Minneapolis City Council votes for independent audit of federal raid at local restaurant
Minneapolis City Council on Thursday voted unanimously in favor of launching an independent audit of the operation conducted by federal law enforcement including Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a Minneapolis restaurant this week.
By a 12-0 vote, the council says the Office of City Auditor will now conduct an after-action review of the operation conducted outside Las Cuatro Milpas at Lake Street and Bloomington on Tuesday. Militarized vehicles and heavily armed agents from ICE, the FBI, ATF and DEA descended on the scene, drawing a large crowd of protesters.
The review will investigate Minneapolis Police Department's involvement in the raid – one of eight reportedly conducted across the Twin Cities on Tuesday – to determine whether it was in violation of the city's separation ordinance that prohibits MPD from assisting ICE with the enforcement of immigration laws.
Authorities involved in the operation, including Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, said that it didn't relate to immigration enforcement, and was instead part of a large-scale criminal investigation into drugs and money laundering. However, ICE agents had already been at the scene for several hours by the time this information was released.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara has said he was only informed of the raid after it had started, while Mayor Jacob Frey says Minneapolis officers were only present for "crowd control" and "keeping the community safe."
In a statement on Wednesday, O'Hara said his officers were called at about 11:15 a.m. to "help de-escalate and stabilize a rapidly escalating situation involving confrontations between members of a crowd and federal agents."
A video was shared on social media Thursday showing one MPD officer pushing a protester who was recording him, while there were reports from the scene that federal agents used pepper spray during the crowd response.
View the to see embedded media.
O'Hara criticized the way the federal operation unfolded, saying that even though it wasn't related to immigration enforcement, "the manner in which it was executed was tone deaf to the reality of tensions and fear in our community."
"I have communicated my concerns directly to our federal partners," he said, adding that the operation on Tuesday "revealed just how sensitive and intense the issue of immigration enforcement remains in our city."
But both O'Hara and Frey have been among those criticizing some of the elected officials who were on the scene on Tuesday, accusing them of spreading misinformation about the nature of the operation, claiming fears that it was an immigration raid at a time of mass deportations by the Trump administration led to escalation at the scene and "only served to inflame tensions."
As mentioned earlier, agents wearing ICE badges were visible outside the restaurant when the operation started shortly after 10 a.m., and it wasn't until just after 1 p.m. that a statement was issued by MPD clarifying that the operation wasn't related to immigration.
During Thursday's council meeting, Councilor Jason Chavez, who was among those posting to social media from the scene , called on Chief O'Hara to name those he believes were spreading misinformation.
Chavez told MPR News that at no point did he post that the operation was an ICE raid, but he state that ICE was at the scene and shared images confirming that fact.
"Which elected officials are you talking about in your emails and in your media press releases? And chief, I'm asking you right now, name them," Chavez said.
Councilor Aurin Chowdury says that the escalation was the fault of the federal agents on the scene.
"I find it extremely disappointing that leaders up here are taking time to blame escalation on alerting community members that ICE was on the ground when the reason for escalation that occurred was a militarized force with assault rifles in our community, she said.
"Before anyone posted anything everything was escalating, there werre several armored vehicles, people with zip ties, their faces covered in a heavily immigrant corridor at a time when ICE detentions have occurred in our city."
This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Jun 6, 2025, where it first appeared.
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