By Maria Alejandra Cardona
SAINT PAUL, Minnesota, Jan 19 (Reuters) – A Minnesota man told Reuters on Monday that he felt scared, ashamed and desperate a day after ICE officers broke down his door with guns drawn, dragged him out into the snow in handcuffs and wore shorts and Crocs.
Changli Thao, 56, a naturalized U.S. citizen who goes by the name Scott, was returned home later Sunday without explanation or apology, he said.
“I was praying. I was like, God, please help me, I haven’t done anything wrong. Why are they doing this to me? Without my clothes,” Thao, a Hmong man born in Laos, told Reuters from his home on Monday, as neighbors repaired a broken door.
Photos of the incident, taken by Reuters photographers and onlookers showing the newly dressed and covered in blankets, circulated on social media, fueling concerns that federal law enforcement officers were overstepping their authority as part of US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, which has seen around 3,000 officers deployed to the Minneapolis area.
A statement released by the family called the incident “unnecessary, humiliating and deeply distressing”. The high in St. Paul on Sunday was 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius).
The Department of Homeland Security said authorities were looking for two convicted sex offenders at the address, and that a U.S. citizen who lived there had been taken into custody after refusing to provide fingerprints or facial identification.
“He matched the description of the targets. As with any law enforcement agency, it is standard protocol to house all individuals for the safety of the public and law enforcement,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
‘Why are we here’?
DHS published wanted posters for two men targeted in the investigation who were still at large, describing each as a “criminal illegal alien” from Laos who is subject to deportation orders. One of the wanted posters previously lived in the home but moved out, according to relatives close to the situation, who described him as the ex-husband of a Thao family member.
A U.S. district judge in Minnesota on Friday issued an order barring the Trump administration from some aggressive tactics that she said would “silence” ordinary citizens from engaging in constitutionally protected protests.
“That conduct included the drawing and pointing of weapons; the use of pepper spray and other non-lethal weapons; the actual and threatened arrest and detention of protesters and observers; and other intimidation tactics,” wrote Judge Katherine Menendez.
The Trump administration is appealing his order.
Thao said his parents brought him to the United States from Laos in 1974 when he was four years old, and he became a U.S. citizen in 1991. During the ordeal, he feared being sent back to Laos, where he has no relatives.
He said he was singing karaoke when there was a loud noise at the door. He and his family hid in a bedroom, where federal authorities found him. Thao said he was trying to identify himself as officers escorted him out of the house.
Thao was wearing only boxer shorts and Crocs on his legs when officers refused him the chance to put on more clothing, he said. He used the blanket his four-year-old grandson was sleeping on the couch to cover his torso.
After his fingerprints and the bullet to the head in the car, officers drove him back to his home, Thao said.
“We came here for a purpose, right? … for a bright future. A safe place to live,” he said. “If this is going to be America, what are we doing here? Why are we here?”
(Reporting by Maria Alejandra Cardona in St. Paul; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Michael Perry)
