Twin Cities ICE\CBP Abuse and Misconduct Tracker

A teenager named Anthony was trying to get needed, live saving heart medication to his detained 58-year-old father and was cruelly laughed at by ICE agents instead. According to Anthony, "I gave an ICE agent my dad's medicine, but I'm not sure if he got it because the ice agent just smirked at me. He laughed in my face." He had to return with lawyers and medical professionals to ensure his father received the medication.

An ICE agent tells a Minneapolis resident filming him, "You raise your voice? I'll erase your voice." The person filming asks him to clarify in disbelief, "Are you serious? You said, if I raise my voice, you'll erase my voice?" "Exactly. Yeah." is his response.

Two journalists from Italian public broadcaster Rae TV were threatened to quit filming or have their car windows broken by ICE goons in the aftermath of the Alex Pretti murder. This came out amid reports that the US planned to send ICE agents to Italy for the Winter Olympics.

Christian Salamanca was rammed into a pole by ICE goons while pulling over in a community parking lot due to their overly aggressive and reckless driving. He required hospitalized with multiple broken bones and targeted despite having a US work permit, no criminal history and pending asylum case.

An employee with a US legal work permit at a Minneapolis area hotel was lied to by ICE agents into believing he could report to work without incident upon which he was detained and immediately sent to a facility in Texas ignoring a court orders barring his transfer and ordering his release.

U.S. citizen Alex Jeffrey Pretti was shot ten times at point blank range by an ICE agent killing him despite posing no threat and exerting no resistance.

A Twin Cities police officer was racially profiled and pulled over by ICE agents with guns drawn who demanded her paperwork. She responded by pulling out her phone to record their excessive use of force and had it knocked out of her hands. They eventually let her go when the found out she was an officer.

56-year-old U.S. citizen ChongLy Scott Thao had his front door broken down without a warrant by ICE agents with guns drawn merely because he resembled someone they were looking for.

U.S. Army Purple Heart veteran William Vermie was taken to the ground by multiple ICE goons for merely filming them from a public sidewalk. He was detained at the Whipple ICE facility in Minneapolis for 8 hours where he was denied a phone call and thus access to a lawyer his family hired.

A snowplow driver legally allowed to work in the U.S. was racially profiled and detained during the middle of winter. The director of his department said of this, "He was detained by ICE purely based on his country of origin, he had every federal authorization to be here which is something we check at the city of St. Paul."

Disabled U.S. Marine Corp veteran Skye and her friend Elizabeth were violently dragged from her car for merely observing ICE operations from her vehicle at a safe distance. Agents mocked her deep voice, repeatedly referred to her as "it" and laughed after an agent said, "Is it a guy or a girl?" They aggressively threatened to tase Elizabeth if she moved.

Four ICE agents had the gall to dine at family-owned Mexican restaurant El Tapatio exhibiting behavior witnessed described as frightening to staff. The same four ICE agents returned hours later and arrested three employees leaving when it closed.

A family was trying to escape with their children to a safer location after ICE agents tear gassed their neighborhood, but then agents fired flash-bang grenades and tear gas at their vehicle with six children inside. Their 6-month-old baby had to be hospitalized with breathing problems.

Minneapolis City Council President Elliot Payne was shoved by an ICE agent despite not being in the way while observing and filming a PSA with colleagues.

U.S. citizen realtor Ryan Ecklund was put in a chokehold, forcibly removed from his car and thrown to the ground by ICE agents causing a black eye and scuffs on his face for merely following and recording them from a safe distance. He was unjustly detained for 9 hours before being released without charges.

Peaceful observers were shot by rubber bullets for filming ICE agents abusing a woman detained for similarly filming them at a safe distance from her car.

A woman was accosted, assaulted, threatened and mocked by ICE agents for merely filming them from her car at a safe distance.

Multiple innocent people were accosted by immigration agents while they blocked traffic during which:

Trained observers had their car vents pepper sprayed and windows smashed by an ICE agent for documenting their actions and said of recently murdered Renee Good, "that’s why that lesbian b—— is dead." One agent ripped the whistle off Brandon Sigüenza's neck taunting that he's "gonna be needing this later." Other agents taunted and mocked Patty O’Keefe including calling her ugly. They were detained for 8 hours and released without charges.

Christian Molina was racially profiled and had his car smashed by ICE agents with little warning as he was finding a spot to safely pull over. They left without detaining him and also without leaving contact information promised to pay for damage to his vehicle.

An ICE agent shoved a man to the ground who was peacefully filming their vehicle without any warning in an excessive use of force without any attempt to deescalate.

Journalists Jon Farina & JT Cestkowski were hit with crowd control projectiles despite being across the street where immigration agents directed them to stand and also despite wearing large press credentials and carrying a logoed mic and professional camera. Throughout the day they also endured tear gassing from agents "blanket firing into the whole crowd."

Reverend Kenny Callaghan had an ICE agent point a gun in his face and ask, "are you afraid now?" for simply telling him to stop harassing a woman. He was detained for 30 minutes during which the agent repeatedly returned to ask if he was "afraid yet" and then finally let go without any charges after which the agent made a racist comment, "You’re white anyway. You wouldn’t be any fun."

An ICE goon took a rose from a makeshift memorial to Renee Good who their fellow agent murdered and mockingly placed it in his lapel as he walked back and then gave it to a female agent after which they both laughed.

Two U.S. citizen Target employees were assaulted by immigration agents, detained for no reason and then released.

Minneapolis high school students were tear gassed by ICE\CBP agents who were "shouting at students, threatening students" and multiple witnesses reported people being shoved noting agents were "physical and aggressive." They detained a special ed teacher for dubious reasons and so he was later released.

A 37-year-old woman U.S. citizen was shot by an ICE agent at point blank range as she drove passed him clearly trying to leave the scene after apparently instructed to do so by other agents. She then crashed into two vehicles. Witness and video accounts additionally show the agent leaving the scene and ICE preventing immediate medical attention to the woman who waited to receive CPR from local police.

ICE agents indiscriminately shot pepper spray into a crowd that was determined to not be breaking any laws by local law enforcement.

A pregnant woman was held face down on the ground in the street with knees in her back and then suddenly dragged by one arm across the street ignoring repeated pleas from the crowd that "She is pregnant" and that "She can't breathe."

A 13-year-old boy was thrown to the ground, struck, handcuffed by ICE agents and taken away in a vehicle without giving any medical attention. Only after repeated insistence by his father was he released into his family's custody who took him to the hospital which the medical report stated he was a "victim of assault and battery" with "chest wall pain."

20-year-old Minneapolis resident and U.S. citizen Mubashir was slammed against a wall, put in a chokehold and handcuffed by two masked men and in the process is heard screaming in pain, "My hand!".

Peaceful protesters were excessively pepper sprayed from ICE vehicles as they were driving away. One officer got out of the car and pepper sprayed multiple people in the eyes and the ground including spraying a very unassuming person with their back turned inches from their face. One victim, Khalid Mohamed, attested, "I lost my voice. I was blind for about 30 minutes." Leading up to all this, agents randomly asked people on the street if they had IDs and proof of citizenship.

55-year-old U.S. citizen Susan Tincher was detained for 5 hours for passively protesting and recording an ICE raid of 8 unmarked vehicles from a safe distance. She was thrown to the ground, needlessly cuffed, shackled, threatened with pepper spray and had her wedding ring cut off.

A Somali woman U.S. citizen was accosted by multiple ICE agents, zip-tied and detained 24 hours in Minneapolis for no reason. She was touched inappropriately and mocked with agents saying, "What could you be hiding under your hijab?" and "This would be the wrong attire to try and run away from us in."

ICE agents entered the Hola Arepa Latin street food restaurant in south Minneapolis under the guise of looking for a woman who did not work there. They tried to intimidate staff into letting them into the private back area without a warrant including saying they "have the place surrounded". The owner and staff stood up to them, so they left but drove off recklessly going the wrong way down a one-way street.

A peaceful protestor said something to an ICE agent wearing an American flag mask and in response the agent pushed him and pointed his assault rifle at him

A woman in a cane passively and peacefully protesting an ICE operation was pepper sprayed in the face at point blank range for an excessively long time after which she was pushed away until she fell to the ground overcome. This violated a federal court order governing its use according to a former officer and use-of-force expert.

A man peacefully protesting was thrown to the ground by three CBP agents and while pinned down defenseless with his hands held behind his back, another agent pepper sprayed him directly in the face.

23-year-old Somali U.S. citizen Nasra Ahmed was shoved to the ground so hard she got a concussion and needed a large band-aid on her forehead. She was called a racial slur by an ICE agent as he put her in a car, and she was unjustly held for 2 days before being released without any charges.

U.S. citizen Jose Roberto “Beto” Ramirez was punched in the face while complying with immigration agents' racist request for facial recognition after which other agents joined in roughing him up further. His sweater was torn, and he suffered bruises on the back of his neck and also wrists from handcuffs being overly tight. He was held outside in the cold for 3 hours with no access to food, water or a toilet.

A Somali Uber driver films video as he is racially profiled and harassed by CBP agents during which an immigration agent makes light of the unlawful killing of a 37-year-old mother of three earlier that day as "I don’t know why they do the head, man" after which CBJ Commander Greg Bovino and other agents laugh and smile.