ICE targeted off-duty police officers in Twin Cities, all people of color

Local law enforcement leaders in Minneapolis and St. Paul are raising concerns about Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents violating U.S. citizens’ civil rights, including those of off-duty police officers, as ICE has surged into Minnesota in recent weeks.

Mark Bruley, police chief of the Minneapolis suburb Brooklyn Park, said at a Tuesday news conference that an off-duty police officer had been “boxed … in” by vehicles driven by ICE agents, who demanded with guns drawn to see paperwork proving the officer had a right to be in the United States. “She’s a U.S. citizen, and clearly would not have any paperwork,” he said.

The officer attempted to begin filming the interaction and her phone was knocked out of her hand, Bruley said. When she identified herself as a police officer, the federal agents “immediately left,” he said.