A coalition of police chiefs from Minnesota expressed concerns on Tuesday regarding instances where American citizens, including off-duty officers, have reportedly been racially targeted by federal immigration agents. This comes amidst the Trump administration’s intensified efforts to address illegal immigration.
“Reports have surfaced of individuals in Hennepin County being stopped and questioned purely based on their skin color,” stated Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt at a press briefing. “This type of discrimination is now affecting even the law enforcement community itself.”
Federal agents, including those from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), have been present in Minnesota for several weeks as part of a crackdown on criminal illegal immigrants. However, they have encountered pushback from local officials and community activists.
Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, announced on Monday that over 10,000 criminal illegal immigrants have been apprehended in the Minneapolis area.
In Minnesota, protests erupted after Renee Nicole Good, 37, was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis last Wednesday. (Image credit: Brendan Gutenschwager via Storyful)
“Over the past six weeks, our dedicated DHS officers have arrested 3,000 criminal illegal aliens, including dangerous offenders such as murderers, rapists, and child predators. This is a significant win for public safety,” she shared on the social media platform X.
Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said immigration enforcement was necessary but said he’s received complaints within the past two weeks that a small group of federal officers have stopped U.S. citizens and demanded they provide paperwork proving their citizenship.
“As this went on over the past two weeks, we started hearing from our police officers the same complaints as they fell victim to this while off duty,” he said. “Every one of these individuals is a person of color who has had this happen to them in Brooklyn Park.”
He said one officer was stopped while driving and was boxed in by authorities. When she attempted to record the interaction, her phone was knocked out of her hand, the chief said. The federal officers also had their weapons drawn, he said.
Sheriff’s deputies from Hennepin County arrive in a corner of downtown Minneapolis as they try to rescue a man who had been attacked by a mob of anti-ICE agitators near City Hall in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Saturday. A group of local police chiefs on Tuesday warned of complaints of racial profiling by federal authorities. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP via Getty Images)
The chiefs demanded that ICE officers carry out their duties lawfully and that their leaders do a better job of supervising authorities on the street.
“They’re aware that there are groups that seem to be, have less supervision, that they believe are involved in this,” Bruley said. “But the vast majority of these groups are doing focused, legitimate immigration work that they’re tasked to do. And that it’s well within the bounds of being legal.”
Bruley noted that he doesn’t believe the actions of the small group of federal officers are not directed from Washington, D.C., or the Trump administration.
“In fact… I don’t think the leaders in Washington, D.C., fully understand what some of their groups are doing here on the street and how much damage that they’re causing,” he said. “And that’s why we are here to kind of bring this to light.”
“I’ve seen the best of what the federal government has,” he added. “This is not it.”
Imran Ali, a local attorney who works with law enforcement, noted that local law enforcement officers have been yelled at and confronted by the public as the federal government carries out their operations.
ICE agents detain a woman after pulling her from a car before on Jan. 13 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
“What cannot happen is video after video of our local law enforcement officers being yelled at and threatened to by the public when they’re simply there to work on behalf of the community,” he said. “And I’ve heard from dozens and dozens of officers, and I’ve seen those videos. That can’t happen. And that’s what is increasing this temperature, the rhetoric and what we’re seeing.”
Minnesota has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration as agitators and federal authorities have clashed, sometimes violently in recent weeks. Protests and confrontations have intensified following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer earlier this month.
St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry said the chiefs are seeking to find a path forward where everyone’s constitutional rights are respected while authorities conduct enforcement operations.
“Can we find a way to make sure that we can do these things without scaring the hell out of our community members and freaking everyone out? People are afraid right now, and I get it,” he said.
“We watch the news, and we see very, very angry groups of people out protesting,” he added. “But the people that we’re dealing with as police chiefs, are the people that are scared to death, that are afraid to go outside, not because their status is in question, but because they’re hearing, and they’re seeing.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.
