Tensions in Minnesota reached boiling point Saturday as Representative Ilhan Omar faced off with agents just four days after 37-year-old mother Renee Nicole Good was shot dead by ICE during a protest.
Omar, 43, was flanked by Representatives Angie Craig and Kelly Morrison outside an ICE detention facility as they attempted to gain access for a tour, but were denied entry, according to Axios.
They arrived to the Whipple Federal Building in St. Paul after Omar said she had called to tell the agency she and the two others would be arriving.
They were initially let into the facility, before being swiftly led out after ‘two officials then got the message’ of their arrival, Axios said.
Omar, who was elected in the House of Representatives in 2018, said she saw two planes departing the facility, but she was told they were not deportation flights. The aircrafts reportedly were taking detainees to other facilities.
Politicians are allowed to visit ICE buildings, but the federal agency has attempted to limit access and have accused Democrats of using the visits as political theater.
The Daily Mail has contacted DHS for comment.
Minnesota Representatives Ilhan Omar (middle), and Angie Craig (right) and Kelly Morrison (left) were denied access to an ICE detention facility on Saturday
They were initially allowed into the building, but were swiftly led out after an official learned of their presence, Omar said
Tensions have been rising between lawmakers and citizens against ICE after the death of Renee Nicole Good, who lawmakers said was ‘murdered’ by the federal agency on Wednesday during a protest in Minneapolis.
Outside the St. Paul facility, Omar told the press: ‘In Minnesota, we know how to protect one another.
‘This is an all-hands-on-deck process.’
She insisted ICE agents’ aggression and angry stemmed from citizens’ resistance to their doings,’ she said at a press conference outside the facility.
An ICE agent was seen entering the facility with his window rolled down and a can of pepper spray in his lap.
‘Why do you have your pepper spray out? Why do you have your pepper spray out,’ a journalist yelled from the press line outside the facility’s gate.
‘What’s the danger? Members of Congress are here. Why is the pepper spray out?’
Omar said agents don’t understand the love the Minnesotans have for each other.
‘This is an all-hands-on-deck process,’ Omar said outside the facility
‘They have never experienced the kind of love that we experience here in Minnesota,’ the congresswoman said.
‘We know they will disappear one day, but we will be here, caring for one another and carrying out policy with love in Minnesota.’
Omar, alongside 156 other lawmakers, have demanded accountability after Good’s death, a Friday press release said.
They demanded ‘an immediate suspension of the current surge of federal officers and agents to Minneapolis and an investigation into this reprehensible event by an independent agency.’
‘We write to express our horror and outrage at the actions that have taken place under your command. This is not the first time your agents have used unnecessary force on civilians without provocation,’ the lawmakers wrote in a statement.
‘You have lost the faith and confidence of the American people.
‘We demand that you immediately suspend the current surge of federal officers and agents to Minneapolis and that you work with an independent agency to ensure transparency and accountability throughout the course of the investigation into this reprehensible event.’
On Wednesday, Omar called death the of Good ‘unconscionable and reprehensive.’
‘I am beyond outraged that their reckless, callous actions led to the killing of a legal observer in Minneapolis,’ she wrote.
‘My heart breaks for the victim’s family, who will have to forever live with the pain caused by the Trump Administration’s reckless and deadly actions.’