St. Peter police chief intervened and got federal agents to release resident, sources say
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
MPR News has learned that the police chief in the small southern Minnesota city of St. Peter intervened Thursday to prevent federal immigration agents from taking a local resident into detention, although the city of St. Peter denied the intervention in a statement Saturday.
It’s believed to be the first time a local police department in Minnesota intervened in a federal law enforcement action since the surge in immigration enforcement began two months ago.
The resident, a woman, had been observing and recording video of immigration enforcement actions from her car Thursday afternoon when agents took her into custody.
The woman, who did not want to be identified because she fears for her safety, is a U.S. citizen and a resident of St. Peter. She told MPR News in an interview that she was out in the community in her car, tracking the movements of federal agents, and recording them on a dash cam.
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
She shared that video with MPR News. Agents in three vehicles began chasing her and trying to force her to pull over. Eventually they box her in, three agents get out of the car in front of her, with their guns drawn and they try to force her out of her vehicle.
“Get out of the car! Get out of the car,” the agents scream at her repeatedly, while she calmly responds, “No. I will not get out of the car.”
While she's alone in the car, the woman can be heard talking with other observers on speaker phone and she tells them to call 911. The agents open the door, which unlocked automatically when she put the gearshift in park, they drag her out and force her to the ground. She said the agents were overly aggressive and physical as they pinned her down and handcuffed her, leaving her with multiple cuts, scrapes and bruises.
The woman’s husband eventually arrives and tries to intervene, and he made a separate recording of the interaction on his phone. He tells the agents not to search her car because they don't have a warrant and it would be an illegal search. The agents appear dismissive of his constitutional concerns.
"I'm not getting into the legality of everything," one agent responds tersely.
MPR News interviewed the woman and her husband, who also doesn't want to be identified, fearing retaliation.
The woman said the agents put her into one of their vehicles and started driving toward the Twin Cities, presumably to the Whipple Federal Building near MSP Airport, where ICE has an immigration detention facility. About 20 minutes into the drive, she says one of the agents got a call, apparently from an ICE supervisor.
“I couldn't hear what was being said, but within 30 seconds after they hung up, they exited on, an exit that goes into Le Sueur… and then turned around, didn't say anything to me, and started heading back towards St. Peter.”
The husband told MPR News that after his wife was taken into custody, he called his attorney, and soon after, he got a call from St. Peter Chief of Police Matt Grochow, whom he said he has known for years.
“I was talking to him, kind of venting some of my frustrations,” the man said, adding that he urged the chief to have his officers just be more visible during the federal enforcement actions. “If [local police] were present and they could see you, I promise you their behavior more than likely, or hopefully, would, you know, be appropriate and law abiding.”
The husband says he talked to the chief for a while and “we had a good conversation.”
“He asked me, ‘what was your wife's name’? I told him my wife's name. He said, ‘was she picked up in a bronco?’ And I said, ‘I'm not sure, but it was an SUV, dark colored. I'd have to look at my video.’ He goes, ‘I think I got her. I'll call you back’.”
The husband said a few minutes later, the chief called again, “and said, I got her or I'm bringing her home.”
“I was just so relieved that she got released and was able to come home,” he said.
The agents took the woman to the St. Peter police station, where she says Chief Grochow approached her, spoke with her, had her get into his squad car, and took her home.
“He knew where I lived already, because he had already been in contact with my husband,” the woman said. “He started talking to me like he just couldn't [believe] how terrible it was, what was happening. And he was so sorry and so scared for me and that type of thing, and [he] was so upset by what they're doing to our community.”
In an email to MPR News, Chief Grochow confirmed that ICE agents turned the woman over to him and he then drove the woman home.
“ICE returned the female to our police department, I saw her, and I gave her a ride home,” Grochow wrote.
On Friday, the St. Peter police chief did not respond to additional questions about his involvement in the incident, but on Saturday, the city of St. Peter put out a statement denying that the chief intervened on the resident’s behalf.
“The Saint Peter police department did not participate in, coordinate with or intervene in any federal enforcement activity,” the statement said.
”Federal immigration authorities dropped the individual off at the police department. Police Chief Grochow then ensured the resident was safely transported home and offered assistance, as we would for any member of our community,” it added.
In a social media post late Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security called the woman an “agitator [who] began stalking and obstructing law enforcement.”
“Ignoring law enforcement commands, the agitator refused to pull over and began driving recklessly including running stop signs, nearly colliding with multiple vehicles, and driving directly at law enforcement in an attempt to ram their vehicle,” the post continued, explaining why she was arrested. The statement did not explain why federal agents released her to the St. Peter police department.
The woman told MPR news she doesn’t know what happened behind the scenes that led to her being released from federal custody, but she’s grateful. And she praised Chief Grochow for expressing “genuine concern about the situation and our wellbeing,” and for showing “genuine concern about ICE’s presence in our community.”
“I honestly think he would have done the same with anyone in our community who called upon him and his department for help,” she said.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a statement from the city of St. Peter, and a statement from DHS. The headline has also been edited to reflect that the individual was arrested but then released.
