Maria Virginia Sy

PERSONAL: Minnesota U.S. citizen recounts fear after detention during ICE operation

Article (news)

Reuters Wires

A Minnesota man told Reuters on Monday (January 19) he felt fear, shame and desperation a day after ICE officers broke down his door with guns drawn, handcuffed him and dragged him into the snow wearing shorts and sandals. ChongLy Thao, 56, a naturalized U.S. citizen who goes by the name Scott, was returned some time later on Sunday without explanation or apology, he said. &quot;They just took me out there with no clothes on and then just covered with my grandson&#x27;s blanket. Yeah, they just took me out there and I was like, &#x27;Man, this is. this is embarrassing,&quot; Thao, a Hmong man born in Laos, told Reuters from the home on Monday, while neighbors were at work fixing the broken door. Videos of the incident showing Thao barely clothed and covered in a blanket taken by Reuters and bystanders spread on social media, further fueling a public perception that federal law enforcement officers were abusing their authority as part of President Donald Trump&#x27;s crackdown deploying some 3,000 officers in the Minneapolis area. The Department of Homeland Security said officers were investigating two convicted sex offenders at the address and that a U.S. citizen living there refused to be fingerprinted or be facially identified, so he was detained. &quot;He matched the description of the targets. As with any law enforcement agency, it is standard protocol to hold all individuals in a house of an operation for safety of the public and law enforcement,&quot; DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. A U.S. District Judge in Minnesota on Friday issued an injunction blocking the Trump administration from some aggressive tactics that she said would &quot;chill&quot; an ordinary citizen from engaging in constitutionally protected protest. The Trump administration is appealing her injunction. Thao said his parents brought him from Laos to the United States in 1974 when he was 4 years old and that he became a U.S. citizen in 1991.  During Sunday&#x27;s 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 the federal officers found him. Thao said that he was trying to find his ID as officers escorted him out of the house. Thao was wearing only boxer shorts and Crocs on his feet when officers denied him the chance to put on more clothes, he said. He used a blanket that his 4-year-old grandson had been sleeping with on the couch to cover his torso. After taking his fingerprints and a photograph of him in the car, officers returned him to his home, Thao said. &quot;We came here for a purpose, right? ... To have a bright future. To have to have a safe place to live,&quot; Chris Thao, his son said. &quot;If  this is going to turn out to be America, what are we doing here. Why are we here?&quot; (Production by: Maria Alejandra Cardona)

A Minnesota man told Reuters on Monday (January 19) he felt fear, shame and desperation a day after ICE officers broke down his door with guns drawn, handcuffed him and dragged him into the snow wearing shorts and sandals.

A Minnesota man told Reuters on Monday (January 19) he felt fear, shame and desperation a day after ICE officers broke down his door with guns drawn, handcuffed him and dragged him into the snow wearing shorts and sandals.

PERSONAL: Minnesota U.S. citizen recounts fear after detention during ICE operation

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PERSONAL: Minnesota U.S. citizen recounts fear after detention during ICE operation

Reuters

Published Jan 20, 2026 10:46 AM PHT

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ICE

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