Rep. Ilhan Omar raises questions about undercover ICE agent at town hall

An undercover Homeland Security Investigations agent parked outside a community center while Rep. Ilhan Omar held a town hall on Aug. 6, the Democratic Congresswoman wrote in a letter to Department of Homeland Security leadership in St. Paul. 

According to the letter, a Richfield police officer noticed a woman sitting in a Ford Explorer outside the building and became suspicious of the way she was monitoring the building. He ran the Explorer’s plates, but they didn’t correspond to the vehicle. The officer approached the woman, who initially identified herself as event security. 

Richfield Police confirmed with Omar’s security detail that the woman was not part of their team. The woman called her supervisor, then told the police officer that she was an undercover HSI officer stationed outside the community center as part of a nearby undercover drug operation. She then left the property. 

HSI is the criminal investigative division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

The presence of the agent was a waste of police resources, and at best, a poor choice of location for an undercover drug raid, Omar wrote in the letter. 

“At worst, it emphasizes many Americans’ growing concern that the Trump administration uses ICE to surveil political opponents and may interfere with our democracy,” the letter reads. 

Omar has been a frequent target of President Donald Trump since his first term. Trump has said she should be jailed or “sent back to Somalia.”

During a January town hall, a man rushed at Omar as she spoke and squirted her with a liquid — later identified as apple cider vinegar. He pleaded guilty to assaulting a federal officer in federal court in May. 

The Richfield Police Department and ICE did not immediately respond to emailed questions.