ICE officer charged with assault in Minnesota

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]Welcome back to Live Now from Fox. I'm your host Anna Marc taking a live look right now over Minneapolis where earlier today we heard an update from officials as the defense attorney for an ICE agent accused of pointing a gun at another driver while on a Minneapolis highway says his client did not initiate that encounter. A criminal complaint states that the agent illegally drove a rented SUV on the shoulder of the highway while having no markings to indicate it was a law enforcement vehicle. The defense says the agent reacted in real time to a perceived danger. So, we want to play out those remarks from those officials earlier today. here for you on live now.

[00:00:46]>> And his partner were in an unmarked rental vehicle while they were on duty.

[00:00:52]Mr. Morgan did not know what that other driver and that other vehicle occupants intention was when it swerved so aggressively at him. But it happened fast. It was alarming. And it was during an extraordinarily tense period in our Twin Cities metro area, both for citizens and law enforcement alike.

[00:01:14]Human beings under stress can perceive anger uh danger differently and make split-second decisions in rapidly evolving situations.

[00:01:27]That does not mean that we ignore concerns raised by this incident. We understand why people hear allegations involving a firearm react emotionally, but it also does not mean we should rush to strip away someone's humanity before all evidence is presented fairly and fully.

[00:01:49]Greg Morgan is deeply affected by what has happened. He understands the seriousness of these allegations and he understands the public concerns surrounding them. There is much more to this story and he has been cooperating with this process as evidenced by him traveling across the United States, me having me communicate with the Henipin County Attorney's Office, which I've been doing for multiple weeks, and finding a way to come and go through the process lawfully and respectfully and cooperatively while at the same time not having to be arrested out on the East Coast and face extradition.

[00:02:29]And that took some time to put that all together.

[00:02:43]At this point, the public has heard only one side of the story through the charging document. We are confident that additional evidence, additional context, and the full circumstances surrounding this encounter matter greatly. And we all know how unfair it can be to only hear one side of the story. And that's what we've only heard so far is one side, and in fact, one little bit of a much bigger story.

[00:03:13]We ask everyone, including commentators, activists, public officials, to allow this case to proceed through the judicial process calmly, responsibly, and based on all the evidence, not emotion or political narratives.

[00:03:31]We all deserve that, don't we?

[00:03:35]I'm not going to have Greg answer any questions at this point because there's an a criminal case, but I will take perhaps a few limited questions. Thank you.

[00:03:42]>> Are there any other videos that you would excavate your crime?

[00:03:46]>> I don't know yet. Um I'm personally waiting for some more evidence from the Department of Justice, which takes a while. And of course, I haven't received yet the discovery from the Henipin County Attorney's Office. We just filed for that a day or two ago. I would anticipate because they charged this case out a month ago that it shouldn't take them very long to get that evidence to me, but we'll see.

[00:04:11]>> Does Mr. Morgan's uh training align with the actions that he took that day?

[00:04:16]>> At this point, I'm not going to discuss uh his his training or how this could could play into the case until I have all of the evidence as well as certain materials. I'm waiting for >> anybody supporting Mr. Morgan's legal defense either hopes to bond to travel here and maybe able to travel home. Is there anybody that's supporting financial?

[00:04:38]>> Well, he's he's an employee of the ICE agency and the Department of Justice as a part of that.

[00:04:44]>> Does he remain on duty and has he been conducting his job assistant?

[00:04:50]>> He does. He's been a career I mean an 8-year law enforcement officer with no history of any crimes, no disciplinary history. He is known as a good officer and he continues to be one.

[00:05:01]>> Is there any do you have any intention to file this from county district because >> I will be filing a petition to remove to federal court. That's one of the the key differences here is that there's an allegation that he was basically ending duty and just returning. That wasn't the case. I have the time logs for the shifts that day. He was on duty for several hours after this incident. He was on duty when this alleged incident occurred and continued to be on duty afterward. And that is something that will play in fact back and back to the petition to remove the federal court.

[00:05:35]Ryan, we've heard virtually nothing from Stevens about what Metro Surge was like from their standpoint. From what you've heard from your client, can you summarize what they experienced, what they felt they were up against, and whether they had the tools and the circumstances to succeed in their mission?

[00:05:53]>> Those are great questions. So, I'm not going to tell you what my client has told me for attorney client purposes, but I'm a citizen of this community. I was born and raised here, and I've lived here my entire life. And uh we I think anybody who's been on the ground in Minnesota for this past six-month period is well aware of what's been happening including but not limited to during Metro Surge both in terms of some of the fears I think that some citizens were facing and some other alleged behaviors of law enforcement if you will but indeed also different varying scales of behaviors by citizens passive passive people who have just been watching from the sidewalk. People who have flooded the streets, people who have been blowing whistles, people who have gotten right in the faces of law enforcement, people who have threatened law enforcement, people have been tailing their vehicles, people who have been keeping track of those vehicles with license plates and giving out advanced notice, people who I think have intentionally agitated law enforcement, um, and people who presented either verbal or physical threats to law enforcement as well. The scale, right? I mean, we've seen anybody who's lived here and been around this has probably seen all of that to be fair. And there were a number of citizens who who acted like we would all want to act. And then I think there were some other citizens who genuinely posed a a danger or a perceived danger to law enforcement, whether they're state, local, or federal.

[00:07:22]>> You mentioned that this wasn't his normal job. What is his job? He's he's an ICE agent in >> We can't hear you when you >> He's an He's an ICE agent in the removal, but his particular duties were not removal. Actually, one of the things that he likes about his employment is that he has the opportunity often to help immigrants stay in the United States, especially those without the most egregious prior offenses like murder convictions or the like. They in in a way sometimes they function like a probation officer in that role where they actually get to work with the immigrants, keep some tabs on them and help them to actually do things constructively to stay in the United States. And that's part of his why as a law enforcement officer. And I want people to see that about him because I think sometimes when we think about ICE, maybe an image comes to mind of somebody in jack boots or that enjoyed enjoyed beating people up or shooting them or threatening them or was just out to find any any immigrant and remove them. That's not who Greg Morgan is. That's not who a lot of these ICE agents were. And of course, you're going to get the the whole spectrum when you get into any job. lawyers, doctors, law enforcement, you name it.

[00:08:41]There are a lot of good law enforcement agents out there, state, local, and federal. We need them. He was ordered up here for a job to do. And he is he is a servant. He cares about people. He's a good man. community and people are going to get to know a lot more about him while I'm representing him. But he is not who some people may think of when they think of ICE and they have this immediate negative reaction to who ICE is. That is not for Morgan that I've gotten to know and I'm going to make damn sure that a jury knows about it if this case goes to trial.

[00:09:16]>> Um, has your client been the victim of some of these things that you were listing off in terms of retaliation or >> I won't speak directly to him, but I would I would say that probably any ICE agent that was known to be an ICE agent on the ground during Metro Surge was experiencing some s form of uh public retaliation for from certain members of the community. I think citizens were afraid for their own safety, you know, in the community. And I also think that there were a number of law enforcements that were rightfully concerned for their own safety during these operations as well. And I don't think that's unique to Greg Morgan, but I think it was a common experience for law enforcement as well as some citizens during this whole metro surge, which was really a pressure cooker. And >> can you explain what you're doing here today?

[00:10:11]>> Yeah, today. So, he's going to post a bond right now and then he's going to be booked because he wants to com to comply with the process and uh then we're going to appear at 1:15 p.m. tomorrow in front of Judge Scoggin for a first appearance right right over here in this courthouse.

[00:10:28]>> If he were convicted of assault at the end of this process, can he remain a federal law enforcement agent?

[00:10:35]>> That would be up to the federal government, but it would be tough with a felony conviction. you you're you're not allowed to possess a firearm, right? Um there's a whole lot more to it than that. There's a whole lot more to it than his job. I mean, his job is a part of this. It is part of who he is, and he loves serving the community, right? But there's more to it than that. That's this is his honor. This is his name.

[00:10:58]People do not yet know what was going through his mind or what he was experiencing. And it's easy to get, I think, riled up and think, well, he allegedly pointed a gun at at a vehicle that swerved at him and that's it, right? But there's so much more to the story here. I can tell you, I can guarantee you that he meant no harm and he did not intend to cause fear to those people, okay? But you don't know what lit up led up to this for him yet. And even if you look at the video and you look at it from perhaps his standpoint instead of these other drivers, maybe you'll start to come to some other thoughts about what he may have been experiencing and why he may have taken certain actions that I won't get into.

[00:11:39]But, you know, coming under threat in our community as well, he didn't know what these other people were up to in that vehicle. He didn't know who they were. He didn't know what their intentions were other than, I would say, they violently swerved at him. And there's even more to it than that that led up to it that nobody knows about it yet. That will come out later.

[00:11:59]>> The Trump administration has been reluctant at best to aid prosecutors and law enforcement in this state with their investigative materials related to certain um use of course.

[00:12:13]Do you expect them to be working with you to understand the actions of your client and to give context to that as it pertains to Operation Metro Surge to the training that they had and some of the harder law enforcement across the United States?

[00:12:28]>> I would hope so because all I want is the truth and I want a jury to have the truth if it goes that far and I want judges to have the truth. And you know what else I want to have the truth? The public. And Greg Morgan wants them to have the truth as well. Because you can't imagine how painful it's been for him, believe it or not, to have these allegations come and to be paint painted in a certain light without knowing his why, without knowing his truth, without knowing what else happened that day, the days up to that, the week up to that while he was here. There is a lot more here. And we want more. We're not here to hide information. We want more information because we believe that with all of the information out, the important decision makers will have what they need to see everything in the context. And I think once that comes out, it'll be shown that he's not guilty of these serious charges.

[00:13:21]>> The complaint suggests that um Mr. Morgan didn't report the incident to his supervisor. Is that correct?

[00:13:27]>> Not at all. Sorry, we're we're not hearing you.

[00:13:33]Thank you.

[00:13:34]>> No, there will be information that will come out later that will be in indication to the contrary that he did infor in fact report this incident >> immediately.

[00:13:46]>> Do you feel any need for Mr. Morgan to say an apology at this point?

[00:13:51]>> I can't have him speak about anything at this point. I can tell you that he's he doesn't take this cavalerely. He's a human being and he doesn't One thing that's important to him is that he believes in the service aspect of law enforcement. So he's not here to try to scare people. He wasn't here to try to beat people up or assault them or do anything. He was up here on orders. And there's a human, very human aspect to this case for this human being. And there's a human aspect for the people who ended up being frightened or concerned as well. But that's not who he is. And that's not what this was about.

[00:14:27]>> Ryan, was he surprised when the charges came out?

[00:14:30]>> Yes.

[00:14:31]>> Absolutely. I mean, he told he gave a partial interview to a trooper the day after, right? Um there was more to it than that, right? But there was a certain context to that interview that he wasn't fully aware of. That will come more of that will come out as well later. Um but there's a lot more to it.

[00:14:49]And yeah, he was he thought there was an understanding here of the situation. So he was floored when that happened as well. You know, this has been really heavy on Greg. It has been. He takes it seriously.

[00:15:05]And uh you know, we've done I mean, we've prayed together. He's shed some tears together. This is this is a real human story.

[00:15:16]>> Yeah.

[00:15:18]>> What's your what's your take on I mean this this city is famous for its trials.

[00:15:24]It's famous for its politics. It's famous for the strong feeling of a very large voting block.

[00:15:30]>> Yeah.

[00:15:31]>> You have your work cut out for you.

[00:15:34]What's your thought and what's his thought on can a law enforcement officer and especially an ICE officer, you get a fair trial, you get a fair shake here?

[00:15:47]>> Well, I got to believe in that.

[00:15:50]I got to believe in that. You know, I think of course there's going to be some people, right, where they're not we're not going to be interested in a fair trial, but I think there's a lot of citizens who do care and who will be interested in that. And I'm counting on that because where there's been a lot of talk from our politicians and everybody else how about how good Minneapolis can do, right? How good our metro area can do, how how we can rise up to challenges. And we've seen our series of challenges here in the last 5 years, haven't we? We know what they are. But if we're going to continue to try to be better and we're going to continue to rise in it, then we've got to believe in this in our Constitution and our Bill of Rights and we got to believe in the integrity of this court process. We got to believe in all those things and I'm going to believe in jurors. I'm going to believe in them and I'm going to believe in our court process and he's going to believe in it, too. And that's why he came back here to do this because we're going to participate in this process because we do believe in it and we love it. which one of the things that we think makes our country a wonderful place.

[00:16:56]>> Thank you.

[00:16:57]>> All right.

[00:16:58]>> All right. That up there coming as an ICE officer is charged with four counts of assault in Minnesota. On your screen right now is some video from that incident back in February. The defense attorney for an ICE agent charged with assault for an alleged Minneapolis gunpointing incident that happened in February says his client did not initiate the encounter. that the agent was reacting to perceived danger.

[00:17:24]Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. of Temple Hills, Maryland, is charged with two counts of secondderee assault. So, we wanted to be sure to bring you that update from officials earlier