Two people were injured in a suburb of Baltimore after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents fired shots at a moving vehicle whose driver was allegedly evading arrest, according to US authorities.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said ICE agents had attempted to arrest two men from Portugal and El Salvador – who were allegedly living in the US illegally – as they were driving through Glen Burnie, Maryland, on Wednesday.

DHS said in a post on X that officers approached the vehicle and told the driver to turn off his engine, but the driver did not cooperate and instead drove into several ICE vehicles.

“Fearing for their lives and public safety, the ICE officers defensively fired their service weapons, striking the driver,” DHS said in a statement on X. The driver “then wrecked his van between two buildings, injuring the passenger”.

The two men later received medical attention, and no ICE agents were hurt during the incident, DHS said.

“Our brave officers are risking their lives every day to keep American communities safe by arresting and removing illegal aliens from our streets,” the DHS post also said. “Continued efforts to encourage illegal aliens and violent agitators to actively resist ICE will only lead to more violent incidents, the extremist rhetoric must stop.”

Local police confirmed to ABC News that ICE agents had approached a “white van” during an arrest on Wednesday and reported that the driver “attempted to run the agents over”.

The ICE agents then fired at the vehicle, which accelerated before coming to a rest in a wooded area of residential Glen Burnie, Maryland, ABC said.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore wrote on X that he was “aware of the ICE-involved shooting,” and his office would continue to share more information as the investigation unfolded.

The shooting follows a similar incident in Minnesota on Sunday, when ICE agents fired shots at a Cuban man who also resisted arrest and attempted to ram ICE vehicles, according to ABC News.

The man, who had entered the US on a discontinued asylum programme, was approached by ICE agents in the city of St Paul while in an SUV.

The agents threatened to break his windows if he did not speak with them, prompting the man to drive away, ABC reported, citing Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. During the incident, the man hit an ICE agent with his vehicle.

The situation escalated when ICE agents pursued the man to his apartment building, where he later rammed an ICE vehicle with his SUV and hit a second agent, ABC said. ICE agents fired several shots before arresting the man, the report said. (Al Jazeera)

• US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Baltimore Field Office director Matt Elliston listens during a briefing, Monday, January 27, 2025, in Silver Spring, Maryland [Alex Brandon/AP Photo]