Off-duty police officers in the Twin Cities have been “targeted” by federal agents looking for proof of U.S. citizenship, Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said Tuesday.
Bruley was among several law enforcement leaders who expressed their concerns at a press conference that Operation Metro Surge is leading to “civil rights violations in our streets.”
He added that in the last two weeks, as community members have been submitting “endless complaints,” that several of the officers in his department had also been stopped by federal law enforcement.
“Every one of these individuals is a person of color,” Bruley added.
He recounted a story that one of his officers had told him: she had been off duty when she passed Immigration and Customs Enforcement while going down the roadway. The agents “boxed her in” and “demanded her paperwork,” Bruley said.Â
The off-duty officer didn’t have paperwork with her because she is a U.S. Citizen, he said.Â
“When she became concerned about the rhetoric and the way she was being treated, she pulled out her phone in an attempt to record incident. The phone was knocked out of her hands,” Bruley said.
She eventually identified herself as a Brooklyn Park officer, at which point the agents left, he said.
“I wish I could tell you that this was an isolated incident. In fact, many of the chiefs standing behind me have similar incidents with their off-duty officers,” Bruley said. “This isn’t just important because it happened to off-duty officers, but what it did do is we know that our officers know what the Constitution is, they know what right and wrong is, and they know when people are being targeted. And that’s what they were.”
The chiefs stressed they support lawful immigration enforcement but say these tactics violate civil rights and are undoing years of trust-building between police and the communities they serve.
“The trust is fragile right now, and it is an essential element to public safety,” Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt said. “Today that trust is being damaged, broken by the questionable and sometimes unethical actions of some — some — federal agents, particularly in these last recent weeks.”
Witt, Bruley and St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry called for accountability and more oversight of the 3,000 federal agents that have been deployed to the Twin Cities area.Â
WCCO asked Sheriff Witt if these unlawful actions could have to do with the variety of federal agencies on the ground, different training, different tactics. She questioned the vetting process, and if the training is as rigorous as in the past.
Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino was asked to respond to what happened in the Brooklyn Park incident later Tuesday. He didn’t answer directly, saying the agencies will continue to conduct their legal Title 8 mission. WCCO has also reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
contributed to this report.
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