MINNEAPOLIS — Augsburg University officials say masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained a student without a warrant and pointed weapons at students and staff in an incident over the weekend.
According to officials, ICE agents in an unmarked vehicle followed the student to campus around 3 p.m. Saturday, KSTP reports.
“They aimed weapons at witnesses that included staff and students while many more students watched from their windows,” an Augsburg spokesperson wrote in a statement. “These tactics, with the implicit threat of violence, are unacceptable, dangerous, and profoundly disturbing.”
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Campus public safety staff responded as part of the university’s protocols for any law enforcement on campus. When the on-call administrator arrived, the agents “refused to produce and stated they did not have a judicial warrant,” the provost said. The student was still reportedly taken off campus.
Video footage from the scene show shows two masked men armed with rifles outside a residence hall. At least two unmarked SUVs are then seen driving out of the parking lot.
“As an urban university, Augsburg has long-standing, professional relationships with local law enforcement, and we are accustomed to partnering closely on public safety issues. What happened on December 6 was far outside the scope of our normal experience,” the statement continued. “Our focus in the wake of this traumatic incident is on the safety and well-being of our campus community. Now more than ever, our mission of education is critical to the healthy functioning of a free, democratic society.”
Minneapolis Mayor Issues Immigration Executive Order
The incident occurred three days after Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey signed an executive order prohibiting federal, state, and local agencies from conducting civil immigration enforcement operations on city-owned property, such as parking lots, parking garages, and vacant lots. The order also directs city staff to create a signage template for local businesses and property owners who want to show their support for immigrants by marking their property as off-limits for immigration operations, according to Yahoo News.
The order was issued days after ICE was directed by the Trump administration to target undocumented Somali immigrants in Minneapolis as part of “Operation Metro Surge,” a person familiar with the planning confirmed with the New York Times.
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The Twin Cities region has the largest population of immigrants from Somalia in the U.S., and hundreds of people are expected to be targeted by the operation.
Jaylani Hussein, a Somali American who is executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said about 95% of Somalis in Minneapolis are U.S. citizens, with an estimated 50% born in the U.S.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said Somalis “contribute nothing” and that their country is “no good for a reason.”
Twin Cities Mayors, Police Chief Hold Press Conference Supporting Somalis
During a joint news conference Tuesday, the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul were joined by Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara and Minneapolis City Council member Jamal Osman to voice their support for the metro’s Somali community, CBS reports. Frey said Trump’s depiction of Somalis “violated the moral fabric of what we stand by in this country as Americans.”
“They have started businesses and created jobs,” he continued. “They have added to the cultural fabric of what Minneapolis is.”
Frey also vowed that the city’s police officers, many of whom are Somali, will not work with any federal agents doing immigration enforcement as it’s “not their job.”
“Targeting Somali people means that due process will be violated, mistakes will be made, and let’s be clear, it means that American citizens will be detained for no other reason than the fact that they look like they are Somali,” he said. “That is not now and will never be a legitimate reason.”
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O’Hara said his officers do not work with federal law enforcement who are conducting immigration enforcement.
“We don’t provide information to federal immigration authorities,” he said. “We don’t ask people about their immigration status. Our mission is clear: to protect life, to uphold the law and to maintain safety for all people in our communities.”
Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told AP that what makes someone a target of ICE is “not their race or ethnicity, but the fact that they are in the country illegally.”
