Minnesota investigates ICE arrest of Hmong American man as possible kidnapping

A Minnesota county is investigating the arrest of a Hmong American man by federal officers that was captured on video as a potential case of kidnapping, burglary and false imprisonment, officials said on Monday.Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Sheriff Bob Fletcher said at a news conference they are pursuing information from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that they need for their investigation into the arrest of ChongLy “Scott” Thao, 56, on January 18. Ramsey County includes the state capital of St Paul.Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers bashed open the front door of Thao’s St Paul home at gunpoint – without a warrant as far as Choi and Fletcher have been able to determine – then led him outside in just his underwear and a blanket in freezing conditions.“There are many facts we don’t know yet, but there’s one that we do know. And that is that Mr Thao is and has been an American citizen. There’s not a dispute over that,” Fletcher said. “There’s no dispute that he was taken out of his house, forcibly taken out of his home and driven around.”The sheriff continued: “Is that good law enforcement, to take an American citizen out of their home and drive them around aimlessly, trying to determine what they can tell them?”DHS, which oversees ICE, has refused so far to cooperate with Ramsey County, or with other state and local investigations into the killings by federal officers of two US citizens in Minneapolis during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.