MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (Minnesota Reformer) – The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota and three Minnesota-based law firms sued federal immigration authorities Wednesday, alleging that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and their leaders are routinely violating the constitutional rights of the people protesting their actions.
The six named plaintiffs were all observing ICE in recent weeks as the agency ramped up raids in Minnesota, especially in the state’s large Somali community, as part of a targeted operation ordered by the Trump administration.
Susan Tincher, one of the named plaintiffs, pulled up to the scene of a reported ICE raid in north Minneapolis on Dec. 9 and exited her car. According to the lawsuit, she stood on the sidewalk six feet away from the nearest officer and asked the agents on the scene if they were ICE. The officers moved towards her, ordered her to “get back,” then pulled her to the ground. Officers handcuffed Tincher while she was face-down in the snow, according to video of the event reviewed by the Reformer.
“I was genuinely afraid I was being kidnapped,” Tincher said at a press conference Wednesday.
The agents took Tincher to the Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling; shackled her legs; cut off her wedding ring, bra and boot laces; and held her in a cell for five hours before releasing her.
The lawsuit argues that arresting or retaliating against people who are protesting ICE violates the First Amendment; that detaining protesters violates the Fourth Amendment, which protects Americans from arrest without probable cause; and that immigration officials unlawfully conspired to violate protesters’ and observers’ rights.
Alicia Granse, staff attorney with the ACLU, said the legal team plans to request a temporary restraining order, which would require ICE to discontinue unlawful practices immediately.
The other five named plaintiffs are:
- Linden Hills residents John Biestman and Janet Lee, a married couple in their late 60s who followed an ICE vehicle after a Dec. 7 raid at Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary in Richfield. According to the complaint, ICE agents boxed in the couple’s car, pointed guns at them and threatened to arrest them.
- 31-year-old Minneapolis resident Lucia Webb, who followed two ICE vehicles to the park-and-ride outside the Whipple Building on Dec. 3. Officers boxed her in, surrounded the car and threatened to arrest her, according to the lawsuit.
- 35-year-old Minneapolis resident Alan Crenshaw, who on Dec. 9 observed and filmed ICE arresting a U.S. citizen. According to the lawsuit, as officers were leaving, one agent leaned out of a car window to pepper spray Crenshaw.
- 43-year-old Fridley resident Abdikadir Abdi Noor, a Somali-American citizen who was pulled over and later arrested by ICE outside of Karmel Mall in Minneapolis on Dec. 15.
The complaint provides a thorough accounting of ICE’s retaliatory actions against observers and protesters, including some details that have not been previously reported.
Agents appear to be using law enforcement databases to scan license plates and retrieve observers’ home addresses, the lawsuit alleges. In at least one case, as an observer followed an ICE vehicle, the officer drove directly to her home.
“This threat and intimidation tactic is straight out of organized crime and has an obvious chilling effect on observers’ and protesters’ exercise of their First Amendment rights,” the lawsuit states.
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