Omar demands answers after ICE agent appeared outside her town hall

Mismatched plates on agent’s vehicle drew Richfield police scrutiny

Rep. Ilhan Omar is demanding that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) explain why an investigative agent was apparently stationed outside her monthly town hall in Richfield, Minnesota, last Thursday. In a letter to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), an arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the congresswoman asked whether HSI agents have been used to monitor “any other activity” involving “local, state, or federal officials” in the state.

According to Omar, who represents Minnesota’s fifth congressional district, a Richfield police officer noticed the agent sitting in a Ford Explorer and “became suspicious of the way she was monitoring the building.” “He proceeded to run the plates attached to the vehicle and discovered they were registered to a different vehicle,” said Omar. “He approached the woman in the vehicle to ask about the purpose for her presence there and why the plates on her vehicle did not match the government’s records.”

Omar said the officer was concerned that the woman “harbored ill intentions and may be in a stolen vehicle.” The woman initially identified herself as security, Omar said, but later called her supervisor and said she was an HSI agent conducting an undercover drug operation in the area. Richfield police had not been informed of the operation beforehand, according to the congresswoman.

Omar said that despite a visible sign indicating that a town hall was taking place at the community center, the agent remained parked there until speaking with her supervisor, after which she left the property. “HSI’s actions yesterday evening put an entire community at risk,” she said. “Instead of monitoring the area for those who might wish harm to me and my constituents, Richfield Police were required to devote time to investigating why an HSI agent was outside of a Congressional event in a vehicle with mismatched plates.”

“It also raises serious and uncomfortable questions about the purpose of HSI’s presence outside of my event,” Omar added. “At best, your agent was unable to assess that the parking lot of a community center hosting a congressional event wasn’t the best place to conduct a drug operation. At worst, it emphasizes many Americans’ growing concern that the Trump administration uses ICE to surveil political opponents and may interfere with our democracy.”

In the letter, Omar demands answers about why the agent was at the community center, how the agent and her supervisor knew she was holding a town hall there, and what action they took in response to that knowledge.

HSI is a federal law enforcement agency and the main investigative branch of ICE. ICE operations in Minnesota have sparked widespread protests across the state this year and have also resulted in the deaths of two Americans, Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, who were killed by federal agents.

In January, a man sprayed Omar with an unidentified substance from a syringe during a town hall where she called for ICE to be abolished “for good.” The incident drew widespread condemnation from local and state leaders, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey calling it “unacceptable” and saying: “We can disagree without putting people at risk.”