ICE officer “looking for child” enters restaurant with gun drawn
An ICE agent walks into a Thai restaurant in Minnesota with a gun drawn. USA TODAY has asked DHS for a statement.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered a Thai restaurant in St. Paul, Minn., with handguns drawn, claiming they were looking for a “child,” according to the restaurant owner.
Eastside Thai footage taken on January 19 shows federal agents getting out of their cars and entering the restaurant with guns drawn after a person is seen running through the front door of the restaurant.
Elle Lee, one of the restaurant’s owners, told Storyful that the agent was “yelling at us” as he entered. “ICE agents accused us of hiding children,” Kou Lee, another owner of the restaurant, said in a Facebook post.
A witness, identified on Facebook as Sharminator Vann, who was eating when the agent was seen in the video entering the restaurant, said in a comment on the post that the agent was “cruising around the block looking for” the person. USA TODAY has reached out to witnesses for further comment.
The agent was seen leaving the restaurant and returning unarmed. He spoke to Elle at the entrance of the restaurant and quickly rented it before leaving and returning to his car.
Cellphone video taken by Elle after the agents left showed the vehicle abandoned just outside the intersection.
Kou said in the post that no one at the restaurant was injured. Elle told Storyful that multiple customers and staff members were traumatized by the incident.
“Business has been disrupted and staff are reluctant to come to work, while those who still need to pay their bills are showing up feeling anxious and fearful,” Elle said.
USA TODAY has reached out to the restaurant’s owner for further comment.
St. Paul Mayor Kaoli Herr did not immediately respond to inquiries from USA TODAY about the incident, but said in an interview on PBS News Hour on Jan. 21 that “people are scared, frustrated and angry.”
USA TODAY has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and Customs and Border Protection for comment on the case.
Immigration operations take over the Twin Cities
Aggressive and often controversial immigration practices are increasingly changing life in the Twin Cities, especially after ICE agents shot and killed resident Renee Nicole Good.
In a Jan. 18 interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called immigration officials in the city an “occupying force.”
Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said at a press conference on January 20 that Americans are being “stopped on the street for no reason and forced to provide documentation to verify that they are here legally.” He said the employees were targeted by federal agents while off-duty.
“I wish I could have said this was an isolated incident,” Broulei said, flanked by other local police chiefs. “If this is happening to our police officers, it breaks my heart to think about how many community members fall victim to this every day. This has to stop.”
Erin Stevens, legislative director for the Minnesota chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said at a news conference on Jan. 20 that the presence of federal agents is impeding access to health care.
“Many of our patients, undocumented immigrants, naturalized citizens, and U.S.-born citizens alike, are afraid to leave their homes to receive health care,” Stevens said. “They express to us the feeling of being hunted.”
In the restaurant’s video, an “ICE OUT!” poster references a day-long “statewide shutdown” planned for Minnesota on Jan. 23, organized by anti-ICE activists. The event is asking residents not to go to work, shopping or going to school, and organizers are encouraging businesses to close as well.
Organizers are calling for the removal of federal agents from the state and the prosecution of Goode’s murderer, Jonathan Ross.
The action’s website says, “It’s time to suspend business as usual to demand an immediate end to ICE’s actions in Minnesota, to hold federal agents responsible for the loss of life and abuse of Minnesotans, and to call for immediate intervention from Congress.”
Similar ICE Out events have been held in recent weeks in response to clashes with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. USA TODAY previously reported that grassroots anti-Trump groups were helping organize the protests.
On January 20, the Department of Justice announced it would investigate an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, on January 18.
Contributors: Christopher Cann and Dinah Pulver, USA TODAY
