This can happen to anyone: ICE throws a U.S. citizen to the ground, takes him away, and then it begins … Greetings from hell …

The images speak for themselves. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O’Hara say nothing as a screen shows federal agents pressing a young man against a metal door, putting him in a chokehold in the snow and forcing him to the ground. The man’s name is Mubashir. He is 20 years old. He is Somali American. And he is a U.S. citizen. The footage comes from the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. It shows Mubashir being confronted on a public street by masked agents. The men do not identify themselves as ICE. Mubashir tells them repeatedly that he is a U.S. citizen. He calls out that he has his ID on him. He asks what is going on. No one cares.

Instead, he is pushed into the rear stairwell of a building, repeatedly asked why he is running. Bystanders film, people shout, protest. Mubashir screams: “I’m a citizen,” “I have my ID.” An agent wearing an ICE vest wraps an arm around his neck, presses him into the snow, and puts him into an unmarked vehicle.

After that, Mubashir is taken to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling. He is put in leg shackles. He is locked in a cell. Only then, after the arrest, after the deprivation of liberty, is his identity checked. Fingerprints are taken. Only then is he allowed to show his ID. The proof is clear. U.S. citizen. About two hours later he is released. No apology. No explanation.

“I never thought I would be standing in front of all these cameras and microphones, but what happened to me cannot be quietly accepted,” Mubashir said at a press conference. He described the physical and emotional toll of being treated like a criminal simply because he is Somali American. “I felt like I was being attacked. Like I was being kidnapped.”

At the press conference at City Hall, Mayor Frey and Police Chief O’Hara publicly confirm that Mubashir is an American citizen. Frey chooses clear words. You cannot throw someone to the ground just because they look Somali. You cannot detain someone for immigration reasons if they are a fully legal American citizen. The reason for the stop was solely his appearance.

The backdrop is a large scale federal operation. Under the name “Operation Metro Surge,” federal agents have flooded the Twin Cities in recent days and arrested people who are allegedly in the country illegally or suspected of having committed crimes. The Department of Homeland Security says it is focusing on criminals. City officials and residents report something else. They see targeted actions against Latino and Somali communities. And they see that citizens are also being arrested who have committed no crimes at all. ICE initially does not comment on the incident. Mubashir himself describes how a masked man suddenly ran toward him without introducing himself. He was on his lunch break. He had only been outside for seconds, he says, when someone sprinted toward him at full speed. He immediately said that he was a U.S. citizen. No one cared.

The case does not stand alone. Families, journalists, civil rights groups, and local politicians have been sounding the alarm for days because people are increasingly being detained by ICE who have committed no crimes - and in some cases are not even subject to immigration law at all. In Minneapolis, a 55-year-old woman was also arrested who was merely observing an ICE action and refused to leave the area.

“I started screaming, ‘Help!’ because I was being kidnapped,” she said. The agents told her to “watch herself” - otherwise they would use pepper spray. “Shortly afterward they threw me to the ground, put handcuffs on me, and shoved me into their unmarked vehicle.” Susan Tincher says she was always within earshot of the agents and did nothing to “obstruct, intimidate, or interfere with them in any way.”

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks of serious concerns about civil rights and trust between the public and federal authorities. In a letter, he calls on Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to respect the Constitution, review the operations, and place agents who acted unlawfully on leave.

The incident also has political consequences. The Minneapolis City Council is considering tightening the city’s separation ordinance, which prohibits city employees from assisting in the enforcement of federal immigration law. In the future, all city employees are to be trained. Operations in which police provide security for federal actions are to be documented. Council member Jason Chavez says openly why this is necessary: because Somali people in Minneapolis are being detained by a hostile federal government and families are being torn apart. The Mubashir case shows how fast it can happen. One wrong move. A look at skin color. A moment when no one listens. That he was released is not a sign of mercy. It only shows how late the checks come.

For us, Christmas 2025 is effectively canceled. You cannot celebrate Christmas and at the same time accept that people are sitting in ICE detention - or being thrown to the ground - even though they have done nothing. You cannot say, “Hey, you’ll just have to get through this, we’re celebrating right now.” That does not work. Anyone who wants to look away can do so - we will not. Many ICE actions are planned around Christmas, because it is well known that many families gather with relatives in one place. The warning system works quite well, even though ICE applies pressure and threatens severe penalties - quite honestly: “Let them.” Christmas 2025 will be hell, and we will report from it, also as a warning to the world of how inhumane right wing populism becomes when it is elected. So keep your hands off the AfD, or you will see each other again in hell.

If even U.S. citizenship only counts once you are in a cell, then it is clear how fragile protection has become. This can happen to anyone, including YOU.