Here’s the latest Tuesday around increased federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota and the killing of 37-year-old Renee Macklin Good in Minneapolis last week by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
6 p.m. | Minneapolis woman detained, then released while heading to the doctor
“I was just trying to get to the doctor!” shouted Aliya Rahman, who is a U.S.-born citizen, as four masked federal agents carried her, face-down, along Park Avenue toward a federal vehicle waiting nearby. It was shortly after 10 a.m., and moments earlier as I arrived at the scene, ICE and HSI agents dragged Rahman from her Ford Fusion after she appeared to drive around a cluster of ICE agents and observers that were in the street
The agents, one of whom had lost a sneaker, finally got her to an open vehicle and hoisted Rahman in, her face still contorted with cries for help. Meanwhile further up the street, a man, whose face was bloodied, was also loaded into an unmarked car and driven away.
As of 6 p.m. on Tuesday, a friend of Rahman’s confirmed to me that she had been released.
While the two people were being detained, dozens of observers and protesters screamed at the agents and the now-familiar shriek of whistles reverberated around the intersection. Ward 9 Council member Jason Chavez and State Rep. Aisha Gomez, DFL-Minneapolis, stood in the middle of the street, whistles dangling from both of their mouths.
I had rushed to the scene after photographing ICE agents on Portland Avenue, and photographed a team of officers exiting an apartment building and flashing a thumbs-up at someone who shouted “Go ICE!” as they drove past.
After the detentions, federal agents lingered in the street, some engaging in brief conversations as they appeared to plan their exit.
Without warning, flashbangs exploded amid a crowd of protesters in the street, and the ghostly specter of tear gas billowed into the air; protesters scattered as agents continued to shoot pepper balls at people's feet as they made a beeline back to their vehicles. One person used snow to wipe remnants of the gas from their face.
— Ben Hovland, MPR News
11:39 a.m. | Minnesota’s top federal fraud prosecutor resigns
Joe Thompson, the U.S. Justice Department attorney best known for prosecuting social services fraud in Minnesota, has resigned along with other experienced attorneys at the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office.
Thompson’s resignation comes after top Justice Department officials pushed the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office to investigate the widow of Renee Macklin Good, who was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross last week, MPR News has learned.
Thompson also objected to excluding state investigators from the Good shooting investigation.
Thompson had served as acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota and then first assistant U.S. attorney, taking on a higher profile the past few months as he announced charges against people allegedly stealing from federally funded programs in Minnesota.
— Matt Sepic, MPR News
10:53 a.m. | Privacy advocates: ICE using private data to intimidate observers
An MPR News story today looks into reports that federal agents have accessed private data to track and intimidate anti-ICE activists since the immigration crackdown surged in Minnesota in December. Privacy advocates say it’s a clear violation of state law.
License plate readers and personal data in people’s car registrations are only supposed to be accessed for an active criminal investigation, said John Boehler, a policy counsel with the ACLU of Minnesota. There have been reports across the country for years that federal agents have been accessing private data when it’s not necessary for an investigation.
Boehler said state law has pretty tight restrictions on how private data can be used. State and local governments contract with a company called Flock to store and access private citizen data. Flock insists that it does not have a contract with ICE and said the data is only shared with local government cooperation.
Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services said in a statement that they don’t provide ICE access to citizens’ private data.
— Jon Collins, MPR News
10:45 a.m. | Tribal leaders encourage citizens to carry tribal IDs during ICE surge
In response to incidents between Native people and ICE, tribal nations with citizens living in the Twin Cities are encouraging band members and eligible family members to carry tribal identification while ICE operations surge.
Several tribal nations will hold drop-in hours for citizens living in the Twin Cities to obtain or renew their tribal identification this week.
Last week, a Red Lake Nation descendant was detained by ICE for several hours, and the president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota put out a statement saying four unhoused tribal members living in Minneapolis have been detained by ICE.
— Chandra Colvin, MPR News
7:30 a.m. | U.S. to end Temporary Protected Status for Somalis
President Donald Trump’s administration is ending Temporary Protected Status for thousands of Somalis in the United States. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed earlier reporting from Fox News about the decision.
Trump in November said he was immediately terminating temporary deportation protections for Somalis living in Minnesota, accelerating the end of a program that began in 1991 under former Republican President George H.W. Bush.
Trump has previously called Minnesota a "hub of fraudulent money laundering activity" under Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, an apparent response to unverified media reports, shared by several Republican lawmakers, that the al-Shabab militant group in Somalia had benefited from fraud committed in Minnesota.
In the last few days, tens of thousands of people have marched through Minneapolis to protest the fatal shooting of a woman by an federal immigration agent.
Data from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, 2025 data showed 705 Somali-born individuals nationwide have TPS status.
