Neighbors, advocates concerned following St. Paul ICE arrests
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Just after 8 a.m. Thursday Seán McArdle went for his usual walk with his dogs in St. Paul’s North End neighborhood.
Along the way, McArdle, 53, said he noticed “two cars sitting there with tinted windows, with engines idling, and I thought it was weird, but I kept walking.”
When he got back to his house, his alley was blocked by a transit van and four to eight men in “law enforcement uniforms,” he said. There were also six to eight unmarked SUVs in the area. McArdle asked the men what was happening.
“They said something like they were performing an arrest. And I said, 'Who are you with?' They said, 'police, we're the police.' And I said, 'Are you the St. Paul Police Department?' And he said, 'Don't worry about it.’ And he turned away and walked away and got back into his vehicle.”
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McArdle later realized he walked into the aftermath of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation at the home of nearby neighbors on Matilda Street.
The agency later confirmed the raid.
"The ICE St. Paul Office conducted an enforcement action resulting in the arrest of four individuals. Three are citizens of El Salvador, and one is a citizen of Honduras. Three had final orders of removal, while one will be placed in immigration proceedings,” according to an ICE spokesperson.
The agency claimed three of the individuals had prior criminal convictions but did not provide details of those convictions or the names of the individuals. MPR News has not independently confirmed those details.
McArdle said he challenged some of the officers for identification, but they wouldn’t provide any.
McArdle’s father was a county judge, and he says what he witnessed Thursday was the opposite of what he learned listening and watching his father interact with law enforcement officers over the years.
“I would watch my father turn them away if they came to him with zero evidence and say, ‘Come back when you actually have something for me,’” McArdle recalled.
“I look at these guys operating on a completely different set of rules,” he said, referring to ICE agents.
Community members and immigrant rights activists in St. Paul are condemning the raid and held a vigil in support of the immigrants and their families Thursday evening in Marydale Park.
Rebeca Mateo of St. Paul came to the event to support immigrants.
“My parents are both immigrants, I'm a first-generation Latina here in Minnesota,” Mateo said.
“It's hard to see community members that look like me and that are just like my parents, who are just trying to make a life for themselves, go through something like this,” said Mateo.
Organizers said immigrant workers and families are living in fear of being separated from loved ones.
DFL State Representative Athena Hollins of St. Paul said she was disturbed to hear that the raid happened in her district.
“I am scared for my community. I am worried about what the future will bring,” Hollins told the gathered supporters.
“I'm worried about the chilling effect that ICE being in our neighborhoods is going to have for the families that live here, and for those who are just coming to visit,” she added.
On his morning walk with the dogs, McArdle said he watched a crew of construction workers stripping shingles off a neighbor’s roof. They were gone after the ICE operation.
McArdle said that a second construction crew came by the Matilda Street house and completed the roof project later in the day.
Correction (Oct. 6. 2025): An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Seán McArdle's age.
