ICE-linked SUV accelerated at a Minnesota protest monitor before agents shouted her home address at her

On January 26, 2026, Emily Beltz, 44, was following an ICE-linked SUV she had identified near her apartment building in a Minneapolis suburb when, she said, the vehicle "suddenly turned and sped at" her car -- she believed the agents inside intended to hit it. The SUV braked hard at the last moment, and a masked agent shouted her home address at her. Beltz said agents appeared to have identified her home through license-plate tracking of vehicles near protest and monitoring sites. According to her sworn statement, agents told her they "knew where I lived and could come and get me and my family at any time."

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the agency "does not use force against peaceful protesters or stop cars without reasonable suspicion of a crime" and that protesters had caused "grave threats and dangerous situations," but did not address Beltz's account specifically. Her statement was one of nearly 100 sworn declarations filed February 13, 2026 in Tincher v. Noem, an ACLU-led civil case seeking to protect protesters' rights during Minnesota's "Operation Metro Surge" immigration-enforcement deployment -- a case that continued even after the roughly 3,000-agent deployment ended earlier that month, a move border czar Tom Homan called a "success."