Minnesota citizens detained by ICE are left rattled, even weeks later
By Meg Anderson
Sunday, February 1, 2026 • 5:00 AM EST
Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday
It's a video many saw on social media soon after it happened: Officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, dragging a woman out of her car and forcing her to the ground.
The woman in the video is Aliya Rahman, a Bangladeshi American and a U.S. citizen. The day she was arrested, Rahman was on her way to the doctor when she came across an ICE operation and a group of people protesting. She said the ICE officers told her to move her car, but the scene was chaotic and she received multiple instructions at once.
The Department of Homeland Security said in an earlier statement they arrested Rahman because she "ignored multiple commands." But Rahman, who is autistic and also recovering from a traumatic brain injury, says it sometimes takes her a moment to understand auditory commands. Before she knew it, the officers were carrying her away by her limbs.
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"I thought I might well die," Rahman said. She was placed in an SUV with three ICE officers.
"I heard the laughing driver radio in, 'we're bringing in a body,'" she recalled. It took her a second to realize they meant her.
In recent days, federal officials have signaled a willingness to reduce the large number of immigration agents in Minnesota, though they say any decrease will depend on state and local cooperation. Even if a drawdown occurs, they'll leave behind a changed community, including many citizens questioned and detained by immigration officers in recent weeks.
Rahman was taken to the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, where immigration agents have brought detainees before releasing them or sending them out of state. While at Whipple, Rahman experienced a severe headache and asked for medical care for more than an hour. Eventually, she passed out. She says she woke up in a downtown hospital, where doctors told her she had suffered a concussion.
Her arrest was more than two weeks ago, but she can't shake the fear.
"I do not feel safe being in my own home, driving these streets," she said. "And even then, I am in a significantly better place than a lot of the other folks who have been detained."
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Rahman is far from the only U.S. citizen in Minnesota with such a story.
ChongLy Scott Thao, a Hmong man and U.S. citizen, was pulled from his home wearing only sandals, underwear and a blanket around his shoulders. Thao said the immigration agents drove him "to the middle of nowhere" and photographed him. He told reporters he feared they would beat him. They later brought him back to his house.
Mubashir Khalif Hussen, a Somali American and U.S. citizen, also was detained by ICE.
"I wasn't even outside for mere seconds before I seen a masked person running at me full speed," Hussen said at a news conference last month. "He tackled me. I told him, 'I'm a U.S. citizen.' He didn't seem to care. He dragged me outside to the snow while I was handcuffed, restrained, helpless and he pushed me to the ground."
Hussen is now suing the Trump administration as part of a class action lawsuit, accusing it of racial profiling. According to the lawsuit, ICE eventually released Hussen outside the Whipple building, telling him to walk the 7 miles back to where they detained him.
In a statement to NPR, the Department of Homeland Security said "allegations that ICE engages in 'racial profiling' are disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE."
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But Walter Olson, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, says many legal experts are coming to a different conclusion.
"This is no longer just a series of accidents that could have been due to someone being badly trained or being a bad apple. This is a systematic assault on constitutional rights," he said.
The Fourth Amendment protects people from being stopped without reasonable suspicion and arresting without probable cause, a higher standard. Courts in the U.S. have decided skin color alone does not meet either bar.
Last fall, however, the Supreme Court ruled that "apparent ethnicity" could be used to determine reasonable suspicion, as long as there were other factors too. Legal experts say the decision may give ICE more discretion.
Olson says even if the Minnesota immigration crackdown eases, these same concerns could arise elsewhere. He noted that judges ruled against the federal government during its crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland.
"And they were not led to call off or rethink the campaign. They just regrouped and came back to another state," Olson said.
Even citizens who were not arrested but still questioned are rattled after run-ins with immigration officers. Luis Escoto, the owner of El Taquito Taco Shop in West St. Paul, said immigration agents surrounded his wife Irma's car in their restaurant's alley when she went out to get more lettuce before the dinner hour. Escoto ran outside.
"I said, 'Hey, hold on. That's just my wife,'" Escoto said. "They said, 'We need proof of U.S. citizenship,' and I said, 'She's a U.S. citizen.'"
Luis and Irma Escoto are both citizens. Escoto showed one of the officers their passport cards, which he still had in his wallet after a recent trip to Mexico.
"He said, 'Well, next time she should carry that all the time, because if she doesn't have proof of citizenship we're going to arrest her,'" Escoto recalled.
The immigration agents left. But weeks later, Escoto is still shaken and angry. Some of his customers are now escorting him and his wife home each night when the restaurant closes.
When he became a citizen 35 years ago, Escoto said he was nervous because the government took away his green card. He asked the judge about it.
"I said, 'Sir, what happens if the immigration officers stop me?' And he said, 'Well, today you're proud to be a United States citizen,'" Escoto said.
The judge told him you don't need documentation when you're a citizen. But now, Escoto said, that doesn't seem so true anymore.
Transcript
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
White House border czar Tom Homan is now overseeing operations in Minnesota. On Thursday, he said the number of federal immigration agents would be reduced if there was cooperation from state and local officials there. U.S. citizens who've been questioned and detained by those agents say they still feel unsafe in their neighborhoods, as NPR's Meg Anderson reports.
MEG ANDERSON, BYLINE: It's a video many people saw on social media soon after it happened.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ALIYA RAHMAN: I'm autistic and I have a brain injury. Put me down.
ANDERSON: Officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, dragging a woman out of her car and forcing her to the ground.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ICE AGENT: [inaudible] .
ANDERSON: She tells them she's autistic and disabled, that it takes her a moment to understand commands.
RAHMAN: I thought I might well die.
ANDERSON: Aliya Rahman is the woman in that video. She's a Bangladeshi American and a U.S. citizen. The day she was arrested, she was on her way to the doctor when she came across an ICE operation and a bunch of protesters. Agents carried her away by her limbs and put her in their SUV.
RAHMAN: And then I heard the laughing driver radio in, we're bringing in a body.
ANDERSON: It took her a second to realize they meant her. In an earlier statement, DHS said they arrested Rahman because she, quote, "ignored multiple commands by an officer to move her vehicle." She was taken to the federal Whipple building in Minneapolis. She had a severe headache and kept asking for a doctor. Eventually, she passed out. She woke up in a downtown hospital. Doctors there told her she had suffered a concussion. Her arrest was more than two weeks ago, but it doesn't feel like that to her.
RAHMAN: I do not feel safe being in my own home, driving these streets. And even then, I am in a significantly better place than a lot of the other folks who have been detained or, frankly, who are just going about their day-to-day life.
ANDERSON: Rahman is far from the only U.S. citizen in Minnesota with a story like that.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MUBASHIR KHALIF HUSSEN: I was even outside for mere seconds before I seen a masked person running at me full speed.
ANDERSON: That's Mubashir Khalif Hussen speaking at a recent press conference. He's a Somali American and another U.S. citizen. He was also detained by ICE.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HUSSEN: He tackled me. I told him I'm a U.S. citizen. He didn't seem to care. He dragged me outside through the snow while I was handcuffed, restrained, helpless and he pushed me to the ground.
ANDERSON: Hussen is suing the administration as part of a class action lawsuit accusing it of racial profiling. In a statement to NPR, the Department of Homeland Security said, quote, "allegations that ICE engages in racial profiling are disgusting, reckless and categorically false." But Walter Olson with the CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank, says many legal experts are coming to a different conclusion.
WALTER OLSON: This is no longer just a series of accidents that could have been due to someone being badly trained or being a bad apple. This is a systematic assault on constitutional rights.
ANDERSON: He means the rights provided under the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from being stopped without reasonable suspicion. Courts in the U.S. have decided skin color alone does not meet that bar. Last fall, however, the Supreme Court ruled that, quote, "apparent ethnicity" could be used to determine reasonable suspicion, as long as there were other factors, too. Legal experts say that gives ICE more discretion. Olson says, even if the Minnesota crackdown eases, this could happen again.
OLSON: Judges ruled against them in Los Angeles, in Chicago, in Portland and they were not led to call off or rethink the campaign. They just regrouped and came back in another state.
ANDERSON: Even citizens who were not arrested but still questioned are rattled after run-ins with immigration officers.
LUIS ESCOTO: Hello, my dear.
ANDERSON: Hi. Luis?
ESCOTO: Luis.
ANDERSON: Luis Escoto owns El Taquito Taco Shop, a Mexican restaurant in a suburb just south of St. Paul.
ESCOTO: Oh, this is my office.
ANDERSON: The restaurant is colorful with murals of Aztec symbols painted on the walls. Two weeks ago, Escoto's wife, Irma, went out to get more lettuce before the dinner hour when she was surrounded by ICE vehicles in their restaurant's alley. Escoto ran outside.
ESCOTO: I said, hey, hey, hold on, that's just my wife. She's - (impersonating ICE agent) well, we need to see proper citizenship. I say she's a U.S. citizen.
ANDERSON: Luis and Irma Escoto are both U.S. citizens. He showed one of the officers their passport cards.
ESCOTO: He said, well, next time, she should have carried that all the time because if she doesn't prove her citizenship, we're going to arrest her.
ANDERSON: The immigration agents left. But weeks later, Escoto is still shaken and angry. Some of his customers are now escorting him and his wife home each night when the restaurant closes. Escoto says when he became a U.S. citizen 35 years ago, he was nervous because they took away his green card. He asked the judge about it.
ESCOTO: I said, sir, what happens if an immigration officer stabs me? And he said, well, today, you're proud to be a United States citizen.
ANDERSON: The judge said, you don't need documentation when you're a citizen. But now Escoto says that doesn't seem so true anymore.
Meg Anderson, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF LONE'S "JADED")