The woman’s husband eventually arrives and tries to intervene, and he made a separate recording of the interaction on his phone. He tells the agents not to search her car because they don't have a warrant and it would be an illegal search. The agents appear dismissive of his constitutional concerns.
"I'm not getting into the legality of everything," one agent responds tersely.
MPR News interviewed the woman and her husband, who also doesn't want to be identified, fearing retaliation.
The woman said the agents put her into one of their vehicles and started driving toward the Twin Cities, presumably to the Whipple Federal Building near MSP Airport, where ICE has an immigration detention facility. About 20 minutes into the drive, when they were near Le Sueur, she says one of the agents got a call, apparently from an ICE supervisor. They turned off Highway 169 at the next exit and drove back toward St. Peter.
The husband told MPR News that after his wife was taken into custody, he called his attorney, and soon after, he got a call from St. Peter Chief of Police Matt Grochow, whom he said he has known for years.
Bolded above.
Observations:
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They execute a high-speed box stop which is dangerous to not just the innocent observer, but bystanders, all while there is zero evidence of any illegal conduct happening.
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From the recording they all had guns drawn and pointed from the moment they stepped out of the car, meaning there was no escalation - they emerged ready to use deadly force without any grounds or justification. The only explanation is intent to kill or unlawfully intimidate.
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Those thugs were potentially driving her to be flown out of Minnesota. After that, who knows. They were informed of the unconstitutionality of an illegal search and demonstrated they didn't care.
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The only reason she was saved was that the husband knew the local chief of police, which - while great and especially nice for local communities where this is more common - is certainly not going to apply to everyone.
In any normal timeline they would all be fired and potentially be the basis for a constitutional rights violation suit for multiple reasons above.
