Minneapolis’ police chief is criticizing federal immigration agents after a confrontation with protesters and an attempted arrest of a woman in which an officer kneeled on her back as she lay atop a snow bank and then tried to drag her to a car.
Tensions have been rising in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area as federal authorities continue an immigration crackdown focused on the region’s Somali community, the largest in the country.
Onlooker video of the confrontation this Monday in a Minneapolis neighborhood showed people yelling at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to release the woman, claiming she is pregnant and couldn’t breathe. After kneeling on her, an agent later dragged the woman by one arm on her back toward a vehicle.
“Let her go! Let her go!” onlookers yelled as the agent dragged the woman at an intersection close to a Somali business district. The woman was ultimately let go.
Police Chief Brian O’Hara addressed the media on Tuesday, stating that city police were summoned to the scene by a federal agent who requested assistance. Upon arrival, officers did not witness any violence directed at federal agents and decided to leave, aiming to de-escalate the situation. He added, “other law enforcement agencies” might be employing “questionable methods.”
“We have been training our officers for the last five years very, very intensely on de-escalation,” O’Hara noted, lamenting that this approach is not reflected in the actions of other agencies.
The Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary, Tricia McLaughlin, countered that federal officers were targeting a vehicle when protesters allegedly assaulted them by throwing rocks, chunks of ice, and using pepper spray. She stated that two protesters were arrested and charged with assaulting federal officers.
Officers attempted to arrest the woman depicted in the viral video due to her actions against an ICE vehicle, but abandoned the arrest after being overwhelmed by the crowd, McLaughlin explained.
Hodan Hassan, a former Minnesota state legislator, commented on the escalating aggression of ICE tactics in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, saying, “The first week, they were not very aggressive. They were stopping people. Second week, we saw them really aggressive.”
This clash took place near the site where George Floyd was killed by a police officer kneeling on his neck, an event that sparked nationwide calls for racial justice and police reform.
