported on by the New York Times. The city said it "has no additional information and will not be making further comments at this time".

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement to media outlets that the video "makes it crystal clear that, just like in other situations during Operation Metro Surge, the federal government's account of what happened simply does not match the facts".

The New York Times reported that federal investigators had access to the video within hours of the shooting but that they did not watch it until almost three weeks after the two men were charged.

The officers, who have not been named, were placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation. A criminal investigation was also opened.