ROCHESTER, Minn. – Trump deportation agents jumped an unmarked van, snatched a Somali man from the street, and hauled him away. A bystander posted video of the arrest online with an eyewitness account. The witness said the incident was over, the agents gone, in less than two minutes. This was on 14th Street Southeast near the Meadow Park apartments.
Rochester police confirmed they were alerted by a 911 call to a possible kidnapping as the event unfolded. It was all over when police arrived. Police later confirmed the incident was an operation by the U.S. Immigration Control and Enforcement agency. Whether ICE had alerted local police to its presence in Rochester was unclear. ICE sometimes makes an inter-agency courtesy all when it’s in an area. , sometimes not. Also unknown was whether the ICE unit made other arrests in Rochester. The arrest apparently was part of the agency’s Operation Metro Surge, in which has focused on Minnesota Somalis in recent days in Minneapolis. The operation is part of President Trump’s program to rid Minnesota of its Somali population. Estimates are that 70,000 to 120,000. Somalis live in the state.
Eyewitness account
The woman who taped he arrest cellphone asked to be identified only as “Suban,” She included a description of what she saw in her TikTok post. Later in a telephone interview with KTTC, she expanded on her account. Excerpts from TikTok post and KTC:
> “The minute he saw me recording and crying, he was comforting me, and he said it in Somali, ‘I’m cool. It’s okay.’ He repeated that multiple times and it really broke my heart. It was him who needed comforting in that situation.”
> “I wasn’t sure if they were agents or if they were kidnappers. I wouldn’t have not known in that situation. I told my younger sister to honk my vehicle so that at least people can come out and see the situation.”
> “He goes to our local mosque. He is very hardworking, and he’s very active in our community. Other than that, I have never heard of him or any crimes that he might have committed Suban explained the agents did not state their reason for the arrest at the time. She said she made her sister call 911.”
Blow-by-blow
The video shows three agents in a dark van with heavily tinted windows. They were bundled for the cold. Two wore wool-knit caps. All had dark glasses. They had no uniforms or badges or other conventional identification of legitimate law officers. They showed no arrest warrant or other documents to justify yanking someone off the street. The Somali man was cuffed without resistance. One agent recorded the arrest. Unknown was where the Somalian was taken. ICE has contracts with a few county jails in the state to hold detainees. Detainees in some cases are sent to large federal camps for deportation with no notification to families, employers o anyone else.
Ambush arrest. On a brght but cold Sunday rnorning on a residential street.
Neighborhood profile. The arrest was outside Meadow Park Apartments complex in southeast Rochester at 412 14th Street. Apartments range from one-bedroom units at $995 a month to three-bedroom units at $1,250. The complex has a record of management and maintenance compliance issues. It was purchased in April by an investment group led Nick and Elaine Stageberg. The new owners have hied construction and clean-up crews and property managers to address problems