MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara issued a stern warning to his officers on Thursday: Intervene when you see Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents using unlawful force or lose your job.
“If unlawful force is being used by any law enforcement officer against any person in this city and one of our officers is there, absolutely, I expect them to intervene, or they’ll be fired,” O’Hara said when asked how his officers should respond to excessive force by ICE agents.
O’Hara noted that cases of “excessive” force that were “readily apparent” would merit officer intervention. A sergeant from O’Hara’s department later clarified that while Minneapolis Police Department officers may physically intervene in the case of unlawful force, they would stop short of arresting ICE agents.
Minnesota’s largest city is in the midst of an immigration crackdown. It comes after President Donald Trump used xenophobic language earlier this week to describe members of the state’s Somali diaspora, calling them “garbage.”
Minneapolis is the latest community in the crosshairs of Trump’s mass deportation plan. Los Angeles; Chicago; Charlotte, North Carolina; and now New Orleans are among the cities where federal agents have enacted Trump’s mass deportation plan. Along the way, federal agents have faced widespread allegations of racial profiling and excessive force, often supported by concerned citizens’ mountains of video evidence that depicts violent encounters.
“This is where George Floyd died because of the actions of Minneapolis Police,” noted O’Hara during an interview with MS NOW on Thursday. “Our officers here have a duty to intervene,” he added, saying that duty extends “not just from law enforcement, from our own agency.”
As part of a concerted effort to protect Minneapolis’ immigrant communities, O’Hara has directed his officers to increase their presence at Somali community centers. He’s personally made multiple visits to the Karmel Mall, the city’s largest Somali shopping center, which has been a hot spot for ICE activity.
Eyewitnesses described ICE detainments in the blocks surrounding Karmel on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, MS NOW captured video of federal agents circling the mall’s block.
Outside the mall on Thursday, in frigid 4-degree weather, Miri Villerius was standing watch. The 24-year-old klezmer musician spent hours in the freezing cold, volunteering as a monitor at the mall entrance, armed with a whistle to warn patrons of ICE’s presence and a cellphone to film encounters.
That morning, Villerius (who uses they/them pronouns) captured footage of a Hispanic man being detained on the block before getting released. The Minnesotan standing guard over the mall acknowledged they’d seen police in the area as well as federal agents, but they were skeptical that MPD would intervene if those officers witnessed unlawful force. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” Villerius said. “I hope that he’s sincere and actually wants the police to be confrontational with ICE,” they continued, referring to O’Hara. “But again, I’ll believe it when I see it.” In response to O’Hara’s warning, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told MS NOW, “Does [O’Hara] want his officers to intervene as our law enforcement arrests the convicted murderers, rapists, and gang members, which have been arrested in Minneapolis’ streets over the last 48 hours?” ICE and Border Patrol raids across the country have seen numerous instances of individuals being detained without criminal records and, in some cases, with American citizenship. The majority of those detained in these operations across the country have no criminal record, according to federal data. This article has been updated to include comment from DHS.
Alex Tabet is a reporter for MS NOW. Recommended
