A US citizen is dragged from his home by the US immigration authorities ICE and taken to the street in his underwear. It is another incident in the US state of Minnesota that raises questions about the authorities’ actions.
January 20, 2026, 10:05January 20, 2026, 10:05
US immigration authorities ICE broke into the home of a US citizen and arrested him – apparently without a search warrant and at gunpoint. They then led the man out into the street in his underwear in freezing temperatures, as his family reported and as can be seen from videos reviewed by the AP news agency.
ICE is repeatedly criticized for using aggressive, military tactics and excessive force during arrests.Image: keystone
ChongLy “Scott” Thao told the AP that his daughter-in-law woke him from a nap Sunday afternoon and said ICE officers were banging on the door of his home in St. Paul, Minnesota. He told her not to open it. Masked officers then forced their way in, pointed guns at the family and shouted at them, Thao recalled. “I was shaking,” he said. “They didn’t show a search warrant, they just broke down the door.”
Image: Jack Brook
Incident captured on video
Thao, a U.S. citizen for decades, said he asked his daughter-in-law to get his ID during the arrest. However, the officers said they didn’t want to see him. Instead, Thao was led away in handcuffs – wearing only sandals and underwear, with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. His four-year-old grandson had to watch and cry.
Videos show the arrest, during which neighbors made noise with whistles and horns and loudly urged more than a dozen armed officers to leave Thao’s family alone. Thao said the officers eventually drove him “to the middle of nowhere” and forced him to get out of the car in the freezing cold to take photos of him. He was afraid of being beaten.
Finally he was asked for his ID – which he had not been allowed to get before. After the officers realized that he was a US citizen with no criminal record, they brought him back home after one to two hours. There he had to show his ID before the officers left without an apology for the arrest or the damaged door.
Mayor of St. Paul criticizes ICE actions
The deployment of federal agents in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul has led to sharp criticism of US immigration authorities from residents and local politicians. The reasons are arrests without a court order, violent clashes with demonstrators and the death of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was shot during an operation in early January.
After the killing of Renee Good by ICE officers, demonstrations against Trump’s migration policies took place across the country.Image: keystone
ICE officials were not doing what they said they were doing, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her said in a statement following Thao’s arrest. “They don’t specifically target serious criminals. They target anyone who gets in their way. This is unacceptable and un-American.”
Department of Homeland Security defends operation
The US Department of Homeland Security said the ICE operation at Thao’s home was “targeted.” The officers were looking for two convicted sex offenders. Thao matched the description of a target person and refused to be identified through fingerprints and facial recognition.
Thao’s family “categorically rejected” this account. We “resolutely oppose the Department of Homeland Security’s attempt to publicly justify this approach with false and misleading claims.” Thao told the AP that only himself, his son, his daughter-in-law and his grandson lived in the apartment building. Neither she nor the homeowner are listed on the Minnesota state sex offender registry. The nearest registered sex offender lives more than two blocks away.
The ministry did not respond to an AP request for its basis for believing the wanted sex offenders were at Thao’s home. Thao said he plans to file a civil rights lawsuit against the Justice Department. He no longer feels safe sleeping in his own house. “What did i do wrong? I didn’t do anything.” (dpa, aargauerzeitung.ch)