Augsburg University president: ICE ‘illegally’ detained student, didn’t show warrant
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Augsburg University leaders say a student was detained in a campus parking lot on Saturday after being followed in their car back to campus by ICE agents.
Augsburg University President Paul Pribbenow said the ICE agents were on campus property illegally when they didn’t produce a warrant when asked by faculty who came on scene.
“We’re in a situation where, despite the fact that it was illegal without a warrant, there was really no recourse for us,” Pribbenow told Minnesota Now host Nina Moini on Monday.
In a statement later Monday confirming the arrest, the Department of Homeland Security said agents did have a warrant. The department said a university administrator and campus security “attempted to obstruct the arrest.”
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After other Augsburg students and staff gathered in the area during the arrest, Pribbenow said eventually 10 to 12 federal agents showed up. He said they pulled weapons and started to threaten students and staff with arrest. Students called campus public safety, which then set off a protocol for when ICE is on campus. The incident was witnessed and recorded on video by students.
“We’re proud of [students] for the fact that they did that, despite the kind of hectic and traumatic nature of the event itself,” said Pribbenow.
Pribbenow said neither students nor staff violated school protocol.
In its statement later Monday, DHS said the male student who was arrested is a registered sex offender, though he does not appear in online state or national sex offender registries. DHS also said the man was previously arrested for driving while intoxicated. The agency said its officers told a university official that “federal law supersedes any university policy.”
“Our officers followed their training to use the minimum amount of force necessary to clear the area and successfully arrested this criminal illegal alien,” DHS said in its statement.
The university is now tightening security on campus following the incident. A few buildings that had been open will now be locked so that ICE agents cannot get in without a warrant.
The Augsburg student’s detainment comes amid a flood of ICE agents that have been sent by the federal government to the Twin Cities to carry out an immigration operation. It’s been one week since that operation launched.
Federal authorities say they’ve arrested 19 people from several countries through the ICE operation in Minnesota. It’s not clear how long the ICE actions will last or what the scope will be in the coming weeks.
Augsburg is in touch with the detained student and the student’s family and attorneys, but the school did not share any further information due to privacy.
“The thing I'm most proud of is that this is a community that has each other's back,” Pribbenow said. “I think we did everything right according to our protocols, and yet still have this intrusion.”
