Dramatic standoff in Minnesota as federal agents with weapons drawn square up to Ilhan
Tensions in Minnesota reached a boiling point Saturday as Representative Ilhan Omar faced off with agents just four days after 37-year-old mother Renee Nicole Good was shot dead by ICE during a protest.
Omar, 43, was flanked by Representatives Angie Craig and Kelly Morrison outside an ICE detention facility around 9am on Saturday as they attempted to gain access for a tour, but were denied entry, according to Axios.
They arrived to the Whipple Federal Building in St. Paul after Omar said she had called to tell the agency she and the two others would be arriving.
They were initially let into the facility, before being swiftly led out after ‘two officials then got the message’ of their arrival, Axios said.
Omar, who was elected in the House of Representatives in 2018, said she saw two planes departing the facility, but she was told they were not deportation flights. The aircraft reportedly were taking detainees to other facilities.
Politicians are allowed to visit ICE buildings, but the federal agency has attempted to limit access and have accused Democrats of using the visits as political theater.
Omar and the other representatives said the visit was part of an oversight visit and that they were invited by invited former acting director, The Minnesota Star Tribune said.
‘We were initially invited in to do our Congressional oversight and to exercise our Article I duties,’ Omar said.
Minnesota Representatives Ilhan Omar (middle), and Angie Craig (right) and Kelly Morrison (left) were denied access to an ICE detention facility on Saturday
They were initially allowed into the building, but were swiftly led out after an official learned of their presence, Omar said
‘Shortly after we were let in, two officials came in and said they received a message that we were no longer allowed to be in the building and that they were rescinding our invitation and denying any further access to the building.’
While inside, Omar said the trio saw around 20 people being detained, The Star Tribune reported.
The Daily Mail has contacted DHS for comment.
‘We’re here because we’re members of Congress. We have every right and responsibility if we’re doing our jobs to be here today, to see what the conditions are in that detention center,’ Craig said.
‘We need Minnesota Republicans, we need Republicans across this country, to stand up to their own party. This is beyond the pale.’
Morrison said they were denied entry to the building due to the structure being funded by the One Big Beautiful Bill, ‘which makes no sense,’ she said.
‘With the recent reaffirmation of the court case in December, they’re breaking the law,’ Morrison said on Saturday.
Tensions have been rising between lawmakers and citizens against ICE after the death of Renee Nicole Good, who lawmakers said was ‘murdered’ by the federal agency on Wednesday during a protest in Minneapolis.
‘This is an all-hands-on-deck process,’ Omar said outside the facility
Outside the St. Paul facility, Omar told the press: ‘In Minnesota, we know how to protect one another.
‘This is an all-hands-on-deck process.’
She insisted ICE agents’ aggression and angry stemmed from citizens’ resistance to their doings, she said at a press conference outside the facility.
An ICE agent was seen entering the facility with his window rolled down and a can of pepper spray in his lap.
‘Why do you have your pepper spray out? Why do you have your pepper spray out?’ a journalist yelled from the press line outside the facility’s gate.
‘What’s the danger? Members of Congress are here. Why is the pepper spray out?’
Omar said agents don’t understand the love the Minnesotans have for each other.
‘They have never experienced the kind of love that we experience here in Minnesota,’ the congresswoman said.
Renee Nicole Good (pictured) was shot and killed by an ICE agent on Wednesday during a protest
Good’s burgundy SUV was seen with a bullet hole at the crash site on Wednesday
Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis
‘We know they will disappear one day, but we will be here, caring for one another and carrying out policy with love in Minnesota.’
Omar, alongside 156 other lawmakers, have demanded accountability after Good’s death, a Friday press release said.
They demanded ‘an immediate suspension of the current surge of federal officers and agents to Minneapolis and an investigation into this reprehensible event by an independent agency.’
‘We write to express our horror and outrage at the actions that have taken place under your command. This is not the first time your agents have used unnecessary force on civilians without provocation,’ the lawmakers wrote in a statement.
‘You have lost the faith and confidence of the American people.
‘We demand that you immediately suspend the current surge of federal officers and agents to Minneapolis and that you work with an independent agency to ensure transparency and accountability throughout the course of the investigation into this reprehensible event.’
On Wednesday, Omar called death the of Good ‘unconscionable and reprehensive.’
‘I am beyond outraged that their reckless, callous actions led to the killing of a legal observer in Minneapolis,’ she wrote.
Pictured: A man burning a flag at a protest after Good’s death
Pictured: Federal agents spraying pepper spray against protesters in Minnesota
Mayor Jacob Frey told ICE to ‘get the f**k out of Minneapolis’ at a press conference on Wednesday
‘My heart breaks for the victim’s family, who will have to forever live with the pain caused by the Trump Administration’s reckless and deadly actions.’
Craig had confronted Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer on Wednesday evening during a break in proceedings, challenging his public defense of ICE just hours after the shooting. Their tense exchange was captured by C-SPAN and circulated online.
Craig later told Minneapolis CBS affiliate WCCO that Emmer ‘didn’t let me get three words out before he went from zero to 60,’ adding that ‘if you can’t have a conversation with someone without it escalating in the first three words, then you’re not really ready to have a conversation and you’re not listening.’
Craig said that ‘having ICE on the ground in Minnesota is simply not making Minnesota any safer. In fact, it’s having the opposite effect.’
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has promised to send more agents to the Twin Cities as they conduct their largest operation ‘ever.’
She also claimed Good’s actions were an ‘act of domestic terrorism’ as the federal agency insisted the mother’s death was a cause of the agent, Jonathan Ross, acting in self defense.
However, many lawmakers have disregarded this narrative, with Mayor Jacob Frey calling it ‘bulls**t.’
The Democrat angrily told ICE to ‘get the f**k out of Minneapolis’ on Wednesday during a press conference.