“Cruelty and humiliation were probably the point,” said one witness.
Federal immigration officers confront protesters outside Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 15, 2026.
(Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Brad Reed
Jan 16, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
Several Democratic lawmakers on Friday convened a hearing in Minnesota to hear testimony from local officials and residents about the impact that the surge of federal immigration agents in the state has had on their lives.
The hearing, which was organized by Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), featured elected leaders such as Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, as well as testimony from US citizens who had been taken into custody by federal agents.
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Patty O’Keefe, a 36-year-old US citizen, told lawmakers that her encounter with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents began when she and a friend had received a report that legal observers in her neighborhood were being pepper sprayed.
She said they found the agents and began following them in their car while honking their horn and blowing whistles to alert others in the area to their presence.
The ICE agents subsequently stopped their vehicle, surrounded the car, discharged pepper spray into it, then smashed the car’s windows and dragged out both O’Keefe and her friend.
O’Keefe said that after being detained by agents, they started taunting her, with one agent telling her, “You guys got to stop obstructing us, that’s why this lesbian bitch is dead,” an apparent reference to Minneapolis resident Renee Good, who was killed by an ICE agent last week.
O’Keefe said this comment left her feeling “rage and sadness,” while also asking why anyone would say something like that about the victim of a horrific killing.
“Then I remembered that cruelty and humiliation were probably the point,” she said.
O’Keefe was then taken to the BH Whipple Federal Building in St. Paul, where she was put into leg shackles and placed in a detention area that had been reserved for US citizens.
While in detention for eight hours at the building, she said she saw people being subjected to inhumane conditions.
“I saw holding cells with over a dozen people each, and a large holding cell of between 40 to 50 people,” she said. “Most of the people there were Hispanic and East African, both women and men. Some cells had no room for people to sit or lay down. Most people I saw were staring straight ahead, not talking, despondent and grief stricken. I know I’ll never forget their faces.”
Mubashir, a 20-year-old US citizen of Somali descent, recounted his detention by federal immigration agents in December, when officers tackled him and took him into custody even though he offered to show them his identification proving his citizenship.
“I repeated, ‘I’m a citizen, I have an ID,’ the agent kept saying, ‘That don’t matter,’” Mubashir explained.
Like O’Keefe, Mubashir was taken to the St. Paul ICE detention facility, where he was shackled. Unlike O’Keefe, however, he was told that he was going to be deported despite having proof of his legal status.
Eventually, Mubashir was able to show a photo of his passport card to an official at the facility who instructed officers to release him from custody.
“It is difficult to believe this happened to me,” he said. “I knew the president had made statements about Somali people and there would be additional ICE officers in the Twin Cities... But I did not think this would happen to me or someone in my family. We are all United States citizens, so we should not be at risk of being jailed or deported by ICE.”
Mubashir also emphasized that “my citizenship did not protect me from being physically detained and hurt by ICE agents.”
'This is nuts!' Furious Minneapolis resident unleashes profanity-laden rant against feds
Freelance photojournalist Zach D. Roberts (Photo: Screen capture)
Sarah K. Burris
Freelance photojournalist Zach D. Roberts (Photo: Screen capture)
Sarah K. Burris
January 15, 2026
ALTERNET
Freelance photojournalist Zach D. Roberts told "Status Coup News" that ICE is doing nothing more than trying to scare people.
"This is nuts! This is f—— yeah. You're right in the middle of this s——," said Roberts in a video that has been posted to X. "What the f—— is going on? This is insane."
"I've never protested in my life," Roberts continued. "My brother. My brother is here. He does it all the time. I got — dude — like I said, I'm far enough away but just close enough. And I sit in my cushy house and look at s—— and get mad. They're just trying to f—— scare people. But why shoot people?"
"You know what really p—— me off?" the photographer asked. "The fact that they detain people, cuff them, and then still beat the s—— out of them! They tell you it's immigrants. Only immigrants. It's f—— every body.
He noted that friends of his were detained and that they were simply driving home from work.
Freelance photojournalist Zach D. Roberts told "Status Coup News" that ICE is doing nothing more than trying to scare people.
"This is nuts! This is f—— yeah. You're right in the middle of this s——," said Roberts in a video that has been posted to X. "What the f—— is going on? This is insane."
"I've never protested in my life," Roberts continued. "My brother. My brother is here. He does it all the time. I got — dude — like I said, I'm far enough away but just close enough. And I sit in my cushy house and look at s—— and get mad. They're just trying to f—— scare people. But why shoot people?"
"You know what really p—— me off?" the photographer asked. "The fact that they detain people, cuff them, and then still beat the s—— out of them! They tell you it's immigrants. Only immigrants. It's f—— every body.
He noted that friends of his were detained and that they were simply driving home from work.
"What the f——?" Roberts questioned.
Status Coup News noted that they've been on the ground "for months" following the ICE agents as they've traveled to Los Angeles, New York City, Florida, Chicago, Charlotte and now Minneapolis.
Status Coup News noted that they've been on the ground "for months" following the ICE agents as they've traveled to Los Angeles, New York City, Florida, Chicago, Charlotte and now Minneapolis.
'Unconstitutional': Legal expert aghast after Noem says feds 'asking for papers' is lawful
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks to the media outside the White House in Washington, DC. U.S., January 15, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks to the media outside the White House in Washington, DC. U.S., January 15, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
January 15, 2026
ALTERNET
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday refused to say whether Americans should carry their own citizenship papers to protect themselves from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), instead claiming the federal agents — even those "asking for papers" — are following the law.
A reporter at the White House asked Noem if she is "okay with federal agents and officers violating people's Fourth Amendment rights by asking for papers without reasonable suspicion?"
Noem replied: "Every single action that our ICE officers take is according to the law and following protocols that we have used for years that this administration has used, that the previous administration used. They are doing everything correctly and over and over again in litigation in the courts. We've proven that they've done the right thing."
Noem was further asked if it was within ICE's right to demand it without reasonable suspicion, and, if so, why. Noem ignored the question.
Speaking on CNN, former prosecutor Elie Honig called the practice "unconstitutional" and "illegal."
"Well, Pam, that's wrong," Honig told CNN's co-host Pamela Brown. "It's illegal and it's unconstitutional to require people to show their citizenship papers without some other basis to make a stop. So, let me be clear: In order to stop somebody, detain them, question them for immigration purposes, an officer has to have reasonable suspicion."
Honig noted it's a fairly low bar for officers to meet.
"It's lower than the bar that a law enforcement agent would need to make a stop or questioning for criminal purposes, but it's still a bar," he explained. It's not nothing. In fact, just a few months ago, in September of 2025, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a concurring opinion in a Supreme Court case when he reiterated that U.S. immigration agents do have to have reasonable suspicion to stop somebody to detain them, even briefly, and to question them."
"So, what you cannot do is just go arbitrarily up to people or set up a checkpoint or go door to door," Honig explained.
Wolf Blitzer called it a "pretty huge demand of the American people" that they start carrying their birth certificates or passports.
Trump is also threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act in the U.S., which would allow the president to deploy the military and federalize all state guards to go after Americans.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday refused to say whether Americans should carry their own citizenship papers to protect themselves from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), instead claiming the federal agents — even those "asking for papers" — are following the law.
A reporter at the White House asked Noem if she is "okay with federal agents and officers violating people's Fourth Amendment rights by asking for papers without reasonable suspicion?"
Noem replied: "Every single action that our ICE officers take is according to the law and following protocols that we have used for years that this administration has used, that the previous administration used. They are doing everything correctly and over and over again in litigation in the courts. We've proven that they've done the right thing."
Noem was further asked if it was within ICE's right to demand it without reasonable suspicion, and, if so, why. Noem ignored the question.
Speaking on CNN, former prosecutor Elie Honig called the practice "unconstitutional" and "illegal."
"Well, Pam, that's wrong," Honig told CNN's co-host Pamela Brown. "It's illegal and it's unconstitutional to require people to show their citizenship papers without some other basis to make a stop. So, let me be clear: In order to stop somebody, detain them, question them for immigration purposes, an officer has to have reasonable suspicion."
Honig noted it's a fairly low bar for officers to meet.
"It's lower than the bar that a law enforcement agent would need to make a stop or questioning for criminal purposes, but it's still a bar," he explained. It's not nothing. In fact, just a few months ago, in September of 2025, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a concurring opinion in a Supreme Court case when he reiterated that U.S. immigration agents do have to have reasonable suspicion to stop somebody to detain them, even briefly, and to question them."
"So, what you cannot do is just go arbitrarily up to people or set up a checkpoint or go door to door," Honig explained.
Wolf Blitzer called it a "pretty huge demand of the American people" that they start carrying their birth certificates or passports.
Trump is also threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act in the U.S., which would allow the president to deploy the military and federalize all state guards to go after Americans.
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