Police Chief Issues ‘Kidnapping’ Warning Ahead of Possibl...

By Andrew Stanton

Weekend Staff Writer

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Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara issued a warning on Tuesday about potential “kidnapping” ahead of increased immigration enforcement in the Minnesota city.

Newsweek reached out to the Minneapolis Police Department for additional comment.

Why It Matters

Federal authorities are preparing for heightened immigration enforcement in Minneapolis after President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric about the city’s Somali population in recent days, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday. The operation would focus on individuals in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area who have final deportation orders, the AP reported. The report, as well as the president’s recent comments about the Somali population, has sparked rebuke from local leaders.

What to Know

O’Hara, during a press conference on Tuesday, said police have received reports of masked individuals who may be “kidnapping people.”

“We have experienced reports in this city and I’m sure in St. Paul also, where people call to say that there’s folks that are masked, that they’re not sure if they’re law enforcement, that they may be kidnapping people,” he said.

He urged anyone who is concerned about whether these operations are legitimate law enforcement operations or potential kidnapping to call 911 and “provide as much information as possible.

“That’s something everybody should report and that we will immediately respond to and we will document,” he said. “Whether it’s not somebody sure if a kidnapping happening or if somebody’s not sure if law enforcement is present or not.”

He noted that Minnesota recently had “tragedy” by somebody purporting to be law enforcement, referring to the assassination of Democratic state legislator Melissa Hortman earlier this year.

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He did not say how widespread the reports the police department have received have been. There have been reports elsewhere of individuals impersonating ICE agents.

During that press conference, Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, said that “the vast majority” of Minnesota’s Somali population are citizens.

“I feel that it will be a practical inevitability that when people are arrested by federal immigration agents, they’re going to get the wrong people,” he said. “They’re going to make mistakes. They’re going to screw it up so badly that they’re not just violating habeas corpus but they are taking away the rights of American citizens.”

The operations would come after a conservative news outlet, City Journal, claimed that taxpayer dollars from defrauded government programs were given to the Somali group al-Shabab, the AP reported.

Many Somalis immigrated to Minnesota beginning in the 1990s. Minnesota’s social programs drew them to the state, the AP reported.

What People Are Saying

President Donald Trump said during a cabinet meeting Tuesday: “They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason. Your country stinks and we don’t want them in our country.”

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, wrote to X: “We welcome support in investigating and prosecuting crime. But pulling a PR stunt and indiscriminately targeting immigrants is not a real solution to a problem.”

Representative Kelly Morrison, a Minnesota Democrat, wrote to X in response Trump: “This is a vile and completely unacceptable attack on the Somali community. And after the assassination of former Speaker of the MN House Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark in Minnesota this year, the constant targeting of Rep. @Ilhan Omar by Donald Trump is incredibly dangerous. The American people deserve so much better from the President of the United States.”