Minnesota authorities investigate arrest by ICE of a Hmong American man
as a possible kidnapping
[April 14, 2026]
By MARK VANCLEAVE and STEVE KARNOWSKI
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota county is investigating the arrest of
a Hmong American man by federal officers that was captured on video as a
potential case of kidnapping, burglary and false imprisonment, officials
announced Monday.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Sheriff Bob Fletcher said at a news
conference they are pursuing information from the Department of Homeland
Security that they need for their investigation into the arrest of
ChongLy “Scott” Thao, 56, on Jan. 18. Ramsey County includes the state
capital of St. Paul.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers bashed open the front door
of Thao’s St. Paul home at gunpoint — without a warrant as far as Choi
and Fletcher have been able to determine — then led him outside in just
his underwear and a blanket in freezing conditions.
“There are many facts we don’t know yet, but there’s one that we do
know. And that is that Mr. Thao is and has been an American citizen.
There’s not a dispute over that," Fletcher said. “There’s no dispute
that he was taken out of his house, forcibly taken out of his home and
driven around.”
The sheriff continued: "Is that good law enforcement, to take an
American citizen out of their home and drive them around aimlessly,
trying to determine what they can tell them?”
DHS, which oversees ICE, has refused so far to cooperate with Ramsey
County, or with other state and local investigations into the killings
by federal officers of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis during the Trump
administration’s immigration crackdown.
“ICE does not ‘kidnap’ people," the agency said in a statement that
called Ramsey County's announcement “nothing but a political stunt to
demonize ICE law enforcement.”
Choi said they’re trying to determine whether any crimes were committed
that they could prosecute under state or federal law. He also said St.
Paul police were investigating another case related to the immigration
crackdown for potential violations, but he declined to provide details.
“This is not about any type of predetermined agenda other than to seek
the truth and to investigate the facts,” Choi said.
Agents who arrested Thao eventually realized he was a longtime U.S.
citizen with no criminal record, Thao said in an interview with The
Associated Press in January. They returned him to his home after a
couple of hours.
Homeland Security later said ICE officers had been seeking two convicted
sex offenders. But Thao told the AP he had never seen the two men before
and that they did not live with him. The Minnesota Department of
Corrections later said one of the two wanted men was still in prison.
The ICE statement did not address the county’s request for evidence, but
it asserted that investigators “concluded sexual predator targets had
ties to the property” — something that Thao and his family denied.
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From left, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, Ramsey County
Attorney John Choi and Ramsey County Attorney's Office Trial
Division Director Hao Nguyen make an announcement on Monday, April
13, 2026 in St. Paul, Minn., about investigations into possible
crimes committed by federal agents during the Trump administration's
immigration enforcement surge. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)
Videos captured the scene, which included people blowing whistles
and horns, and neighbors screaming at more than a dozen gun-toting
agents to leave Thao’s family alone.
Thao declined to comment on the announcement Monday.
The director of the trial division in the County Attorney's Office,
Hao Nguyen, said they wrote to DHS, ICE and local federal
prosecutors March 20 outlining the evidence they're seeking.
“We know there are reports, there’s just no way that there aren’t,"
Nguyen said. "We want also to know who was working that day, who was
working that month. Where did they report to? Who did they report
to? We also want to understand what recordings might be out there in
terms of digital recordings, witness interviews, video recordings.”
They set a deadline of April 30, after which they could sue or
convene a grand jury, Choi said.
The state and the chief prosecutor in neighboring Hennepin County,
which includes Minneapolis, sued the Trump administration last month
to gain access to evidence they say they need to independently
investigate three shootings by federal officers in Minneapolis,
including the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. It happened
during the surge of around 3,000 federal law enforcement officers
into Minnesota.
Choi urged members of the public who might have evidence about
Thao's case or other potential violations to come forward. Minnesota
and Hennepin County have made similar appeals.
The Trump administration has suggested Minnesota officials lack
jurisdiction to investigate federal law enforcement actions. But
Fletcher said he believes they do.
“There is no such thing as absolute immunity for federal agents,"
the sheriff said. "There’s qualified immunity for all law
enforcement in a lot of different capacities. But seizing a person
out of their home who’s an American citizen, they’re not immune from
that.”
___
Karnowski reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press reporter Jack
Brook contributed to this story from New Orleans.
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