Politics

Mr. Austin was arrested again days later in connection with a protest at a Minnesota church.

Mr. Austin has entered a not guilty plea.

Max Adamson, 39, said he drove to the Twin Cities from Idaho after seeing how protesters were being treated outside of the Whipple building, which has become a staging ground for immigration agents and for protesters.

Ian Austin said he came to Minnesota from Pennsylvania in part to document interactions between civilians and immigration agents.

He was arrested a day after he arrived on Jan. 16.

Jesse Amo, a veteran of the Minnesota National Guard, said, “We’re banding together to stand up for the oath that we took, to stand for the Constitution, to make this country what it says it is.”

Many of the veterans, including Mr. Amo, are part of groups such as Veterans for Peace, a group which frequently organizes antiwar rallies around the county.

From a phone attached to the windshield of his pickup truck, Mr. Mercado livestreamed video on social media platforms as he tailed caravans of federal immigration officers or searched for them.

As the immigration crackdown began in Minnesota in December, Andrew Mercado, a U.S. Army veteran and former Trump supporter who says his politics now veer center-left, joined independent journalists and others who tracked and recorded the activities of ICE agents.

Mr. Foreman, a regular protester outside the Whipple building, said he observed inadequate training and violations of norms that were deeply meaningful in his military experience.

Late last week, there were dozens more veterans than usual outside Whipple, the home base for federal operations in the region, drawn by a boisterous protest organized by a veterans’ group.

Some wear military insignia on their hats or coats, identifying themselves as veterans of wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan.

Veterans have taken part in demonstrations against the federal crackdown on illegal immigration in Minnesota.

Last year, a man was killed in Southern California while fleeing an immigration raid at a Home Depot.

The episode is not the first in which an ICE pursuit has resulted in a crash or death.

Fleeing from and resisting federal law enforcement is not only a crime but extraordinarily dangerous and puts oneself, our officers and innocent civilians at risk.

The police arrested Mr. Lopez and charged him with first degree homicide, reckless driving, driving without a valid license and failure to obey a traffic control device, according to Betsy Nolen, a spokeswoman for the police department.

The Chatham County Police Department said it was not involved with the ICE operation, nor had it been aware of it beforehand.

Shortly before 7:45 a.m., agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement were trying to pull over the man, Oscar Vasquez Lopez, 38, according to the Chatham County Police Department.

Originally from Guatemala, Mr. Lopez was issued a final order of removal by a federal judge in 2024, according to the Department of Homeland Security.