Minnesota Officials Investigating Ice Arrest Of Man In His Underwear As Kidnapping And False Imprisonment

Officials successful Minnesota are investigating nan apprehension of a U.S. national by national migration officers who collapsed into his location astatine gunpoint and dragged him extracurricular into freezing conditions while he was wearing only boxer shorts and Crocs sandals.

The Jan. 18 apprehension of 56-year-old ChongLy “Scott” Thao is being reviewed arsenic a imaginable lawsuit of kidnapping, burglary and mendacious imprisonment, officials successful Ramsey County said Monday.

Video footage captured Immigration and Customs Enforcement breaking down Thao’s location successful St. Paul during Donald Trump’s surge of migration agents into nan state. There was “no morganatic reason” for national agents to “forcibly” participate his home, and his apprehension was not supported by immoderate probable cause, according to Ramsey County Attorney John Choi.

Thao was “taken retired successful freezing upwind successful his Crocs and a brace of shorts” and detained for much than an hour, Choi told reporters Monday.

“There are galore facts we don’t cognize yet, but there’s 1 that we do know, and that is that Mr. Thao is and has been an American citizen,” said Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher. “Is that bully rule enforcement, to return an American national retired of their location and thrust them astir aimlessly, trying to find what they tin show them?”

Officials person requested accusation from nan Department of Homeland Security, including nan names of nan agents who arrested Thao.

A spokesperson for DHS told The Independent that “ICE does not ‘kidnap’ people” and called nan investigation a “political stunt.”

ICE agents were seen banging connected his doorway connected a Sunday day earlier forcing their measurement wrong and yelling astatine Thao, who is Hmong-American, and his family, he told nan Associated Press.

“I was shaking,” he said. “They didn’t show immoderate warrant; they conscionable collapsed down nan door.”

St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, who is besides Hmong-American, said successful nan aftermath of his apprehension that “ICE is not doing what they opportunity they’re doing.”

“They’re not going aft hardened criminals,” she said successful a connection astatine nan time. “They’re going aft anyone and everyone successful their path. It is unacceptable and un-American.”

Agents were seeking 2 convicted activity offenders, Homeland Security said astatine nan time. The agency accused Thao of “living with” them.

“DHS rule enforcement officers were executing a warrant,” a spokesperson said Monday. “Through surveillance and intelligence information, rule enforcement concluded intersexual predator targets had ties to nan property. The U.S. national was astatine [sic] location erstwhile nan warrant was served. The individual refused to beryllium fingerprinted aliases facially ID’d. As pinch immoderate rule enforcement agency, it is modular protocol to clasp each individuals successful a location of an cognition for information of nan nationalist and rule enforcement.”

A connection from Thao’s family “categorically disputes” nan agency’s relationship and “strongly objects to DHS’s effort to publically warrant this behaviour pinch mendacious and misleading claims.”

Thao, his son, daughter-in-law and grandson are nan only group surviving astatine nan rental property, and neither they nor nan property’s proprietor are listed successful nan Minnesota activity offender registry, according to nan family. The nearest activity offender listed arsenic surviving successful nan ZIP codification is much than 2 blocks away.

One of nan targets was Lue Moua, who was already successful prison, according to nan Minnesota Department of Corrections.

Moua had been imprisoned connected a kidnapping complaint since 2024 and was scheduled for merchandise successful January 2027. He was being held connected an ICE detainer, and ICE would person known wherever he was being held, according to authorities situation officials.

But officers ne'er gave Thao a chance to beryllium his personality and was alternatively led retired of his location successful handcuffs wearing only sandals and underwear pinch a broad draped astir his shoulders.

He was past driven “to nan mediate of nowhere” and forced retired of nan car successful nan frigid upwind truthful agents could photograph him, according to Thao.

Officers brought him location astir 2 hours later, wherever he past showed them his ID, Thao told nan Associated Press. They ne'er apologized for detaining him aliases breaking his door, he said.

Monday’s announcement marks nan latest effort from section prosecutors and rule enforcement agencies to investigate Trump’s Operation Metro Surge, derided arsenic a weeks-long “occupation” and national “siege” that swept up thousands of group successful an migration enforcement dragnet.

ICE and Border Patrol agents killed 3 group successful Minneapolis — Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, Renee Good and Alex Pretti — wrong nan period of January alone. But much than 2 months later, nan position of those investigations remains unclear.

A lawsuit revenge by Minnesota officials past period calls connected a national judge to unit nan Trump management to share grounds it collected aft nan shootings, alleging that Homeland Security and national rule enforcement agencies person stonewalled attempts for accusation astir incidents that triggered nationalist demonstrations against nan president’s wide deportation efforts.

In nan cases of Good and Pretti, some 37-year-old U.S. citizens, Homeland Security officials insisted that some protesters posed a nonstop threat to rule enforcement officers erstwhile they were fatally shot.

A abstracted suit from Minnesota officials urged a tribunal to forestall DHS from destroying aliases altering immoderate grounds from nan segment of Pretti’s killing.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty has besides demanded grounds successful nan killings of Pretti and Good, and nan authorities has launched a website to cod grounds from nan public.