Ilhan Omar Questions ICE Surveillance After HSI Agent Waited Outside Minnesota Town Hall
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 10
Ilhan Omar Questions ICE Surveillance After HSI Agent Waited Outside Minnesota Town Hall
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 10
Summary
Omar demanded answers from Homeland Security Investigations after an agent was found outside her Richfield, Minnesota, town hall last Thursday, raising concerns ICE may be monitoring political opponents.
A Richfield police officer approached the woman after noticing her watching the community center from a Ford Explorer with plates registered to a different vehicle; Omar said the woman later identified herself as an HSI agent on an undercover drug operation.
Omar said local police had not been told about any operation and that the agent stayed outside despite a visible sign for the congressional event, diverting officers from protecting attendees until the agent left after calling a supervisor.
Her letter asks why the agent was there, how HSI knew about the town hall, and whether DHS has used agents to monitor other local, state or federal officials in Minnesota.
The episode lands amid broader backlash to ICE in Minnesota, where operations have sparked protests this year, and after Omar was sprayed with an unidentified substance at a January town hall where she called to abolish ICE.