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(54,348 posts) Fri Mar 27, 2026, 05:39 PM 12 hrs ago

Minnesota Democrats report being followed, harassed by ICE agents during immigration surge

Federal agents ran Rep. Brad Tabke’s license plate information before leading him to his house in January and February.

https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-democrats-report-being-followed-harassed-by-ice-agents-during-immigration-surge/601587769

https://archive.li/2BB0s

Observers gather near a vehicle being used by federal immigration agents on Quebec Avenue in St. Louis Park on Tuesday, Feb. 10, in an attempt to direct the vehicle away. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

State Rep. Brad Tabke had been following what he believed to be immigration agents driving through his southwest suburban district in early January when the SUV suddenly pulled into his neighborhood. The third-term DFL lawmaker, who had been leading a training for Minnesotans on observing immigration officers during Operation Metro Surge, watched as the vehicle stopped in front of his Shakopee home for a few seconds before pulling away again. “They made a big show of pointing a camera way out their window so that I could see them taking pictures of my house,” he said.

Records reviewed by the Minnesota Star Tribune show that immigration enforcement agents ran Tabke’s license plate number about 30 minutes before video shows the SUV driving to his home on Jan. 3. The same thing happened again in February. After that initial encounter, Tabke said he saw what appeared to be federal immigration agents outside his home at least a half dozen times, sometimes with binoculars.

Tabke is one of several Democratic lawmakers who said they were targeted or harassed during the Trump administration’s monthslong immigration crackdown in the state. One DFL lawmaker told colleagues that federal agents hurled misogynistic epithets at her, even after she informed them she was an elected official. Another DFL legislator said an agent — with whom she had never interacted — greeted her by first name, while another said agents walked around her home taking photos. “It was all a way of threatening and being very menacing in a way that perhaps would inhibit us from advocating the way that we had been,” said Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton.

Federal agents’ behavior toward DFL lawmakers came as President Donald Trump continually attacked Minnesota Democrats and the state’s Somali community, promising “reckoning and retribution” at the height of the surge. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison argued in court that the motivation for the surge was not immigration policy but rather political animosity toward Democrats. Similar targeting of elected officials happened during the administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago last year, said Ed Yohnka, a spokesperson for the ACLU of Illinois.

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