Anti-ICE agitators pepper sprayed after blocking law enforcement from carrying out arrests in Minneapolis Somali neighborhood

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were seen deploying pepper spray against a crowd of agitators who blocked vehicles in a Somali neighborhood in Minneapolis on Tuesday. This comes amid the fallout of an enormous fraud scandal in the state. 

The Trump administration in recent days has been working to crack down on illegal immigration in the Somali community in Minnesota, citing the enormous fraud case that has been linked to a number of Somalis in the state. As federal agents checked identifications in the neighborhood, the crowd confronted the officers, resulting in the use of pepper spray. ICE said no arrests were made of individuals in the crowd but did not provide additional details.

City Council Member Jamal Osman, a Somali American, claimed that ICE agents were seen entering an East African restaurants in the neighborhood, closing the doors, and demanding people’s IDs. “Luckily everyone had their passport, because I’ve been telling them to have their passport with them,” Osman claimed, according to the AP.

Osman added that young people, whom he called “heroes,” blew whistles to warn of ICE agents who proceeded to go into a city-owned senior housing complex nearby. “Thank God so many people showed up there,” Osman said. “[The agents] couldn’t get out of there because people showed up with their cars and whistles.”

The Department of Homeland Security has announced at least half a dozen arrests of Somali nationals in Minnesota in the last few weeks. DHS’s website said it is “highlighting the worst of the worst criminal aliens” to detail how agents have been “fulfilling President Trump’s promise and carrying out mass deportations.”

“Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey protected these criminals at the expense of the safety of Americans,” ICE said in a statement on Friday. “President Trump and Secretary (Kristi) Noem have a clear message for criminal illegal aliens: LEAVE NOW. If you don’t, we will find you, arrest you, and deport you.”