Hmong and Asian American Communities

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Sheriff Bob Fletcher announced an investigation into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Jan. 18 arrest of ChongLy “Scott” Thao in St. Paul, Minn., saying the episode may amount to kidnapping, burglary and false imprisonment. Local officials say ICE agents battered down Thao’s front door at gunpoint without a warrant, removed the Hmong American man from his home in his underwear and a blanket in freezing weather, and drove him around for hours; they emphasize that Thao has long been a U.S. citizen with no criminal record and that ICE later acknowledged he was not its target. DHS has so far declined to provide reports or personnel information requested on March 20; ICE has denied that it “kidnaps” people and dismissed the inquiry as a “political stunt,” asserting it had been seeking convicted sex offenders with ties to the property, a claim the Minnesota Department of Corrections later undercut by saying one of those people was still in prison at the time of the raid.