A US citizen was forced out of his Minnesota home while wearing only underwear and sandals and detained at gunpoint by federal immigration agents who broke into his house without a warrant, according to the man and his family.ChongLy “Scott” Thao said his daughter‑in‑law woke him from a nap Sunday afternoon to say US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were banging at the door of his St. Paul residence. He told her not to open it.“They didn’t show any warrant; they just broke down the door,” Thao recalled. “I was shaking.” Masked agents then pointed guns at the family and yelled at them, he said.Thao said he asked his daughter‑in‑law to find his identification, but the agents told him they didn’t want to see it. Instead, he was led out in handcuffs wearing only sandals and underwear, with a blanket around his shoulders, while his 4‑year‑old grandson watched and cried.Videos captured the scene, showing people blowing whistles and horns and neighbors screaming at the armed agents to leave Thao’s family alone.Thao said the agents drove him “to the middle of nowhere” and made him get out of the car in frigid weather to photograph him. He said he feared they would beat him. He was later asked for his ID, which agents had earlier prevented him from retrieving.Agents eventually realized that he was a US citizen with no criminal record and returned him to his home an hour or two later. “They made me show my ID and then left without apologizing for detaining me or breaking my door,” Thao said.Thao says he’s planning to file a civil rights lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and no longer feels secure sleeping in his own home. “I don’t feel safe at all,” Thao said. “What did I do wrong? I didn’t do anything.”
DHS defends operation
The Department of Homeland Security described the operation as a “targeted operation” seeking two convicted sex offenders. DHS said Thao “refused to be fingerprinted or facially ID’d” and “matched the description of the targets.”Thao’s family disputed the DHS account, saying in a statement that they “categorically dispute” it and “strongly object to DHS’s attempt to publicly justify this conduct with false and misleading claims.” They said only Thao, his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson live at the home, and none of them or the property’s owner are listed on Minnesota’s sex offender registry.Chris Thao, ChongLy Thao’s son, said ICE stopped him while he was driving to work before going to detain his father. Court records show a person sharing the first name of the man whose car Chris borrowed has a sex offense conviction, but Chris Thao said they are not the same person.
