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Federal agents used pepper spray to disperse an angry mob that blocked their vehicles as they were checking identification in a heavily Somali neighborhood minneapolis on Tuesday amid the ongoing crackdown by the Trump administration targeting the community.
City Council member Jamal Osman, a Somali American who represents the neighborhood, witnessed the confrontation, as did an Associated Press videographer.
Minnesota’s Somali community – the largest in the US – has been under tension in the past few weeks since the president donald trump Said in a social media post Thanksgiving night that he was ending temporary protected status for them.
It is unclear how many members of the Somali community have been arrested, temporarily detained or asked to show documents as part of the crackdown, which also includes people of other nationalities. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Authorities said via email that they made no arrests in the neighborhood Tuesday, but did not provide any further details.
Armed ICE agents went to East African restaurants in the neighborhood on Tuesday, locking the doors and demanding people’s IDs, Osman said. They found only American citizens and made no arrests, Osman said.
“Luckily everyone had their passports, because I have been telling them to keep their passports with them,” Usman said.
After checking the IDs of some people stopped randomly on the street and temporarily detaining at least one American citizen, agents drove in seven to 10 vehicles to a nearby city-owned senior housing complex, Osman said. There, he said, a group of mostly white youths whom they called “heroes” blew whistles to sound the alarm and confronted agents, who responded with pepper spray.
“Thank God so many people came there,” Usman said. “(The agents) couldn’t get out of there because people came with their cars and whistles.”
Osman said he has seen people suffering from the effects of pepper spray. He also said he spoke to a young Somali American who was pulled over into a vehicle, detained and taken to an ICE detention center. There, authorities eventually looked at his American passport, took his fingerprints and released him, but told him to find his way home about 6 miles (10 kilometers) away in snowy weather.
“I don’t know what they achieved today other than chaos,” Osman said.
Trump further escalated tensions last week when he called Somalis “trash” and said he did not want them in the country. At the same time, federal agents began a crackdown targeting minnesota Somalis.
The president’s actions have been condemned by Somali community leaders and Democrats, including the governor. tim waltzAmid relative silence from top state Republicans.
About 84,000 of the country’s 260,000 Somalis live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, most of them American citizens. About 58% were born in the US, and 87% of those born elsewhere are naturalized citizens.
A new website launched by the Department of Homeland Security lists at least six Somalis arrested in Minnesota in recent weeks. The site says it is “highlighting the worst criminal aliens” arrested by ICE to show how agents are “fulfilling President Trump’s promise and carrying out mass deportations.”
ICE issued a statement Friday listing three other Somalis arrested, who did not appear on the website, as well as people of other nationalities whom it said were arrested in Minneapolis as part of Operation Metro Surge. ICE said they were all convicted of crimes including sexual exploitation of minors, robbery and domestic assault.
“Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey protected these criminals at the expense of the safety of Americans,” the statement said. “President Trump and Secretary (Kristie) Noem have a clear message for criminal illegal aliens: Leave now. If you don’t do it, we will find you, arrest you, and deport you.”