ICE Agents Stop Off-Duty Minnesota Officers, Chiefs Say

Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said on Jan. 20 that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents boxed in an off-duty Brooklyn Park police officer, drew their guns, demanded her paperwork and knocked her phone from her hand in an encounter he alleged targeted people of color.

The chiefs' complaints come amid Operation Metro Surge, which the Department of Homeland Security says deployed about 3,000 immigration agents to Minnesota and resulted in at least 3,000 undocumented immigrant arrests since December, and follow the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good that intensified scrutiny of federal tactics.

Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt and Saint Paul Police Chief Axel Henry called for accountability and more oversight at a Jan. 20 press conference, with Witt saying "Today that trust is being damaged, broken" and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino declining to directly answer questions while the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The presence of roughly 3,000 federal agents has prompted widespread protests in Minneapolis and nationwide and legal challenges by Minnesota and Twin Cities officials, with a judge declining an emergency injunction and a December federal order barring agents from using pepper spray against peaceful protesters, according to court records.

Local chiefs said they will pursue complaints and oversight actions in the coming weeks, Governor Tim Walz urged civilians to protest peacefully and record agents "for future prosecution," and civil rights advocates and local leaders have called on the Justice Department to investigate potential violations, with no federal timeline announced.