An ICE agent called 911 in St. Paul on Thursday and reported unknown vehicles were following federal agents, according to police.
The agents pulled into the St. Paul Police Department’s Western District parking lot on Hamline Avenue near University Avenue about 9:40 a.m.
“The agents believed their vehicles had been tampered with and trackers were placed on them,” the police department said in a statement. “The agents checked their vehicles and then left.”
People in vehicles who had been following left the area after speaking to St. Paul officers, according to the police department. No one was arrested or cited.
The incident came after an ICE officer fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday, and during a surge of immigration enforcement in Minnesota. A man was charged in West St. Paul last month, accused of following ICE agents and pointing a gun.
After St. Paul officers used force during a federal immigration operation in Payne-Phalen at the end of November, there was an outcry from St. Paul city council members and community members.
St. Paul officials sent a cease-and-desist letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Dec. 19 to prevent them from using the city’s parking lots to stage immigration enforcement operations.
Thursday’s sighting of ICE vehicles at the police station raised concern, with someone posting on Reddit that local police were working with ICE.
The police department said Thursday it did not assist federal law enforcement with immigration enforcement operations.
“The St. Paul Police Department encourages anyone who feels that they are being followed or unsafe in their vehicle to call 911 and drive to a police station or well-lit area,” the department’s statement said.
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