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U.S. citizen recounts arrest by ICE agents
Mubashir, an American citizen, spoke Tuesday, recounting his arrest by ICE in Minneapolis.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - ICE agents used pepper spray to disperse a crowd of protesters blocking their vehicles in Cedar-Riverside on Tuesday amid an immigration enforcement detail in the predominately Somali neighborhood in Minneapolis.
ICE in Cedar-Riverside
What we know:
Minneapolis City Council Member Jamal Osman, who represents Ward 6, described the scene in a statement released Tuesday night. In the statement, Osman shared an account from a constituent who witnessed the ICE operation Tuesday afternoon in Cedar-Riverside and went to check on his neighbors. The resident, a legal U.S. citizen, said he was stopped and "harassed" by ICE agents despite his legal status.
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ICE agents pepper spray crowd in Minneapolis
ICE agents used pepper spray to disperse a crowd blocking their vehicles in Cedar-Riverside on Wednesday amid an immigration enforcement detail in the highly Somali neighborhood in Minneapolis. Video from the Associated Press.
The backstory:
In the statement, Osman recounts:
"Mubashir, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen who has lived in Minneapolis since he was 1-year-old, was working at a restaurant on the top floor of a building in Cedar-Riverside when he observed ICE agents harassing individuals in the parking lot below. Concerned for his neighbors, he descended the back stairs to assess the situation. Upon stepping outside, two agents immediately rushed him, tackled him to the ground, and applied a chokehold, leaving him confused and terrified."
Despite attempts to verify his legal status, Mubashir was taken to a detention center in Bloomington. When he was finally released, Osman says Mubashir wasn't offered any transportation back to Cedar-Riverside and was told to "walk" back in the winter storm.
What they're saying:
"I felt targeted," Mubashir told reporters during a news conference on Wednesday. "Any Somali he sees, I guess he just wants to tackle them and push them to the ground."
"This was a person who was out on the street doing literally nothing wrong," added Mayor Frey. "And what we saw by these ICE agents, who clearly did not know what they were doing, was violence and unwillingness to hear the simple truth, which he was repeating again and again, which is 'I'm an American citizen.' Those were the words that he was saying again and again. Those words, if nothing else, should give them a minute of pause so that they could find out, 'Hey, who are you? What's your name? Are you a citizen or not? Have you done literally anything wrong at all other than existing in the world?'"
Group pepper sprayed in Cedar-Riverside
Local perspective:
The Associated Press also detailed the confrontation in Cedar-Riverside, including a group of protesters who were pepper sprayed by ICE agents.
According to the report, the group was blocking the agents' vehicles as they checked identifications in the neighborhood. According to Osman, the agents only found U.S. citizens, no undocumented immigrants. According to the report, the agents were ultimately confronted by a group of "mostly white young people" who blew whistles to alert people in the area.
It appears the only person taken into custody during the afternoon operation was Mubashir.
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President Trump blasts Ilhan Omar, Gov. Walz at Pennsylvania rally
President Donald Trump on Tuesday blasted Minnesota lawmaker llhan Omar and Gov. Tim Walz over the fraud taking place in the state as federal agents are in the Twin Cities area targeting the Somali population. Trump made the remarks while speaking about the economy at Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mt. Pocono, Pennsylvania.
Big picture view:
The Trump administration has sent as many as 100 ICE agents to the Twin Cities over the past week as part of a special immigration operation targeting Somali immigrants. President Trump has cited fraud cases, like Feeding our Future, which have involved members of the Somali community, as his basis for the targeted initiative.
Speaking on Tuesday, President Trump once again revived his attacks on the Somali community and Minnesota's leadership.
"If you don't share our values, contribute to our economy, and assimilate into our society, then we don't want you in our country, we don't want you," the president said during a speech in Pennsylvania. "Ilhan Omar and the people from Somalia, they hate our country, and they think we're stupid people, which actually, when they allow that to happen, they are. That's headed by, Governor Walz, one of the dumber people around. But think of it, he's given not like peanuts, billions. These are people that don't work at their own country. Their own country is a failure. They have no money, and yet they come into our country and steal tens of billions of dollars. How stupid are we to allow that to happen?"