Minnesota police chiefs allege some ICE agents racially profiled US citizens, including off-duty officers

"I am seeing and hearing about people in Hennepin County being stopped, questioned and harassed solely because of the color of their skin - solely being the operative word here," Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt said during a news conference. "Now that same discrimination is also spilling into the law enforcement community."

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and other federal authorities have been in Minnesota for several weeks targeting criminal illegal immigrants, but have been met with resistance from local elected officials and agitators.

"In the last 6 weeks, our brave DHS law enforcement have arrested 3,000 criminal illegal aliens including vicious murderers, rapists, child pedophiles and incredibly dangerous individuals. A HUGE victory for public safety," she wrote on X. 

Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said immigration enforcement was necessary but said he's received complaints within the past two weeks that a small group of federal officers have stopped U.S. citizens and demanded they provide paperwork proving their citizenship. 

"As this went on over the past two weeks, we started hearing from our police officers the same complaints as they fell victim to this while off duty," he said. "Every one of these individuals is a person of color who has had this happen to them in Brooklyn Park."

He said one officer was stopped while driving and was boxed in by authorities. When she attempted to record the interaction, her phone was knocked out of her hand, the chief said. The federal officers also had their weapons drawn, he said. 

The chiefs demanded that ICE officers carry out their duties lawfully and that their leaders do a better job of supervising authorities on the street. 

"They're aware that there are groups that seem to be, have less supervision, that they believe are involved in this," Bruley said. "But the vast majority of these groups are doing focused, legitimate immigration work that they're tasked to do. And that it's well within the bounds of being legal."

"In fact… I don't think the leaders in Washington, D.C., fully understand what some of their groups are doing here on the street and how much damage that they're causing," he said. "And that's why we are here to kind of bring this to light."

"I've seen the best of what the federal government has," he added. "This is not it."

Imran Ali, an attorney who works with law enforcement, noted that local officers have been yelled at and confronted by the public as the federal government carries out their operations. 

"What cannot happen is video after video of our local law enforcement officers being yelled at and threatened to by the public when they're simply there to work on behalf of the community," he said. "And I've heard from dozens and dozens of officers, and I've seen those videos. That can't happen. And that's what is increasing this temperature, the rhetoric and what we're seeing."

St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry said the chiefs are seeking a path forward where everyone's constitutional rights are respected while authorities conduct enforcement operations. 

"Can we find a way to make sure that we can do these things without scaring the hell out of our community members and freaking everyone out? People are afraid right now, and I get it," he said. 

"We watch the news, and we see very, very angry groups of people out protesting," he added. "But the people that we're dealing with as police chiefs, are the people that are scared to death, that are afraid to go outside, not because their status is in question, but because they're hearing, and they're seeing."