A Minneapolis resident invited as Representative Ilhan Omar’s guest to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address was arrested and removed from the event Tuesday evening—a dramatic escalation that reignited fierce debate over the administration’s expanding immigration enforcement operations.
Aliya Rahman, who had been violently detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents the previous month, was escorted from the Capitol building by Capitol Police during the president’s speech after what police described as “disruption of Congress.” Rahman’s attorney called the arrest “a blatant abuse of power,” saying she was targeted for “simply standing in silence.”
The incident comes as the Trump administration faces mounting criticism over its aggressive enforcement tactics in Minneapolis and across Minnesota, where federal agents have detained U.S. citizens, broken into homes without warrants, and clashed violently with community observers.
In recent months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the Twin Cities have sparked widespread backlash from residents and elected officials. The administration has increasingly attempted to criminalize people observing federal immigration enforcement, with several Minnesota residents detained for documenting ICE activities.
The ACLU filed multiple lawsuits against the administration for violating First Amendment rights of protesters and observers in Minnesota. At least three dozen people gave sworn statements describing how federal officers told them their lawful observation activities were illegal. Scarlet Kim, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, disputed the government’s claims. “In the vast majority of those examples, they’re engaged in perfectly lawful conduct,” Kim told reporters.
The enforcement surge has also resulted in the wrongful detention of multiple U.S. citizens. ChongLy “Scott” Thao, a naturalized citizen for decades, was at his St. Paul home when masked ICE agents forced open his door without a warrant and detained him at gunpoint. Agents led him outside in subfreezing temperatures wearing only sandals and underwear with a blanket around his shoulders while his five-year-old grandson watched and cried. After detaining him for one to two hours, agents realized their mistake and released him without apology.
The Department of Homeland Security described the operation as a “targeted operation” seeking two convicted sex offenders, though the family disputes this claim. Thao said he had never seen the men DHS was seeking and they did not live with him. His son Chris Thao had been stopped by ICE while driving to work shortly before agents raided the family home.
In another case, 20-year-old Mubashir Khalif Hussen was walking to lunch in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood on December 10, 2025, when a masked federal officer ran toward him at full speed and tackled him. He was forced into the back hallway of a building and detained despite showing his U.S. passport. After being held for hours, agents refused to drive him back to where they arrested him, telling him to walk the seven miles through the snow.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey condemned the detention, saying Mubashir was “taken into custody for no reason at all, in clear violation of law and the Constitution of the United States for simply walking down the street and looking like he’s Somali.”
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem demanding a review of the operations. “The forcefulness, lack of communication, and unlawful practices displayed by your agents will not be tolerated in Minnesota,” Walz wrote.
The enforcement operations have also turned deadly. ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three and U.S. citizen, on January 7, 2026, while she was in her car in Minneapolis. Video evidence and witness accounts disputed federal claims that she was trying to run over officers.
St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her sharply criticized the federal tactics: “ICE is not doing what they say they’re doing. They’re not going after hardened criminals. They’re going after anyone and everyone in their path. It is unacceptable and un-American.”
Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have walked back or dismissed charges in more than a dozen cases where observers were accused of impeding officers. A federal judge in Los Angeles rejected the government’s argument that protesters tracking officers had met the legal bar for interfering with federal investigations. Similar cases in Chicago saw most people arrested for impeding released without charges.
White House border czar Tom Homan defended the administration’s approach at a February 12 press conference, announcing the end of Operation Metro Surge while warning that the government “will not tolerate unlawful actions committed by agitators who are just causing havoc.” Legal experts note that observing, recording, and even following officers at a safe distance remains constitutionally protected activity.
The arrest of Rahman at the State of the Union marks an unprecedented removal of a congressional guest from the president’s annual address. Her attorney said the targeting demonstrated the administration’s hostility toward anyone who has publicly criticized its enforcement tactics.