By SARAH RAZA
Two Minneapolis residents who’ve been monitoring immigration officers’ actions in the course of the Trump administration’s newest crackdown say they have been detained with out cost for a number of hours in distressing circumstances, denied telephone calls, and pressured to rat out protest organizers and other people residing within the nation illegally.
The accusations leveled by Brandon Sigüenza and Patty O’Keefe recommend that the Division of Homeland Safety is using comparable techniques in Minneapolis and St. Paul because it did in the course of the crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago and New Orleans. Federal officers are once more utilizing roving patrols, warrantless arrests and aggressive techniques akin to spraying chemical irritants, breaking automotive home windows and recording protesters, together with Renee Good and her car within the moments earlier than an ICE officer fatally shot her.
Based on organizers and an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit, immigration officers have additionally been surveilling activists who’ve been observing their actions within the Twin Cities, violating their First Modification rights. And Sigüenza, who like his pal O’Keefe is a U.S. citizen, stated an immigration officer who questioned him Sunday even provided him cash or authorized safety if he gave up the names of organizers or neighbors who’re within the nation illegally.
“At one point, the officer said in vague terms that it looks like I’m in trouble, and he could possibly help me out,” Sigüenza stated, noting he refused the supply.
DHS, which oversees Immigration and Customs and Enforcement and the Border Patrol, didn’t instantly reply to a Tuesday request for remark.
Aggressive techniques and an arrest
Sigüenza and O’Keefe, who’re amongst an unknown variety of Twin Cities residents observing the immigration officers in motion, have been detained Sunday whereas following ICE officers who have been driving round and making arrests. The officers stopped in entrance of O’Keefe’s automotive, fired pepper spray by means of her windshield vent and smashed her automotive’s home windows despite the fact that the doorways have been unlocked, the 2 instructed The Related Press.
The automotive of Patty O’Keefe, a U.S. residents who was arrested whereas following federal brokers’ automobiles and briefly held at a federal facility in Minneapolis, reveals glass on the bottom after her entrance driver’s aspect window was smashed in, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Picture/Jen Golbeck)
Based on O’Keefe, the brokers mocked her appears to be like and laughed at her. She stated additionally they introduced up the killing of Good, a 37-year-old mom of three who was shot within the head final week by an ICE officer in entrance of her spouse.
O’Keefe stated the officer who sprayed their automotive Sunday threatened them, saying that “obstructing” their work was how Good obtained killed.
“It was very clear that they were trying to just humiliate me, break me down,” O’Keefe stated.
Money and authorized assist for info
Sigüenza and O’Keefe stated they have been arrested and brought in separate unmarked SUVs to the extremely restricted federal facility on the sting of Minneapolis that’s serving because the crackdown’s primary hub. They have been put in adjoining cells reserved for U.S. residents, one for males and the opposite for girls. Every cell was additionally getting used for different detainees and was no bigger than 10 ft by 10 ft (about 9 sq. meters), with a concrete bench, flat-screen TV, two-way mirror and surveillance digital camera.
On their technique to the cells, they noticed different detainees who have been screaming and wailing for assist, although most have been dejectedly staring on the floor, they stated. In a single occasion, they noticed a girl who was attempting to make use of a bathroom whereas three male brokers watched. The overwhelming majority of detainees have been Hispanic males, although some have been East African — Minnesota is residence to the nation’s largest Somali group.
“Just hearing the visceral pain of the people in this center was awful,” O’Keefe stated. “And then you juxtapose that with the laughter we heard from the actual agents. … It was very surreal and kind of shocking.”
Sigüenza stated one in all his cellmates had a lower on his head and the opposite had an injured toe, however neither was provided medical assist. Their requests for water or to go to the lavatory outdoors their cells have been additionally ignored, he stated.
O’Keefe and Sigüenza have been in a position to communicate with legal professionals, however solely Sigüenza allowed to make a telephone name — he known as his spouse.
Sigüenza, who’s Hispanic, stated DHS investigators took him to a different room and provided him cash or authorized safety for any relations who is perhaps within the nation illegally in alternate for giving up the names of protest organizers or neighbors who don’t have authorized immigration standing. However he stated he refused the supply, noting that he doesn’t have any relations with out authorized standing.
Sigüenza and O’Keefe, who’ve shared their story extensively on social media, have been let go by night with out expenses.
As soon as they left the ability, they have been once more hit with chemical brokers officers have been utilizing on protesters within the space.
“We were not charged with a crime,” stated Sigüenza. “We were released and then tear-gassed on our way out.”
Considerations about detention circumstances elsewhere
The circumstances at immigration detention amenities across the nation have been the topic of complaints, together with a lawsuit over the one which served because the Chicago-area’s operational hub that resulted in a decide’s oversight go to and an order to enhance circumstances.
DHS has defended the circumstances in its amenities, saying detainees are fed and their medical issues are addressed. They usually’ve trumpeted the success of the immigration crackdowns, saying they’ve led to the arrests of 1000’s of people who find themselves within the nation illegally.
O’Keefe and Sigüenza consider their detention was meant to intimidate them and others critics of the immigration crackdown.
U.S. residents’ and noncitizens’ rights differ barely in immigration detention than in felony detention, in response to Lynn Damiano Pearson, an immigration legal professional with the Nationwide Immigration Legislation Middle. However detainees retain fundamental rights in each conditions, together with entry to counsel and a telephone, meals and water, and privateness from the other gender when utilizing the restroom.
Related Press reporter Sophia Tareen contributed to this report.
