Community members fear ICE agents are now disguising themselves in Minnesota
Luis Ramirez said he first noticed the car marked with an electric company's logo on Jan. 28. It was sitting in the parking lot of his restaurant in Shakopee, Minnesota; it occurred to him that neither his business nor the laundromat next door needed electric work done.
He said he approached the car, with two men in the front seat wearing white hard hats and green reflective vests, and asked them to leave. One week later, Feb. 4, the car was sitting across the street. Ramirez became convinced they were U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in disguise, so he confronted them while recording.
"You're going to tell me this is what our taxpayer money goes to?" he asks incredulously in his video, as two men in similar reflective vests cover their faces with masks.
People describing themselves as constitutional observers tell WCCO that in the past week, reports of ICE agents disguising themselves have flooded in from the Twin Cities metro and rural areas of the state. Lee Steadman, part of a broader observer network, said that it's possible that some of these reports are not accurate, but notes that they are able to evaluate legitimacy based on known patterns and repeat photo evidence of the same suspicious people.
"They're seeing them undercover as construction workers, they're seeing them undercover as Uber drivers, they're seeing them undercover as like electrical workers or school observers," Steadman said.
In Ramirez's case, he couldn't find evidence of the River Falls, Wisconsin-based electric company as advertised on the side of the car. WCCO found a business operating under the same name closer to Green Bay, but could not find a listing in River Falls.
"I am afraid that we're being followed," Ramirez said.
It's not his first run-in with ICE. According to Ramirez, who is an American citizen, ICE briefly detained and beat him in early January before returning him to his restaurant.
WCCO reached out to DHS for comment on the alleged disguises now being deployed in Minnesota. A spokesperson confirmed that they received the inquiry, but did not provide a response Sunday night.
Scott Mechkowski, a former deputy director of ICE enforcement and operations in New York City, told the Associated Press that he hadn't seen ICE agents disguising themselves as uniformed workers. However, he argued that ICE may be responding to the estimated 30,000 observers who are tracking ICE activity.
"Of course agents are adapting their tactics so that they're a step ahead," Merchkowski said. "We've never seen this level of obstruction and interference."
The Intercept confirmed with DHS that an ICE agent operating in New York state was disguised as a construction worker while conducting surveillance. A memorandum from 2006 outlines rules for the use of "ruses" in ICE enforcement, noting that federal agents should avoid impersonating agencies and companies "involved in the administration of health and safety programs" to avoid undermining trust in those institutions.
