Border Patrol Agent Knees Man in Head, Face During Minneapolis Arrest, on Video

2:46 PM PT -- A DHS spokesperson tells TMZ ... “Fearing for their lives and the safety of others, agents grabbed his arm, but he broke free. The agents struck, and he immediately dropped a wrench -- a deadly weapon. Agents extracted him from the car, but he continued to violently resist arrest including grabbing an agent’s throat. This alien was ultimately arrested for aggressive driving, fleeing from law enforcement, and physically resisting arrest. Reminder obstructing law enforcement is a federal crime and a felony.”

As Customs and Border Protection officers swarm a man to arrest him in Minnesota, one agent repeatedly knees him in the head and face ... and it's all on video.

Footage out of Minneapolis shows a scrum of Border Patrol agents detaining a man in the middle of a busy street, piling on top of him ... and at one point during the struggle, one agent is seen smashing his knee into the guy's face. Another of the agents appears to notice they're on camera, and seems to check his colleague, who delivers a last blow to the man's forehead.

They eventually pick the guy up and haul him away ... and it sounds like his name is Ricardo. Unclear what he was arrested for, but it looks like he was driving a car when he got ambushed by masked federal agents.

The incident went down Jan. 9 ... just 2 days after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis. A new report out today says Renee was shot 4 times.