A U.S. citizen who was on her way to a medical appointment in Minneapolis was pulled from her car and detained by immigration officials, according to a statement released by the woman on Thursday.Video of her arrest drew millions of views on social media.
Alia Rahman said she was brought to a detention center where she was denied medical care and fell unconscious. The Department of Homeland Security said she was a protester who was obstructing ICE agents making arrests in the area.
The video is the latest in a flood of online content documenting an intensified immigration crackdown in the Midwestern city, as thousands of federal agents carry out arrests amid protests that local officials have likened to a “federal invasion.”
He was dragged from the car
Rahman said she was on her way to a routine appointment at a traumatic brain injury center when she was confronted by federal immigration agents at an intersection. The video shows federal immigration agents shouting orders over whistles, car horns and screams from protesters.
In the video, one masked agent breaks Rahman’s passenger side window while others cut his seat belt and drag him out of the car through the driver’s side door. Several guards then led him by his arms and legs to the ICE vehicle.
“I’m disabled trying to get to the doctor there, so I don’t walk,” Rahman said, gesturing down the street as the officers pulled her by the arm.
Rahman was caught in a “terrible and confusing situation” and had “nowhere to go,” according to Alexa Van Brunt, Rahman’s attorney and director of the MacArthur Justice Center.
“Her only options were to drive her car in the direction of ICE officers and risk being accused of trying to harm them — which led to the death of Renee Goode — or to stand still, which ultimately led to physical violence and abuse,” Van Brunt wrote in a statement.
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security disputed that account in an emailed statement Thursday that Rahman was a protester who “disobeyed multiple commands by an officer to move his vehicle away from the scene.” He was arrested along with six other people the department called protesters, one of whom was accused of jumping on an officer’s back.
The department did not respond to questions about claims Rahman was accused or denied medical treatment.
A barrage of viral videos prompts scrutiny
The video of Rahman’s arrest is one of several that have garnered millions of views in recent days — and has been scrutinized amid conflicting accounts from federal officials and civilian witnesses.
Often, what is in dispute relates to what happened before or after a given recording. But many have common themes: protesters whistling, shouting or honking. Immigration officials are smashing vehicle windows, using pepper spray on protesters and warning observers not to follow them into public spaces. Immigrants and citizens alike are forcibly dragged from cars, shops or homes and detained for hours, days or longer.
In one video, heavily armed immigration agents burst through the front door of Garrison Gibson’s Minneapolis home, where his wife and 9-year-old child were inside. In a video shot inside the home, a woman asks, “Where’s the warrant?” And, “Can you put the gun down? There are children in this house.”
Another video shows ICE agents, including Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino arrested two employees at a Target store in Richfield, Minnesota. Both are U.S. citizens who were later released, according to social media posts from family members.
Monica Bicking, 40, was leaving the homeless shelter where she works as a nurse when she captured a video showing a federal agent kneeing a man in the face at least five times while several other agents tackled him face down on a sidewalk in south Minneapolis.
Bicking works full time, so she says she doesn’t intentionally participate in organized protests or confrontations with ICE. But she has begun blowing the whistle on ICE agents she encounters on her way to work or while running errands, which she says has become common in recent weeks.
“Every time we leave our homes, look for ICE, try to protect our neighbors, try to support our neighbors who are on lockdown right now, we’re hypervigilant,” Bicking said.
‘I felt like I was going to die’
Rahman said in her statement that after her detention, she felt lucky to be alive.
“The masked agents dragged me from my car and tied me up like an animal, even after I said I was disabled,” Rahman said.
While in detention, Rahman said she repeatedly asked for a doctor, but was instead taken to a detention center.
“I was finally taken to the hospital until I passed out in my cell,” Rahman said.
Rahman was treated for sustained injuries from the beating, according to his advice, and has since been discharged from the hospital.
He thanked the emergency department staff for their care.
“They gave me hope when I thought I was going to die.”
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Associated Press reporter Rebecca Boone reported from Boise, Idaho.
