ICE in Minnesota: U.S. citizen says she was unjustly detained, suffered concussion
St. Paul resident says ICE agents harassed, assaulted her during arrest
Nasra Ahmed, a 23-year-old St. Paul resident, held a news conference Wednesday afternoon saying last week, she was harassed and assaulted by federal agents during an incident. She was detained for two days, given no reason why and eventually released. She suffered a concussion during the arrest, and still has a bandage over her right eye.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A 23-year-old Somali woman who lives in St. Paul says she was harassed and assaulted by federal agents during an incident last week.
Nasra Ahmed detained by ICE
The backstory:
Nasra Ahmed held a Wednesday afternoon news conference along with her father, Mohamed Ahmed, and state lawmaker Samakab Hussein to talk about her experience.
The incident happened at around 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 14. Cell phone video appears to show Nasra Ahmed being detained by federal agents in what appears to be the parking lot of an apartment complex. She says they were following two Somali men when she asked them to hold a door open for her.
She says ICE agents intervened, took her into custody, and she spent two days in the Sherburne County Jail before being released.
The incident caused her mental and emotional trauma, and she says she suffered a concussion due to the force used. Ahmed had a large bandage above her right eye on Wednesday.
"I got kidnapped by ICE. They came to my neighborhood, they took me, arrested me and detained me for two days. An ICE agent called me a racial slur," she said. "ICE asked to see my ID and decided it was nice to be racist and say really nasty things to me. They pushed me hard, they used a lot of violence, I got a concussion. I was screaming, I was crying, I was so scared. I’ve never been arrested in my life."
‘She was doing her daily life’
What they're saying:
Her father, Mohamed Ahmed, was shaken by what his daughter went through. He also said the Somali community in the Twin Cities is afraid to leave their homes, go to work, go shopping, live their lives due to the ongoing ICE presence.
"What Nasra has experienced, it’s not supposed to happen to anybody," Mohamed Ahmed said.
Lawmaker accuses ICE of racial profiling
Why you should care:
State lawmaker Samakab Hussein, who represents the Somali community of St. Paul, accused federal agents of racial profiling while standing aside Ahmed on Wednesday. He says his office has gotten several complaints about civil rights violations in his community related to immigration operations. He says residents are being stopped without cause, demanded to show their ID because they are "black and brown."
"Let me be clear, this is not normal. It’s not public safety, it’s intimidation, harassment, and it looks like racial profiling," Hussein said.
He called Ahmed’s arrest and detainment unjust.
"She was unjustly arrested by ICE and detained for two days with no legal representation, no clear answer why she got arrested. She’s just been released, but she’s not fine yet. She’s shocked, devastated, traumatized, and she’ll never be the same," Hussein said. "What we experienced, it felt like a nightmare. She has been harassed because of what she looks like, the way she dressed. No one should be treated like a criminal because of their skin color, name, accent or neighborhood they live in. We will demand accountability. This has to end, it’s unacceptable."