Petition: Agents say man injured in ICE custody ‘purposely ran headfirst into a brick wall’
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A Minnesota man incurred severe head wounds while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody earlier this month, with the agency posting guards at his hospital bedside despite his deteriorating condition, according to his attorneys.
The man, who was born in Mexico, was detained by federal immigration agents Jan. 8 on St. Paul’s east side, according to a habeas corpus petition in federal court asking for his release.
The man was brought to the hospital by agents four hours after his arrest. A CT scan found that the man had “life-threatening bilateral skull fractures and hemorrhaging.” He was then transferred to HCMC hospital in Minneapolis, where his attorneys say two ICE agents are stationed in his room, and he’s prevented from leaving the bed by restraints on his limbs.
The man’s attorneys don’t know how his injury was caused, but they were told by hospital staff that he’d been “dragged and mistreated” by federal agents. ICE agents told medical professionals that he was on the ground in handcuffs when he attempted to flee and that he “purposely ran headfirst into a brick wall,” according to the petition.
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Another agent told hospital staff, according to the petition, that “he got his shit rocked,” but did not share other information.
ICE and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota did not immediately respond to a request for comment or provide more information about how the man was injured.
MPR News does not identify people who haven’t been criminally charged. Immigration violations are typically a civil — not a criminal — charge. His attorneys said he appears to have one criminal charge of driving without a valid license.
There’s no reason to believe he “was arrested for any other reason than that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” his attorneys wrote in the petition, “that he was a brown-skinned Latino Spanish-speaker at a location that immigration agents arbitrarily decided to target.”
Attorneys say that ICE agents have “interfered” with the man’s medical care, including using handcuffs to shackle his legs despite warnings from staff.
The man’s attorneys say he’s been declining since his transfer to the Minneapolis hospital, and that he’s only minimally responsive.
The man’s attorneys said he entered the United States “with valid immigration documents” in 2022 and that they don’t know of any warrants for his arrest. They asked the court to either release him or force the federal government to show cause for his detention. They also asked the court to order the federal government not to transfer the man out of state while his petition is being considered.
In a response filed Tuesday, Assistant United States Attorney Anna H. Voss argued that the man is properly detained under federal law because they say he overstayed his visa. That’s an argument that has failed to convince federal judges in the state in most of the habeas petitions tracked previously by MPR News.
The government response to the petition said that agents noticed the man had a head injury while he was being processed at Whipple Federal Building near Fort Snelling. Voss said that his petition to be released should be denied and that he’s eligible to file for a bond redetermination in immigration court.
“Upon his release from medical care, he will be taken into ICE custody for processing and initiation of removal proceedings,” according to the government’s response.
Jeanette Boerner, director of adult representation services at Hennepin County, said she could not comment on the specifics of the litigation but that her agency “is committed to defending the rights of our clients, including non-citizens impacted by the current enforcement operation in Hennepin County.”
The man’s attorneys have until Thursday at noon to respond to the government’s response.
