A US citizen on Thursday said she was violently removed from her car and detained by masked federal immigration agents in Minneapolis while travelling to a medical appointment on Tuesday. The incident, captured on video, has drawn millions of views online and intensified scrutiny of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The confrontation occurred just days after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis. Her death deepened public anger and fuelled further demonstrations against federal immigration operations in Minnesota.
The woman, Aliya Rahman, said that she was dragged from her vehicle by US immigration officers and later taken to a detention centre, where she was denied medical care and lost consciousness. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) disputed her account, describing her instead as an agitator who obstructed ICE agents during an enforcement operation.
Video footage showed multiple masked officers wearing sunglasses and flak jackets surrounding Rahman’s car on a residential street near the corner of 34th Street and Park. As she attempted to explain herself amid blaring car horns, whistles and shouting protesters, officers smashed a window, cut her seatbelt and pulled her from the driver’s side door, dragging her to the ground.
“I’ve been beat up by police before,” Rahman is heard shouting as she is pulled away. “I’m disabled, I’m trying to go to the doctor up there, that’s why I couldn’t move. I am an autistic disabled person, I’m trying to go to the doctor.”
Bystanders can be heard yelling at the agents, with one asking, “Where is your humanity?”, while others shout, “That’s so f***ed up,” and “All you do is hurt”.
Tear gas, flash bang grenades and pepper balls were also fired towards protesters during the stand-off, according to witnesses.
Rahman said she had been travelling for a routine appointment at the Traumatic Brain Injury Center when she encountered federal agents at an intersection blocked by enforcement activity and protesters. Her lawyer, MacArthur Justice Center Director Alexa Van Brunt, said Rahman was trapped in an impossible situation.
“Her only options were to move her car forward in the direction of ICE officers and risk being accused of trying to harm them—which led to Renee Good’s death—or stay stationary, which in the end led to physical violence and abuse,” Van Brunt said in a statement.
“She was caught in a terrible and confusing position and had nowhere to go.”
In an emailed response, DHS rejected Rahman’s version of events, saying she had ignored repeated commands to move her vehicle away from the scene.
“One agitator ignored multiple commands by an officer to move her vehicle away from the scene; she was arrested for obstruction,” a spokesperson said, adding that six people were taken into custody, including one accused of jumping on an officer’s back.
The department did not say whether Rahman was charged or address her claim that she was denied medical treatment while in custody.
DHS said ICE officers had been in the area executing an arrest warrant for a 20-year-old man from Ecuador who allegedly entered the US illegally near El Paso in 2019.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions following the killing of Good, 37, who was shot dead by an ICE agent during a confrontation with protesters last Wednesday. The shooting, recorded in multiple videos, sparked demonstrations across the US, including in Minneapolis, New York City and Washington, DC.
ICE official Charles Marcus told Fox News that they had arrested at least 60 protesters in Minnesota in recent days.
“We will be arresting anybody that interferes or impedes in any of these enforcement actions,” he said. “We’ve already arrested 60… that have got in our way, impeded us or assaulted an officer.”
The Trump administration has deployed more than 2,000 federal agents to the Minneapolis–St Paul area, a move DHS has described as its largest immigration operation ever, part of US President Donald Trump’s drive against undocumented migrants.
The response has drawn fierce criticism from state and city leaders. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has called on ICE to “get the f*** out” of the city, while Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the federal presence had caused widespread disruption.
“DHS agents have sown chaos and terror across the metropolitan area,” Ellison said. “Schools have gone [into] lockdown. Entire districts have had to cancel school for tens of thousands of students to ensure safety and offer online education… Revenues are down, and some retail stores, daycares and restaurants have actually closed because people are afraid to go out.”
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin dismissed the criticism, saying Ellison was “prioritizing politics over public safety”.
“It really is astounding that the Left can miraculously rediscover the Tenth Amendment when they don’t want federal law enforcement officers to enforce federal law,” she said. “Spare us.”
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