ICE agents clash with dozens of residents in streets of south Minneapolis

A tense situation developed in South Minneapolis Monday afternoon, where dozens of residents confronted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents operating in the streets near Lake Street and Pillsbury Avenue, not far from the Karmel Mall.

WCCO reporter Esme Murphy was at the scene when she says she heard a whistles, and suddenly there were people screaming, and then running. Murphy saw people pushing and shoving before making her way to the center of the crowd, where she found a woman held face down on the ground.

The people surrounding the woman were screaming to let her go.

"We kept yelling, 'She is pregnant, she's pregnant," said observer Tonika Deutch. "They put their knees on her. We kept telling them, 'She can't breathe, let her up, let her up.'" 

The woman who was handcuffed was suddenly dragged by one arm as the angry crowd threw snowballs and screamed at the federal agents.

Soon, more and more observers gathered at the scene, summoned by the sound of whistles, which in many prior confrontations have been used to try to warn neighbors that ICE agents are in the vicinity.

Minneapolis police officers and a number of Hennepin County Sheriff's deputies also arrived at the scene. At one point, Murphy said it looked like a federal agent was pushed to the ground.

Some of the observers took issue with local law enforcement on the scene. Local law enforcement have been deployed to control crowds since the Department of Homeland Security launched Operation Metro Surge in recent weeks. One of the recent ICE operations in the metro area was a raid at a construction site in Chanhassen over the weekend.

In a Facebook post, the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office says it received a non-emergency call for assistance from the Department of Homeland Security around 1:13 p.m. The caller said several times that agents were being surrounded and "being attacked" by dozens of "agitators," the office said.

HSCO said the deputies responded to the scene but did not witness any attacks on agents and helped them leave the scene because the crowd was blocking them. 

"HCSO deputies did not make any arrests, use any force, deploy any chemical irritants, or use other crowd control devices," the post reads. "The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office will always respond to a help call where there are reported attacks."

The office added that they "do not assist any other agencies in their civil immigration enforcement."

"It's unbelievable what I see right now, our city, our neighborhood, it's kind of like a war right now," said Goth Ali, an observer on site.

As ICE began using pepper sprays, some people needed help clearing their eyes. As the confrontations continued, one man who appeared to be observing the interaction was suddenly on the ground, and the crowd chanted at the officers to let him go. A federal agent also used a Taser on another observer.

"This is my district, this is my neighborhood. An ICE agent is now shooting at this crowd with pepper bullets," said DFL state Rep. Aisha Gomez, who was at the scene. "Everyone is coughing. We just had chemical agents used against us by federal agents."

Murphy and a WCCO photographer were among those who were hit with the irritant.

"So this is what we are facing in the streets of Minneapolis right now," Gomez said. "A full-on federal invasion."

It's unclear if anyone was injured. WCCO has not independently verified that any of the people taken into custody were pregnant, and it's not clear how many people were taken into custody.

WCCO reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security but has not heard back. Previously, the department has said its agents have increasingly come under attack as they try and do their job.

The Karmel Mall is the nation's first Somali shopping center. The enhanced ICE actions came just after President Trump said, "I don't want [Somalis] in our country" and claimed Somalis are "completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota."

Esme Murphy and Jonah Kaplan contributed to this report.

• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• Minneapolis