Ramsey County authorities are investigating federal officers for potential crimes committed during Operation Metro Surge — including kidnapping, burglary and false imprisonment.
Officials with the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice have so far refused to cooperate by sharing information about the incidents, according to Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Sheriff Bob Fletcher.
“This is novel territory,” Choi said. “But we’re not going to let it go, because we owe it to the people of our community and our state to seek the truth, to gather those facts.”
Two of the investigations are “active” and three are “preliminary,” Choi said.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and Attorney General Keith Eillison are also investigating potential criminal acts by immigration agents, including the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. They have sued for access to evidence, and Moriarty accused federal officials of “hiding evidence and obstructing our investigation.”
For now, Choi’s office has released the details of only one active case, involving ChongLy Scott Thao, a U.S. citizen. On Jan. 18, immigration agents forcibly entered Thao’s home, handcuffed him, removed him from the house in just Crocs and boxers, and questioned him in the car for about an hour before returning him home.
Thao and his family said the agents did not present them with a warrant for Thao’s arrest. The agents were apparently looking for two unrelated men, one of whom has been in prison since 2024.
Choi said his office is taking a “victim-centered approach” to the investigations, and that he will not release the names of victims or case details until the victims are ready to come forward.
“There’s a fear of retaliation, and it’s real,” Choi said.
Thao’s case illustrates the challenges local law enforcement agencies have confronted when investigating potential crimes committed by immigration agents in President Donald Trump’s second term.
Fletcher, who has built a reputation as a tough-on-crime sheriff, said federal officials have not provided the names of the officers on the scene. The sheriff’s department obtained the license plate numbers of the agents’ vehicles, but the plates were registered to other cars. (Swapping license plates between vehicles is a misdemeanor under state law.)
Choi said his office is prepared to pursue a number of legal paths in order to complete the investigations and pursue any ensuing charges — convening a grand jury to subpoena federal officials, joining in other state and local officials’ lawsuits, or filing their own civil suit.
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