Federal charges for assaulting, impeding DHS agents keep getting dismissed
Federal charges for assaulting, impeding DHS agents keep getting dismissed
More than half of the people charged or cited for assaulting or impeding a federal officer during the immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota have had their charges dismissed, according to court records reviewed by the FOX 9 Investigators. Nathan O'Neal has the story.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - More than half of the people charged or cited for assaulting or impeding a federal officer during the immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota have had their charges dismissed, according to court records reviewed by the FOX 9 Investigators.
‘Outrageous government conduct’ and lacking ‘credible evidence’
What they're saying:
While testifying on Capitol Hill in February, acting director of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons claimed assaults on federal officers "skyrocketed over 1400%, a claim repeatedly made by the Trump administration amidst Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota.
Lyons mentioned documented injuries to agents, including a still-pending case involving an agent who had his finger bitten off by a protester in Minnesota.
By the numbers:
But the FOX 9 Investigators found at least 32 of 58 cases involving allegations of assaulting or impeding a federal officer in Minnesota have now been dropped.
No one has been convicted. Efforts to drop additional cases are ongoing.
Charges were recently dismissed against two Brooklyn Park women months after they were issued a citation for impeding a federal officer.
Heather Zemien and Tippy Amundson were surrounded, pulled from their car and arrested by ICE agents in January after documenting federal agents in an apartment complex.
"The only thing we did was exercise our right to blow a whistle," said Zemien. "I did honk my horn when I saw a masked gunman hiding in a garbage area as children were exiting buses."
Assault cases in Chicago also dropped
Dig deeper:
The FOX 9 Investigators previously exposed how DHS arrests for assaulting ICE agents in Chicago rarely led to charges and were regularly dismissed.
Of the 92 arrests in Chicago during the immigration enforcement crackdown last fall, there have been zero convictions and only two of those cases remain open.
"We have a number of demonstrably false claims where judges have found that Homeland Security agents were making misrepresentations about assaults, and so we know some of them have been already found to be untrue," said Rachel Moran, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas during an interview earlier this year.
‘I believe they did this all for theatrics’
Why you should care:
Tippy Amundson said her arrest was especially alarming as it took place after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good.
"I definitely had to remind myself, like, these men will kill you. They just did kill another mom and I had to calm myself down in that moment and just kind of then let it happen," Amundson said.
Their arrests drew national attention when one of the agents in the vehicle experienced a medical emergency mid-transport right outside a police station. Amundson said their handcuffs were removed so they could provide assistance.
"It was obvious he was in distress," Zemien said. "Tippy said that she had some medical training, this man needs some help. I said ‘I have some medical training too.’"
The women were eventually re-handcuffed and driven to the federal Whipple building.
"I believe they did this all for theatrics," Zeiman said, who believed their cases might drag out "for a very long time" at the expense of taxpayers.
After the charges were dismissed, DHS continued to criticize the women, claiming that they "lied to law enforcement" about being nurses and that they "remained secured in the vehicle" the entire time.
The women deny those claims made by the Trump administration.
"It was just one more opportunity and one more circumstance where they have video footage of what happened," Amundson said. "But DHS lies."