A county in the state of Minnesota, in the United States, is investigating the detention, captured on video, of a Hmong American man by federal agents as a possible case of kidnapping, robbery and illegal imprisonment, authorities announced this Monday.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Sheriff Bob Fletcher said at a press conference that will ask the Department of Homeland Security for information they need for their investigation about the arrest of ChongLy “Scott” Thao last January. Ramsey County includes the state capital, St. Paul. The Hmong belong to an ethnic group from the mountains of southern China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents broke down the front door of Thao’s St. Paul home by force and at gunpoint without an arrest warrant. and then they took him outside dressed only in underwear and a blanket, in extreme cold conditions.
“There are many facts we still don’t know, but one thing we do know is that Mr. Thao is and was an American citizen. There’s no doubt about that,” Fletcher said.
“There is no doubt that he was taken from his home, forcibly removed from his home and taken through town,” the sheriff said, asking, “Is this good law enforcement, taking an American citizen from his home and driving him around aimlessly, trying to determine what they can tell him?”
DHS, which oversees ICE, has so far refused to cooperate with other state and local investigations about the killings by federal agents of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Choi said they are trying to determine if any crimes were committed that could be prosecuted under state or federal law.
“This is not about any kind of predefined agenda, other than seeking the truth and investigating the facts,” the county attorney stressed.
Os agents eventually realized that Thao was a longtime U.S. citizen with no criminal recordThao said in an interview with the Associated Press in January. And then they returned him to his home after a few hours.
The Department of Homeland Security later said ICE agents they were looking for two men accused and convicted of sexual abuse.
But Thao told the Associated Press (AP) news agency that he had never seen the two men before and they did not live with him.
Videos captured the scene, which included people whistling and honking horns, and neighbors shouting at more than a dozen armed officers to leave Thao’s family alone.
The state and the chief prosecutor of Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, sued the Trump administration last month to gain access to evidence which they say are needed to independently investigate three shootings by federal agents in Minneapolis, including the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
O lawsuit accuses the federal government of breaking its promise to cooperate with state investigations following the arrival of approximately 3,000 federal law enforcement agents in Minnesota.
Minnesota and Hennepin County also called on the public to share information about potentially illegal activities by federal agents, given the refusal of federal authorities to provide evidence.
A Trump administration has suggested that Minnesota officials do not have jurisdiction to investigate these cases. State and district attorneys say they need to conduct their own investigations because they don’t trust the federal government.
The Justice Department said in January that it was opening a federal civil rights investigation into Pretti’s killing, and two police officers were placed on leave, but the agency said a similar federal investigation was not warranted into Good’s death.
