MINNEAPOLIS — Reports have emerged from Minnesota law enforcement leaders indicating that ICE agents are indiscriminately stopping and questioning numerous U.S. citizens, seemingly choosing targets based on racial profiling.

In a press conference held in Minneapolis on Tuesday, various law enforcement officials provided updates on recent ICE activities in the city and throughout the state.

Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley expressed growing concerns over reports from citizens alleging that ICE agents are employing racial profiling to stop individuals and demand proof of their legal status, with these incidents even affecting off-duty police officers.

“We are receiving reports of individuals being stopped in traffic or on the street without any justifiable reason and being forced to produce documentation of their legal status,” Bruley stated during the press conference. “Our own officers have reported similar encounters while off duty, with every affected individual being a person of color.”

Chief Bruley recounted an incident involving a police officer who, while driving, was stopped by ICE agents. Despite being a U.S. citizen, she was asked for her documentation, and the officers involved reportedly had their weapons drawn.

“When she became concerned about the rhetoric and the way she was being treated, she pulled out her phone in an attempt to record the incident, the phone was knocked out of her hands, preventing her from recording it,” Bruley said. “The [agents] had their guns drawn during the incident and the officer became so concerned she was forced to identify herself as a Brooklyn Park police officer in hopes of slowing and de-escalating the incident.” 

Once the officer identified herself as off-duty law enforcement, Burley said the agents left the scene without further questions of comments.

Bruley also said it has been extremely difficult for him to communicate with ICE leadership about concerns. He said ICE leadership has told him to file complaints online with the names of the involved federal officers, but since ICE agents cover their faces and do not have name tags, it is impossible to know who is responsible. 

Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt said she has seen multiple recent incidents of ICE agents using racial profiling to stop U.S. citizens. 

“I am seeing and hearing about people in Hennepin County stopped, questioned and harassed solely because of the color of their skin,” Witt said. “We cannot let people in our communities think that our local law enforcement leadership is okay with actions that are not only wrong, but illegal.” 

Witt said Minnesota law enforcement has been putting in work for years to reestablish trust with neighbors after Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd in 2020. 

“Today that trust is being damaged, broken by the actions of some federal agents, particularly in these last recent weeks,” Witt said. Witt clarified that she was not blaming all federal agents for these instances of racial profiling.