type: timeline_event
ICE agents detained at least five Native Americans in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge, with tribal leaders and state officials condemning the detentions as racial profiling. Four citizens of the Oglala Sioux Tribe were detained under a bridge near the Little Earth housing complex on Friday, January 10. Tribal President Frank Star Comes Out confirmed the men were homeless. As of January 13, their whereabouts remained unknown to the community.
Jose Roberto "Beto" Ramirez, a Red Lake Nation descendant, was detained at a HyVee grocery store in Robbinsdale on January 8 after being followed by a black Ford SUV with four men. His aunt recorded ICE agents striking him during apprehension. He was released Thursday evening after detention at the Whipple Building.
Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, called ICE's actions "obvious racial profiling." The Minnesota Native American Caucus stated: "The detention of Native peoples in Minnesota follows a disturbing nationwide pattern by ICE agents: targeting immigrants and civilians, seizing American Indian persons off the street, ignoring their clear identification as Tribal members, and detaining them by ruthless force." Community advocates reported ICE appeared to be mistaking Native Americans for Central or South American immigrants based on appearance and surnames.