ICE agents forcibly restrained a woman during an immigration enforcement action in Minneapolis on Monday, pulling her through the snow and holding her facedown as bystanders yelled that she was pregnant.
ICE officials described the incident as a “targeted vehicle stop.” But as the operation unfolded, a crowd gathered and began confronting the agents. Esme Murphy, a WCCO reporter who was at the scene, said she saw agents holding a woman on the ground while onlookers pleaded with them to stop.
“Please let her go! She’s pregnant!” one person shouted.
“Get her off of her fucking stomach,” another yelled.
Witnesses said the situation escalated quickly. According to WCCO, one agent fired a Taser toward the crowd and taunted, “Who wants more?”
“We kept yelling, ‘She is pregnant, she’s pregnant,’” local resident Tonika Deutch told Murphy. “They put their knees on her. We kept telling them, ‘She can’t breathe, let her up, let her up.’”
As the crowd continued shouting, the woman was pulled along the ground by one arm. Bystanders threw snowballs, and agents deployed pepper spray into the crowd, striking Murphy and her photographer, according to WCCO.
ICE then called the Minneapolis Police Department for backup. After arriving, officers said they found “no violence occurring” against the agents. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told WCCO that his department has spent years emphasizing de-escalation, adding that “unfortunately that is … often not what we are seeing from other agencies in the city.”
ICE said the operation ended with the arrests of the intended targets: a young Ecuadorian couple taken from their vehicle after agents shattered its windows. ICE said the woman is being held in Illinois; her husband’s location has not been disclosed. Two U.S. citizens were also arrested for allegedly assaulting federal officers, according to CBS.
