U.S. citizens recount being detained by ICE during Minnesota operation
Sunday afternoon, Luis Escoto realized Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were surrounding his wife's car.
With the images of an ICE agent shooting and killing Renee Good in her car fresh in his head, he rushed outside with her passport card, knowing that the woman ICE had surrounded was born in the United States.
"They're going to break the window, drag her out, put her in a snowbank, all of those things came to my mind," Luis Escoto said.
Sitting down with WCCO, Escoto became emotional. Originally from Mexico, he said he became a U.S. citizen in 1992. His wife, Irma, is from New Mexico.
They proudly co-own and operate El Taquito Taco Shop in West St. Paul. Restaurant security footage and a video from a bystander show multiple ICE vehicles seemingly focused on a business next door when three masked agents came to Irma's driver's side window.
Luis Escoto and their son, Alex, said there was no reason for ICE to randomly check her immigration status other than the color of her skin.
"I love this country more than my life. If you ask me to give my life for it, I would give my life for my country," Luis Escoto said, in tears. "I'm so sad to see that they're destroying it. I'm so sad that they're doing what they're doing now. It's not right."
Rogelio Jimenez said he found himself in a similar situation on Saturday in Brooklyn Park. Video from Jimenez's dashboard camera, his cell phone and the cell phone of a bystander show multiple masked agents forcing him out of his car on Brooklyn Boulevard. He screams multiple times that he is a U.S. citizen. An ICE agent seems to respond to him by demanding he "prove it."
The agents handcuffed Jimenez and put him in the back of a federal vehicle. Jimenez said his arms and wrists were hurt. He said that he was driven around for about 20 minutes before he was released and his car was returned to him a short distance away from where he was detained.
Jimenez said that an agent told him that they were looking for someone with the same name. He believes he was targeted in part for his Mexican heritage and the Mexican flag decals on his vehicle.
WCCO reached out to ICE for more information. The agency has not responded.
In an interview with WCCO's Esme Murphy, U.S. Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino said that people who are in the country legally shouldn't be concerned, as thousands of ICE agents and hundreds of Border Patrol agents flood Minnesota in an unprecedented crackdown.
"Those individuals that are worried, if they're United States citizens or legal permanent residents, or have some type of legal status to be or remain here in the United States, there's no reason to be scared," Bovino said. "However, if they are a criminal alien or an illegal alien, then they should probably be very scared."
WCCO has documented multiple instances where ICE has detained and, at times, physically harmed American citizens in Minnesota since Operation Metro Surge began.
On Jan. 8, ICE agents held two Target employees in Richfield on the ground before forcing them into the back of an SUV. Minnesota Rep. Mike Howard, who represents Richfield, said he confirmed that both are Americans.
On Jan. 6, a naturalized citizen told WCCO that ICE left him hurt and hospitalized after they detained him. ICE then released him.
On Dec. 10, Minneapolis leaders said ICE wrongfully arrested a U.S. citizen because he looks like he could be Somali.
There are dozens of similar reports on social media, prompting many Americans in Minnesota to carry around their passports and other legal documents out of fear of being stopped. Alex Escoto said after the incident with his mother at their restaurant, he went to the West St. Paul City Council to demand help.
"Every time ICE stops at a location, police officers should be minutes away, making sure that they are not harassing U.S. citizens of this country," Alex Escoto said.