Minnesota County Launches Investigation into ICE Arrest of U.S. Citizen
Ramsey County authorities announced Monday they are investigating the January arrest of Hmong American man ChongLy "Scott" Thao by federal officers as a potential case of kidnapping, burglary, and false imprisonment. County Attorney John Choi and Sheriff Bob Fletcher stated at a news conference they will pursue necessary information from the Department of Homeland Security to advance their investigation.
Details of the Controversial Arrest
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers forcibly entered Thao's St. Paul home without a warrant, breaking open his front door at gunpoint. The officers then led Thao outside wearing only his underwear and a blanket in freezing winter conditions. Ramsey County includes Minnesota's capital city of St. Paul.
"There are many facts we don't know yet, but there's one that we do know," Sheriff Fletcher emphasized. "And that is that Mr. Thao is and has been an American citizen. There's not a dispute over that. There's no dispute that he was taken out of his house, forcibly taken out of his home and driven around."
Fletcher posed a critical question about the incident: "Is that good law enforcement, to take an American citizen out of their home and drive them around aimlessly, trying to determine what they can tell them?"
Federal Non-Cooperation and Broader Context
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has previously refused to cooperate with state and local investigations into federal officer shootings during the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operations. This pattern of non-cooperation extends to investigations of two U.S. citizens killed by federal officers in Minneapolis.
County Attorney Choi clarified the investigation's purpose: "This is not about any type of predetermined agenda other than to seek the truth and to investigate the facts." He explained they're working to determine whether prosecutable crimes occurred under state or federal law.
Aftermath and Conflicting Accounts
According to Thao's January interview with The Associated Press, agents eventually realized he was a longtime U.S. citizen with no criminal record and returned him to his home after several hours. Homeland Security later claimed ICE officers had been seeking two convicted sex offenders, but Thao told the AP he had never seen these men before and they did not live with him.
Videos of the incident captured neighbors blowing whistles and horns while screaming at more than a dozen armed agents to leave Thao's family alone. The dramatic scene unfolded as federal officers conducted their operation.
Legal Actions and Jurisdictional Disputes
The state of Minnesota and Hennepin County prosecutors sued the Trump administration last month to gain access to evidence needed for independent investigations of three federal officer shootings in Minneapolis. These include the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. The lawsuit accuses the federal government of breaking promises to cooperate with state investigations following the deployment of approximately 3,000 federal law enforcement officers to Minnesota.
Minnesota and Hennepin County have appealed to the public for information about potentially illegal activities by federal officers, citing continued refusal by federal authorities to provide evidence. The Trump administration has suggested Minnesota officials lack jurisdiction to investigate these cases, while state and county prosecutors argue they need to conduct independent inquiries due to distrust of federal investigations.
The Justice Department announced in January it was opening a federal civil rights investigation into Pretti's killing, with two officers placed on leave. However, the agency determined a similar federal probe was not warranted in Good's death, creating further tension between state and federal authorities.
