DHS and ICE agents chased down and detained a St. Peter, Minnesota bystander at gunpoint for filming an immigration operation

On January 29, 2026, agents with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement chased down and detained a U.S. citizen at gunpoint in St. Peter, Minnesota, after she filmed them conducting an immigration enforcement operation from her car. Video reviewed by Minnesota Public Radio shows three vehicles boxing her in before three agents exited with weapons drawn, repeatedly ordering her out of the car; when she refused and asked bystanders by phone to call 911, agents opened the unlocked door, dragged her out, and forced her to the ground, leaving her with cuts, scrapes and bruises.

Agents handcuffed the woman and drove her toward the Twin Cities, where a federal immigration detention facility is located, before turning around roughly 20 minutes later and returning her to the St. Peter police department without explanation or charge. St. Peter Police Chief Matt Grochow told NPR he learned her identity from her husband, located her in agents' custody, and picked her up once she was returned; the City of St. Peter said in a statement that its department did not participate in, coordinate with, or intervene in the federal operation.

A DHS spokesperson told Newsweek that agents were conducting a targeted operation to arrest "a serial criminal illegal alien" when the woman began "stalking and obstructing law enforcement," and said she drove recklessly, ran stop signs, and attempted to ram an officer's vehicle. Her dashcam video, reviewed by NPR, instead shows her calmly refusing agents' commands rather than driving at them. A DHS spokesperson responding to a separate press inquiry about the incident asked only for the woman's name, date of birth and immigration file number, information reporters did not provide.