It was over in a flash.
Masked federal agents descended on a one-story home in St. Paul, Minn., on Sunday and dragged a man wearing nothing but his underwear and slip-on shoes from his doorstep, through an icy snowbank and into an idling S.U.V.
Tires screeched. Whistles sounded. Neighbors shrieked in the background. And then the agents and the man were gone.
The arrested man was identified as ChongLy Scott Thao, a Hmong immigrant and naturalized U.S. citizen with no criminal record, according to his family. He was released about an hour later without being charged, they said.
The images of the diminutive, barely clad man being led away through freezing temperatures spread instantly. The Department of Homeland Security said Mr. Thao’s arrest was made amid an attempt by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain convicted sex offenders. But in a community on edge, the operation quickly came to represent what critics call a callous and unnecessary enforcement campaign.
It has also has touched off panic on St. Paul’s east side, where a large population of Hmong people has lived for decades. Neighbors in the area have described a surge of immigration raids in recent days targeting people of Asian descent.
The Department of Homeland Security said on Monday that the arrest had been part of a targeted operation seeking two sex offenders who lived at the address with Mr. Thao. On Tuesday, they identified two men from Laos and said both are wanted for sexual assault. It was unclear on Tuesday whether the two men were the intended targets of Sunday’s raid, or were connected in some way with Mr. Thao.
Local officials and Mr. Thao’s family have disputed the department’s account, describing instead a chaotic case of mistaken identity and an incursion of armed agents who forcibly removed a U.S. citizen from a residence without presenting a warrant or allowing him to show identification.
“ChongLy was taken outside in freezing weather wearing only underwear and Crocs, placed into an SUV, and driven around for nearly an hour while being questioned,” Louansee Moua, Mr. Thao’s sister-in-law, wrote in a description of the event on a GoFundMe page fund-raising for Mr. Thao’s legal fees and other costs.
The family declined to comment further on the arrest on Tuesday. But in an earlier interview with The Associated Press, Mr. Thao said the agents did not explain or apologize for the arrest. “They didn’t say sorry or anything,” he said.
Mayor Kaohly Her of St. Paul, who said she knows the Thao family personally, said that available evidence showed that agents had the wrong person and were offered information to confirm that. “And they just ignored that information,” she said.
Dana Haberman, a neighbor who witnessed the raid, said roughly 10 vans carrying federal agents appeared on the street. The agents, some of whom carried rifles and riot shields, walked up the front steps to Mr. Thao’s home and knocked several times, waiting about a minute, before using a battering ram to break down the door, he said.
“Seeing this elderly man being taken out like that,” Mr. Haberman said, “the frustration is palpable.”
Once inside, the agents pointed guns at Mr. Thao’s family and handcuffed him, as his 5-year-old grandson watched from the couch, his family said in the GoFundMe page. Minutes later, under heavy snowfall, he was taken away with only a red blanket draped over his shoulders, according to Mr. Haberman and videos of the raid. Agents escorted him into a black S.U.V., which soon sped off.
Mr. Thao was driven around for almost an hour while the agents questioned him. After fingerprinting him and running his information, they returned him home, Ms. Moua said.
In its statement on Monday, homeland security said that Mr. Thao had refused to be fingerprinted or facially identified and that he had matched the description of the two sex offenders they were seeking. “It is standard protocol to hold all individuals in a house of an operation for safety of the public and law enforcement,” Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the department, wrote on social media. It did not appear that any other members of the family were arrested on Sunday.
Mr. Thao is not listed in the Minnesota registry of sex offenders.
The ordeal has been particularly painful for Hmong residents in the Twin Cities, many of whom fled Laos as refugees after supporting the United States in its fight against communism during the Vietnam War. The Twin Cities has one of the largest concentrations of Hmong immigrants in the United States.
Mr. Thao’s mother, a nurse, served as head of two hospitals during the conflict in Laos, according to the family, and she treated many American soldiers.
In St. Paul, Mayor Her said that some Hmong vendors have reported that business is down nearly 70 percent, with many patrons too afraid to leave their homes.
The entire city has felt the impact of the federal immigration crackdown, she added. Local schools have begun delivering food and supplies to families too afraid to leave their homes, Mr. Haberman said. Restaurants have limited their hours or closed entirely, and one school district is transitioning to remote learning for several days next week.
“This is just a complete injustice to our residents,” Ms. Her said.
Maia Coleman is a reporter for The Times covering the New York Police Department and criminal justice in the New York area.
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