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Federal agents used chemical irritants to push through an angry crowd that blocked their vehicles as they checked identifications in a heavily Somali neighborhood of Minneapolis on Tuesday, amid the Trump administration’s 

City Council Member Jamal Osman, a Somali American who represents the neighborhood, witnessed the confrontation, as did an Associated Press videographer.

Minnesota’s Somali community — the largest in the U.S. — 

 the past couple of weeks since President Donald Trump said in 

 Thanksgiving night that he was terminating Temporary Protected Status for them.

It is not clear how many Somali community members have been arrested, temporarily detained or asked to show documents as 

, which has also netted people of other nationalities. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said via email that they made no arrests in the neighborhood Tuesday, but provided no further details.

Osman said armed ICE agents went to East African restaurants in the neighborhood Tuesday, closed the doors and demanded people's IDs. They found only U.S. citizens and made no arrests, Osman said.

“Luckily everyone had their passport, because I've been telling them to have their passport with them,” Osman said.

After checking the IDs of some people stopped at random on the street and temporarily detaining at least one U.S. citizen, Osman said, the agents went in seven to 10 vehicles to a nearby city-owned senior housing complex. There, he said, a group of mostly white young people he called “heroes” blew whistles to sound the alarm and confronted the agents, who responded with chemical irritants.

“Thank God so many people showed up there,” Osman said. “(The agents) couldn't get out of there because people showed up with their cars and whistles.”

Osman said he saw people suffering from the effects of chemical irritants. He also said he spoke with one young Somali American who was dragged to a vehicle, detained and taken to an ICE detention center. There, officials finally looked at his U.S. passport, fingerprinted him, and released him but told him to find his own way home, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) away in snowy weather.

“I just don’t know what they accomplished today other than the chaos," Osman said.

 and said he does not want them in the country. At the same time, federal agents launched the crackdown targeting Minnesota Somalis.

The president's moves have drawn denunciations from leaders of the Somali community and 

, amid relative silence from top state Republicans.

, the overwhelming majority of them U.S. citizens. Almost 58 percent were born in the U.S., and 87 percent of those born elsewhere are naturalized citizens.

A new website launched by the Department of Homeland Security 

 arrested in Minnesota in recent weeks. The site says it is “highlighting the worst of worst criminal aliens” arrested by ICE to show how agents are “fulfilling President Trump’s promise and carrying out mass deportations.”

ICE released a statement Friday listing 

 who did not appear on the website, along with people of other nationalities who it said were arrested in Minneapolis as part of Operation Metro Surge. ICE said they had all been convicted of crimes including sexual abuse minors, robbery and domestic assault.

“Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey protected these criminals at the expense of the safety of Americans,” the statement said. “President Trump and Secretary (Kristi) Noem have a clear message for criminal illegal aliens: LEAVE NOW. If you don’t, we will find you, arrest you, and deport you.”

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Federal agents have used chemical irritant to disperse a crowd in a heavily Somali neighborhood in Minneapolis. This happened Tuesday during a identification checks amid the Trump administration's crackdown on the community. City Council Member Jamal Osman is a Somali American who witnessed the confrontation. 

Federal agents use chemical irritant on crowd in Somali neighborhood of Minneapolis amid Trump crackdown

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