MINNEAPOLIS — Reports from Minnesota’s law enforcement suggest that ICE agents have been engaging in racial profiling, stopping numerous U.S. citizens because of their skin color.

During a press briefing in Minneapolis, several law enforcement officials spoke about the ongoing federal ICE operations affecting the city and the state.

Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley expressed his growing concern over increasing reports from citizens who claim that ICE agents are racially profiling individuals, demanding proof of legal status without just cause—even affecting off-duty police officers.

“We’re hearing accounts of people being stopped during traffic checks or on the streets without legitimate reasons, forced to show documentation of their legal status,” Bruley stated at the conference. “These complaints have come from our own officers who were targeted while off duty. Every affected individual has been a person of color.”

One of the officers was stopped by ICE agents while she was driving, Burley said at the press conference. The agents demanded her paperwork even though she is a U.S. citizen and even had their guns drawn on her.

“When she became concerned about the rhetoric and the way she was being treated, she pulled out her phone in an attempt to record the incident, the phone was knocked out of her hands, preventing her from recording it,” Bruley said. “The [agents] had their guns drawn during the incident and the officer became so concerned she was forced to identify herself as a Brooklyn Park police officer in hopes of slowing and de-escalating the incident.” 

Once the officer identified herself as off-duty law enforcement, Burley said the agents left the scene without further questions of comments.

Bruley also said it has been extremely difficult for him to communicate with ICE leadership about concerns. He said ICE leadership has told him to file complaints online with the names of the involved federal officers, but since ICE agents cover their faces and do not have name tags, it is impossible to know who is responsible. 

Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt said she has seen multiple recent incidents of ICE agents using racial profiling to stop U.S. citizens. 

“I am seeing and hearing about people in Hennepin County stopped, questioned and harassed solely because of the color of their skin,” Witt said. “We cannot let people in our communities think that our local law enforcement leadership is okay with actions that are not only wrong, but illegal.” 

Witt said Minnesota law enforcement has been putting in work for years to reestablish trust with neighbors after Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd in 2020. 

“Today that trust is being damaged, broken by the actions of some federal agents, particularly in these last recent weeks,” Witt said. Witt clarified that she was not blaming all federal agents for these instances of racial profiling.