MINNESOTA, U.S. – A Liberian-born, naturalized United States citizen, Emmanuel Sackie, says he was injured and hospitalized following an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, an incident that has raised fresh concerns about the treatment of citizens during immigration enforcement operations.
By Jaheim T. Tumu | [email protected]
According to a report by WCCO News/CBS News, the incident occurred Monday afternoon in the parking lot of a Family Dollar store in Brooklyn Park. Sackie said he was inside the store when his fiancée, Amanda Tuonyon, called to inform him that immigration agents were surrounding their vehicle.
Tuonyon told reporters that the agents claimed the vehicle was registered to someone named Joseph. Sackie said he then exited the store and presented his driver’s license to the agents in an effort to clarify his identity and citizenship status.
“They asked me, ‘Can you give me more proof that you’re a citizen?’ I told them I don’t have the proof on me right now,” Sackie said in an interview with WCCO News.
Video footage recorded by Tuonyon captured the initial moments of the encounter outside the store. In the video, Sackie can be heard stating that he does not know anyone named Joseph, while Tuonyon repeatedly pleads with the agents to let them go, insisting that her fiancé is a U.S. citizen.
Sackie said the situation escalated rapidly. A second video, recorded by a bystander, shows a physical struggle between Sackie and federal agents. The footage shows Sackie being handcuffed before being placed into a federal vehicle.
“I am a legal citizen, and this is my first time being in handcuffs in my whole life,” Sackie said.
He told WCCO News that he was taken to an undisclosed location and later released. However, Sackie said he sustained significant bruises during the encounter and subsequently sought medical treatment at a hospital.
Sackie, who said he legally immigrated to the United States in search of a better life and to reunite with family, noted that the incident has left him shaken and questioning whether citizenship documentation truly offers protection during immigration enforcement actions.
“America is the place of dreams, equal opportunity, equal rights—but that is not how I was treated,” Sackie said. “I was treated like an animal, and it really hurt me.”
ICE officials have not yet publicly commented on the incident.
