Twin Cities Suburbs

ACLU of Minnesota sues ICE over alleged mistreatment of observers

Six residents say they were threatened, pepper sprayed and unlawfully detained for observing immigration enforcement actions.

By Christopher Magan

The Minnesota Star Tribune

December 17, 2025 at 10:14PM

ACLU of Minnesota Legal Director Teresa Nelson, left, Staff Attorney Alicia Granse, Minneapolis resident Susan Tincher and ACLU Minneapolis Executive Director Deepinder Singh Mayell during a news conference on Wednesday. (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Susan Tincher says she was standing on a north Minneapolis sidewalk for about 15 seconds and asked one question before masked immigration agents tackled her into a snowbank and arrested her the morning of Dec. 9.

“There was no warning, no explanation, no chance to comply. I was generally afraid I was being kidnapped,” Tincher said during a Wednesday news conference with staff from the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota. “I asked a single question, ‘Are you ICE?’”

Tincher was taken to the federal Whipple Building at Fort Snelling where parts of her clothes and her wedding ring were cut off. She was held in a cell in shackles for several hours before she was released without being charged.

The ACLU of Minnesota filed a lawsuit Dec. 17 on behalf of Tincher and five other Twin Cities residents, who claim federal authorities violated their constitutional rights while they were observing Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions.

The organization’s attorneys also said they will seek a temporary restraining order to end what they called unlawful tactics used to deter protesters and observers. A federal judge in Chicago ordered ICE to limit how force is used against protesters, but an appeals court overturned the decision.

ICE and Department of Homeland Security officials did not respond to messages seeking comment on the lawsuit.

Since Dec. 1, the Twin Cities metro and parts of Greater Minnesota have been the focus of increased ICE enforcement actions called “Operation Metro Surge.” ICE officials claim they’ve detained 400 immigrants in the country illegally, but those numbers are hard to verify because the agency doesn’t release complete details of who they’ve arrested.

When ICE tries to make an arrest, they are often met by a crowd of chanting protesters and observers recording their actions. Federal agents have sprayed them with chemical irritants, shot them with rubber bullets and made other threats, according to the ACLU’s complaint.

Since President Donald Trump returned to office and escalated immigration enforcement, some Minnesota protesters have been arrested and charged with assaulting, resisting or obstructing officers.

Among the other tactics alleged in the lawsuit:

Janet Lee and John Biestman of the Linden Hills neighborhood in Minneapolis had guns pointed at them and were threatened with arrest for following an ICE vehicle near their church.
Lucia Webb of Minneapolis’ Powderhorn neighborhood had federal agents box in her car near the Whipple Building and threaten her with arrest because she followed immigration agents in her car.
Alan Crenshaw, a University of Minnesota student, filmed the arrest of a U.S. citizen in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis. ICE agents who were leaving the scene stopped their vehicle to pepper spray people standing on the side of the road.
Abdikadir Noor of Fridley, a Somali American who’s been a citizen for 20 years, had his vehicle stopped by ICE agents who detained him and disparaged his national origin.

Deepinder Singh Mayell, executive director of the local ACLU chapter, said residents have the right to peacefully observe and record immigration and other federal law enforcement actions.

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“It doesn’t matter what uniform you wear. It doesn’t matter if you are hiding behind a mask. It doesn’t matter how unhinged or discriminatory the president’s rhetoric is,” Mayell said. “You are bound by the U.S. Constitution.”

about the writer

Christopher Magan

Reporter

Christopher Magan covers Hennepin County.

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