One week after federal operation and arrest, St. Paul family tells council member they haven't seen search warrant

A federal operation in St. Paul last Tuesday drew protesters and led to law enforcement using chemical irritants and firing less-lethal munitions into a crowd.

The operation raised questions about press freedom. Three photojournalists said they felt targeted for doing their jobs.

It also drew concern over whether the St. Paul Police Department had violated the city ordinance barring it from assisting with immigration operations.

Monday night, St. Paul City Council Vice President Hwa Jeong Kim spoke with the family of one of the men who was arrested by federal agents.

She said the family still has not seen an arrest warrant justifying the agents' forced entry into the home.

“That is very terrifying for our communities,” Kim said. “Jeffrey was hard-working and humble … The fact that he's been now ripped from his loved ones is incredibly troubling.”

Kim spoke with MPR News host Clay Masters.

The transcript below has been edited lightly for clarity. Click the audio player above to hear the conversation.

What did this family tell you about that day?

They were terrified. ICE and HSI agents were saying things through the door at them, threatening them. Agents had the house pretty surrounded, and they kept on increasing in numbers.

There was one point where more sort of SWAT- or tactical-appearing agents showed up. And it was very clear at that point that they were going to force entry the home. And that is what the family was terrified of having. There was a pregnant mother. There was a young child in the home. There were other adults.

The New York Times reported today that President Trump is launching a new immigration operation targeting Somali immigrants in Minneapolis and St. Paul and has deployed roughly 100 federal agents to Minnesota. What do you make of that news in the wake of last week’s events, and what you can expect moving forward?

Incredibly troubling. This is a long history of a really broken immigration system that spans over many different administrations.

I think it's important to remind ourselves that this is a reign of terror, and it's also one that folks have been experiencing for a very long time. I saw a statistic recently that close to 70 percent of folks that are kidnapped by our federal agents don’t have anyone present to watch it happen.

So, in addition to our rapid response and constitutional observer trainings, it’s really important that we get out of our houses, walk our dogs, reach out into our neighborhoods and be a part of community safety networks. We can’t take our eye off of what St. Paul Police did, and at the same time, we have to keep our neighbors safe. This is the moment that demands more of us, more of us as regular people, more of us as elected officials, and we have to meet the moment. We don’t have a choice.

What questions do you still have about last week?

How much did it cost? Who made the call? Why did they show up in the tenor and posturing they did? This is not the first time that they’ve shown up, and their presence and the way that they show up is considered an escalation. And the moment that SPPD showed up with the gas masks on, that gave a very different tenor.

For those of us who have varying amounts of privilege, we need to engage our activism at this moment. It can come from a place of fear. Instead, there is an irresistible future that I’m fighting for: One where we are housed and we are safe and we are fed; where we have health insurance; and folks who weren’t born in this country and come here — no matter how they arrive here — are safe and protected by us and our neighbors.

I was also not born here. I’m a naturalized citizen, and I think there’s a lot of opportunity to be had, and we are stronger together.

• Minnesota governor hopefuls align against tax increases, split over who has best future vision
• Key moments from the first debate in Minnesota’s open U.S. Senate race
• What does gang activity actually look like in the Twin Cities?
• Trump's proposed changes to the 2030 census raise concerns from Native leaders