Minneapolis auditor: City didn't violate ordinance during drug bust that sparked protest

City auditor releases findings in Minneapolis drug bust

An audit on an ICE-involved criminal investigation in Minneapolis in June found communication gaps between the city admin and council. FOX 9's Soyoung Kim has more.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minneapolis City Auditor found the city did not violate its separation ordinance when responding to a crowd protesting ICE agents who were part of a federal task force investigating a drug and human trafficking case, but did find gaps in communication between the city admin and city council.

Investigation sparks ICE protest

The backstory:

On June 3, a large crowd gathered in the area of Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue after reports spread online about a possible ICE raid in Minneapolis.

As it turned out, ICE agents were part of a law enforcement task force that was raiding a Mexican restaurant in a case linked to the seizure of 900 pounds of meth from a Burnsville storage shed.

Thinking the search warrant raid was actually part of an immigration effort, protesters disrupted the search, forcing investigators to leave before the inspection was finished. Minneapolis police officers responded, including Chief Brian O'Hara, to assist with crowd control.

After the standoff, one woman was charged with attacking law enforcement officers during the protest.

Minneapolis leaders on ICE raid disinfo

Minneapolis and Hennepin County leaders called out disinformation surrounding rumors of an ICE raid in Minneapolis that sparked a protest on Tuesday.

The fallout:

In the days after the search warrant was executed, law enforcement leaders, including Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt and Chief O'Hara, called out some political leaders for spreading misinformation about the criminal investigation and creating a tense situation in the city.

Days later, Minneapolis police sent out a new memo with guidance on working with ICE under the separation agreement.

Ultimately, the council, on a 12-0 vote, approved an after-action review looking into the city's response to the incident. Council members hoped the review would examine if Minneapolis police operated within the restrictions of the city's separation ordinance – which forbids officers from assisting ICE with immigration efforts.

Other council members hoped the review would also examine communications by council members that they feared may have inflamed tensions that day.

Allen Henry, Media Relations Coordinator for the City of Minneapolis, gave the following statement to FOX 9:

"During quickly unfolding and escalating situations, it is prudent to confirm the accuracy of information before it is shared publicly, and sometimes that takes time. Because Minneapolis does not participate in civil immigration enforcement activity, we have no advance or immediate information about federal law enforcement actions in our community, whether related to immigration or not. In this case, once information was confirmed, it was immediately shared with Council Members and members of the public." 

Auditor's report

What's new?:

The city auditor's office presented its findings on Tuesday to the Minneapolis City Council's Committee of the Whole.

Timeline:

The report included a timeline of events of June 3. Auditors found that Minneapolis police were notified of the search warrant raid shortly before 10 a.m. that day. The chief is notified in the following minutes and Mayor Frey learns of the law enforcement action around 10:45 a.m.

• At 11 a.m., Mayor Frey holds a situation call and learns the raid is not an immigration enforcement effort.
• At 11:14 a.m., the FBI requested Minneapolis police assistance to deal with crowd control. Officers arrive within the next 15 minutes. The chief shows up on the scene a little over an hour later.
• 12:43 p.m., Minneapolis police posts two messages on X stating that MPD is waiting for more information about the federal action and is assisting with crowd control. Similar messages are posted to the MPD Facebook page, later forwarded by the City of Minneapolis Government account.
• 1:15 p.m., Mayor Frey convenes the MAC Group for a situation update.
• At about 1:50 p.m., the city council was notified about the incident.
• 1:51 p.m., Mayor Frey issues a statement on X.
• 2:07 p.m., MPD made two posts on X providing information about the nature of the Federal action and reiterating that MPD was solely assisting with crowd control.

Auditor findings

Dig deeper:

As part of the report, the auditor included the following findings:

• Minneapolis police weren't notified of the federal law enforcement action before the morning of June 3, after investigators were already on scene.
• Neither the mayor's office nor city council members made untruthful statements about the incident on June 3.
• The city admin didn't notify the council of the incident for nearly four hours, until after federal agents had left – creating what the auditor described as an "information void."
• The city did not violate the separation order, the law restricting city workers from assisting with immigration enforcement.
• At least three city employees "participated" in demonstration activities, but the auditor didn't find "clear violations" of the city's Code of Ethics.

Recommendations:

The auditor also submitted some recommendations, including:

• Auditors urged city leaders to develop "communication sequencing protocols" to notify council leadership during major incidents that could lead to unrest.
• City leaders should outline expectations for Minneapolis police for emergency responses during potential or perceived federal immigration enforcement actions.
• The city council should review and update the separation ordinance.
• Minneapolis police should also update its separation ordinance-related policies.
• The council should review its ethics code expectations around "speech, peaceable assembly, and timekeeping."