A Minnesota grandfather says he was terrified after federal immigration agents forced their way into his family’s home and dragged him outside at gunpoint—wearing only boxer shorts—in front of his grandchildren.
ChongLy “Scott” Thao, 56, told Reuters the raid happened Sunday as he and relatives were singing karaoke. After hearing noise at the front door, Thao said the family retreated into a bedroom. Federal officers later found them there, he said.
Thao said agents then pulled him out of the house and into the snowy street while temperatures hovered around 14°F. He said he repeatedly told officers he was a U.S. citizen as he tried to find his identification.
A Hmong American born in Laos, Thao came to the U.S. with his parents when he was 4 and became a citizen in 1991. He told Reuters he used a blanket his 4-year-old grandson had been sleeping under to cover himself as he was taken outside.
“I was praying. I was like, God, please help me, I didn’t do anything wrong. Why do they do this to me? Without my clothes on,” Thao told Reuters, as friends helped repair the damaged door.
Thao said neighbors filmed the scene as he was placed into an ICE vehicle, fingerprinted, and photographed. He said he was later brought back home without being charged and without receiving an explanation or apology.
He described feeling “fear, shame, and desperation” afterward. In a family statement, relatives called the treatment “unnecessary, degrading, and deeply traumatizing.”
Thao said the incident shook his belief that citizenship would protect his household from aggressive enforcement actions. “We came here for a purpose, right? To have a bright future. To have a safe place to live… If this is going to turn out to be America, what are we doing here? Why are we here?” he said.
The Department of Homeland Security said agents were searching for two convicted sex offenders with deportation orders. DHS also said a U.S. citizen at the address who “refused to be fingerprinted or facially identified” was detained because he matched the description of the people they were seeking.
“As with any law enforcement agency, it is standard protocol to hold all individuals in a house of an operation for safety of the public and law enforcement,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told Reuters.
DHS-issued wanted posters reportedly name two Laotian men described as “criminal illegal alien[s]” who remain at large. Relatives told Reuters that one of the men previously lived at the home but moved out and is the ex-husband of a Thao family member.
The raid comes amid what the article describes as “Operation Metro Surge,” a major enforcement push that has sent roughly 3,000 ICE and Border Patrol agents into Minnesota. Officials have billed it as the largest immigration operation in U.S. history.
The operation has drawn heightened scrutiny following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good during an immigration operation in Minneapolis, according to the article. Good was shot in her car on Jan. 7 as she attempted to drive away from a protest. The Trump administration has claimed she tried to run over agents, while multiple local officials have said video of the encounter contradicts that account.
The article says the shooting and shifting official explanations have fueled calls in Congress to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, 54.
After weeks of clashes between officers and demonstrators, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez issued an injunction Friday limiting certain federal actions toward protesters and observers. Menendez wrote that conduct such as “the drawing and pointing of weapons; the use of pepper spray and other non-lethal munitions; actual and threatened arrest and detainment of protesters and observers; and other intimidation tactics” could “chill” citizens from exercising constitutional rights.
Her order bars agents from arresting peaceful protesters, using pepper spray or “crowd dispersal tools” in retaliation for speech, or stopping cars without reasonable suspicion that occupants are forcibly interfering with operations. The Trump administration has appealed.
The Daily Beast said it contacted DHS for comment and to give the agency an opportunity to apologize to Thao, but did not receive an immediate response.
