A disturbing new video circulating widely on social media has intensified outrage in Minnesota, capturing federal agents with ICE spraying protesters in the face with chemical irritants during Tuesday’s raid at Bro-Tex in St. Paul. The clip offers the clearest, most visceral look yet at how the confrontation between community members and federal agents escalated.
The footage begins with dozens of protesters crowding around an unmarked federal vehicle attempting to leave the scene. Chants echo through the air as people link arms, refusing to move. The situation is tense but nonviolent; several protesters are holding phones, recording the standoff.
Then, abruptly, an agent flings open the passenger-side door.
Without warning, he raises a canister and fires a stream of chemical spray directly into the face of a woman standing less than five feet away. She recoils, choking, while others around her scream in shock. Another agent steps out from the rear of the vehicle and repeats the action, sweeping the spray across the line of demonstrators. The cloud disperses quickly, and people stumble back, gasping.
Reddit users were stunned by the brazenness of the moment. “A leaf blower is worthless when someone is spraying you directly in the face from less than 5 feet away as we’re seeing in this video,” one commenter noted. Others focused on the lack of restraint: “He sprayed two women because one pointed her finger at him? These creeps are out of control.”
While Tuesday’s raid had already drawn scrutiny, the video has become the defining image of the operation. Where eyewitness accounts described chemical munitions, shoving, and vehicles pushing through crowds, the clip provides visual confirmation of what protesters say was unnecessary and disproportionate force.
It’s also prompted conversations about preparedness and safety. In the Reddit thread, users traded advice: respirators, swim goggles, whistles, and documentation protocols. One commenter linked to an extensive guide on protecting eyes and lungs at demonstrations, which was quickly bookmarked by others.
Tuesday’s raid comes amid a major expansion of federal immigration enforcement. As previously reported, newly hired ICE personnel are being deployed across the country following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which more than tripled the agency’s budget. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed Minnesota is one of the targeted deployment areas.
Local officials have struggled to respond to the public uproar. St. Paul police were notably absent from the Bro-Tex scene, following criticism of Minneapolis police involvement during a similar summertime raid. As reported by Minnesota Reformer, Mayor Melvin Carter met with protesters afterward, later releasing a statement acknowledging the community’s alarm: “Though we don’t have many details right now, I share the concern and fear this raises for our workers, families, and entire community.”
But online, those fears are already boiling over into a broader conversation about power, accountability, and the opacity of federal operations. Multiple Reddit users expressed alarm that agents behaved in ways they described as “unprofessional” and “indistinguishable from criminal thugs,” especially given their ability to operate with little local oversight.
The footage itself is hard to watch, not because it’s graphic, but because it’s so casual. There’s no tactical urgency, no visible threat to the agents. The spraying appears less like crowd-control protocol and more like a snap decision made out of irritation or intimidation.
For many Minnesotans, that’s exactly why it’s resonating.
Miguel Hernandez of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, who spoke to reporters at the scene, summarized the community’s reaction: “This blatant show of cruelty — we want answers. We want accountability.”
The video doesn’t offer either. What it does provide is undeniable evidence of a moment that’s already becoming a boiling point in Minnesota’s escalating conflict over federal immigration enforcement.
As more clips and firsthand accounts emerge, the question looming over the Bro-Tex raid only grows: If this is how federal agents respond in broad daylight, surrounded by cameras, what happens when those cameras aren’t there?
