Minnesota chief says police will 'intervene' to protect Somalis from ICE action after Trump remarks

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: At a Tuesday afternoon news conference, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara condemned the reported plans of ICE raids and reassured Minnesota’s Somali community of their support. 

This comes in the wake of US immigration officials preparing an operation in the Minneapolis area that is expected to focus on the region’s large Somali immigrant population. 

The plan comes at a time of heightened national tension over immigration and follows comments made by President Trump during a cabinet meeting about Minnesota’s Somali community.

Brian O Hara calls for community vigilance

O’Hara said fear within immigrant communities is growing and harming public safety.

He emphasized that the Minneapolis Police Department does not participate in federal immigration enforcement and remains focused solely on protecting the community.

“People are going to want to speak out, to protest, and to exercise their First Amendment rights we will absolutely defend people’s rights to do just that,” O’Hara said.

He urged that any demonstrations remain peaceful, especially if federal raids occur “If demonstrations do happen around any type of immigration raid, I ask that they remain nonviolent so that we can keep everyone in our community safe.”

O' Hara also advised citizens to remain alert "Folks that are masked, and that they are not sure are law enforcement, they maybe kidnapping people, we have had those reports in the past."

He further said "the community should know, that if you see something like that is, that is legitimate, that you don't know if someone is law enforcement, you should call 911 and you should provide as much as information as possible."

Reminding residents of past tragedies, "We should not forget, we have recently had tragedies in the state, by someone who is reporting to be law enforcement, so please let's be clear that's something everybody should report."

He further reaffirmed "that we will immediately respond to and we will and document, whether someone is not sure if there is a kidnapping happen, somebody not sure if that there is law enforcement present or not."

Emphasizing the department’s responsibility, he added, "We will document and report these type of things anytime we hear it and reminding our officers of their duty to intervene."

He stated further, "If there is anything that is violation of human right, civil rights or use of excessive force, we have absolutely have the duty to intervene as police officers."

At the afternoon news conference, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, St Paul Mayor Melvin Carter were also present and condemned the reported ICE raids.

Trump remarks escalate tension in Somali community

According to sources, the operation in the Minneapolis area is expected to begin this week and involve around one hundred agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

The 'New York Times' first reported that federal agents would be deployed for this effort. Frey warned during the news conference that such an operation means "due process will be violated."

Together, the Twin Cities are home to one of the largest Somali communities in the world with an estimate of about eighty thousand people originally from Somalia living in the area.

The reported operation comes as Trump made a series of strong remarks about the Somali community. While discussing immigration, he said that "they contribute nothing" and they "stink and we don’t want them in our country.” 

He also said that people from Somalia "come from hell and complain." In Somalia “they have no anything, they just run around killing each other,” He further claimed.

Trump further emphasized, “We’re at a tipping point, We could go one way or the other, and we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.”