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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is facing a lawsuit that alleges its agents have violated the rights of Minnesotans who’ve been observing recent immigration operations in the state.
The ACLU of Minnesota and several law firms filed the suit Wednesday on behalf of six Minnesotans who say they’ve been detained or threatened by federal agents while lawfully observing ICE operations.
“This lawsuit aims to vindicate the rights of the Minnesotans who have been victimized by their own government simply for exercising their First Amendment rights, to end the false sense of impunity that fuels the worst of defendants’ misconduct, and to ensure that Minnesotans can assemble, observe, document and criticize the government safely and without the fear of retaliation,” Alicia Granse, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Minnesota, said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs include Susan Tincher of Minneapolis. As MPR News reported last week, she was detained when she confronted ICE agents who were making early-morning arrests of several of her neighbors.
Tincher said she was brought to the ground and held for several hours. She said she “was genuinely afraid I was being kidnapped.”
“I’m standing here today not because I want attention, but because what happened was wrong, and because silence would make me complicit,” Tincher said Wednesday. “I did not obstruct. I did not disobey. I did not provoke violence. I was on a public street, and what followed was sudden, brutal and terrifying.”
Among the other plaintiffs, one is a Somali American — a U.S. citizen — who said he was detained while observing an ICE arrest. Two of the plaintiffs said ICE agents pointed guns at them. All of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit said they weren’t breaking the law while observing ICE activity.
The ACLU said the actions of federal agents are violating people’s rights to free speech and assembly. The plaintiffs are asking the court to find that federal agents have been illegally retaliating against protesters, and to bar them from continuing those actions in the future.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.
The agency has previously said that its agents have been pelted with projectiles while conducting operations in the Twin Cities — including a Monday incident in Minneapolis. In that confrontation, an agency spokesperson said ICE agents “were swarmed and attacked by rioters, who punched, kicked, and threw rocks at officers” as they tried to detain a woman who allegedly vandalized a government vehicle. The agency said officers suffered injuries, including cuts.
The ICE spokesperson said there has been a spike in reported assaults against federal agents, and said politicians and residents need to stop calling for resistance against ICE.
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