U.S. citizens in Minnesota have reported harrowing encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during recent operations, leaving communities rattled even as federal presence may decrease. Individuals like Aliya Rahman and others describe being detained without cause, raising concerns over racial profiling and constitutional rights. These incidents occurred amid protests following a fatal shooting by an ICE officer on January 13 in Minneapolis.
In Minneapolis, tensions escalated after ICE officer fatally shot Renee Macklin Good on January 13, sparking protests and aggressive immigration enforcement. Aliya Rahman, a Bangladeshi-American U.S. citizen heading to a doctor's appointment, found herself in the chaos. As she navigated the scene, agents instructed her to move her car amid conflicting directions. Rahman, who is autistic and recovering from a traumatic brain injury, struggled to process the commands quickly. Agents then dragged her from her vehicle and forced her to the ground.
Rahman recounted the terror: "I thought I might well die." Placed in an SUV with three officers, she overheard the driver radio, "we're bringing in a body," referring to her. At the Whipple Federal Building, she suffered a severe headache, requested medical help for over an hour, and passed out, waking in a hospital with a concussion diagnosed. More than two weeks later, she remains fearful: "I do not feel safe being in my own home, driving these streets."
Similar stories emerged from other citizens. ChongLy Scott Thao, a Hmong U.S. citizen, was pulled from his home in minimal clothing and driven to a remote area for photographs, fearing violence before being returned. Mubashir Khalif Hussen, a Somali-American citizen, was tackled outside his home: "I wasn't even outside for mere seconds before I seen a masked person running at me full speed." Handcuffed and dragged into the snow, he was released seven miles away from the Whipple Building and is now part of a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration for racial profiling.
The Department of Homeland Security denied such claims, calling them "disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE." However, Walter Olson of the Cato Institute described the actions as "a systematic assault on constitutional rights," noting the Fourth Amendment's protections against stops without reasonable suspicion or arrests without probable cause. A recent Supreme Court ruling allowing "apparent ethnicity" as a factor in suspicion, combined with other elements, has given ICE broader discretion, experts say.
Even non-arrested citizens felt the impact. Luis Escoto, owner of El Taquito Taco Shop in West St. Paul, intervened when agents surrounded his wife Irma's car. After showing passport cards proving citizenship, an officer warned she should carry proof constantly or face arrest. Escoto, a citizen for 35 years, recalled a judge's assurance that no documentation was needed post-naturalization, a sentiment now undermined.
Federal officials have indicated a possible reduction in ICE agents in Minnesota, contingent on state and local cooperation, but the community bears lasting scars from these encounters.
