A U.S. Border Patrol agent kneed a man in the face repeatedly while other agents held him down during a Minneapolis arrest

On January 9, 2026, a U.S. Border Patrol agent driving a Chevrolet Suburban the wrong way on Chicago Avenue in south Minneapolis struck an oncoming car head-on, then broke the driver's window and pulled him out onto the pavement. Video recorded by multiple bystanders shows an agent kneeing the man in the head at least five times while several other agents held him pinned facedown, as a witness can be heard yelling, "Stop kneeing him in the face! That's his face! Stop it!" The man was detained at the Whipple Federal Building and later hospitalized for breathing difficulty before being taken into Border Patrol custody.

The incident occurred amid a large surge of federal immigration agents into the Twin Cities that began in December 2025 and intensified in early January 2026, days after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good in her vehicle. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued on behalf of the state and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul that same week, alleging federal agents had repeatedly used unlawful force since their arrival.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to the outlet that first reported the incident, though DHS later told CNN the man is a "criminal alien from Ecuador." A fundraiser organized on his behalf identifies him only by the first and middle names "Juan Carlos" and describes him as a U.S. resident who was merely observing ICE activity when he was stopped; neither account has been independently verified.