Minneapolis Family, Including 6 Children, Tear-Gassed After They Were Caught in Clash Between ICE and Protesters

A Minneapolis mother says her family was tear-gassed after their car became trapped between protesters and federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents — and that she had to resuscitate her 6-month-old baby during the chaos.

Destiny Jackson, 26, told CNN that she, her husband, and their six children were driving home from her son’s basketball game when they unexpectedly ran into an ICE protest in Minneapolis on the evening of Wednesday, Jan. 14. She said they didn’t know a demonstration was planned along their route and soon found themselves stuck amid protesters and parked vehicles.

Jackson told CNN she heard someone outside the vehicle shout, “It’s about to go down!” Moments later, she said, she saw federal agents arrive.

She said her husband tried to back up but realized ICE agents were positioned on both sides of the car. To avoid hitting anyone, she said, he decided to stay put.

“We’ve seen what happened to Renee [Good],” Jackson said, referring to the mother of three who was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.

Jackson said an agent then yelled into the car, “Get the F out of here,” and that her husband responded that they were trying to leave.

According to Jackson, the situation escalated quickly. She told CNN she saw and heard tear gas canisters thrown toward her family’s vehicle, and said one rolled underneath their car.

She said the canister then exploded under the vehicle, causing the airbags to deploy and automatically triggering the safety locks — trapping Jackson, her husband, and their six children, ages 11 to 6 months, inside.

Jackson said the car began filling with thick, dark smoke, making it difficult to see and breathe.

“I was feeling around, like I was hitting my son’s window, and I worked my way to his lock, and then I reached over my other two younger kids and I unlocked that lock,” she recalled to CNN.

She said her husband was eventually able to get out through the driver’s side door. With help from a bystander, they began pulling the children out of the tear-gas-filled car.

“I couldn’t breathe. And I’m pointing at the car and I’m saying, ‘I have more kids, I have more kids,’ “ Jackson told CNN.

She said a neighborhood resident then helped guide the family into their home for safety. But once inside, Jackson said she realized her 6-month-old son wasn’t breathing.

Jackson told CNN she began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while her other children used milk to try to flush tear gas from their eyes.

“In the midst of like doing mouth-to-mouth, I stopped and I looked at my baby and I was just like ‘Wake up, you have to,’ ” she said. “I just felt like I’m gonna give you every breath I have.”

She said the baby began breathing again. Jackson said she later took all of her children to the hospital, where they received treatment.

In a statement to CNN, the City of Minneapolis confirmed that tear gas used on the crowd that night caused a 6-month-old child inside a vehicle “to experience breathing difficulties.” The city added that police and emergency responders reached the family and found “the infant was breathing and stable, but [in] serious condition.”

In a statement, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the federal agents at the Jan. 14 protest “followed their training and reasonably deployed crowd control measures.” She added that the agents were not targeting the family.