Minneapolis Police Chief Issues Intervention Directive for ICE Situations
A Minneapolis police officer could potentially lose their job for failing to act in certain encounters involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
According to Police Chief Brian O’Hara, officers are expected to intervene if they observe ICE personnel employing “unlawful force” against individuals in the community, as reported by MS Now on Friday.
When questioned about how officers should react to excessive force from federal agents, O’Hara stated, “If a law enforcement officer is using unlawful force against someone in this city and our officers are there, we absolutely expect them to intervene. Or they will be fired.”
This directive comes amidst President Donald Trump’s attempts to safeguard American society from criminal activities associated with illegal immigration, which have reportedly increased due to former President Joe Biden’s open borders policy.
The MS Now piece also noted that O’Hara emphasized that instances of “readily obvious” and “excessive” force require police intervention. However, it was clarified by a sergeant from the department that while officers may intervene physically in cases of unlawful force, they wouldn’t arrest ICE agents.
O’Hara recently explained that the department can’t assist ICE due to insufficient officers available to tackle real crimes in their communities, according to Breitbart News.
O’Hara mentioned back in August that the department had seen significant personnel losses since 2020, stating that their survival has relied on support from state and federal authorities.
“The only reason we’ve been able to make progress over the last few years is because of our partnership with our federal law enforcement and state partners who have been very aggressive in prosecuting violent crimes. Frankly, without all of our law enforcement and community partners, we wouldn’t be able to handle the challenges we face,” he said.
The situation in Minneapolis is further complicated by reports of extensive theft, embezzlement, immigration fraud, and welfare fraud involving a number of Somali immigrants in the state.
Recently, several illegal immigrants from Somalia were arrested in Minneapolis during an ICE crackdown, according to Breitbart News.
