Agents pilot a drone in the Holland neighborhood of Northeast on the morning of October 10 2025, while a third agent looks on from their car. (Jim Olson)
On the morning of October 10, neighbors near the intersection of 26th Ave. and Howard St. NE gathered in their yards to take in an unusual sight: an armed and camouflaged figure running through their backyards and alleyways.
“I was working in my backyard before work,” a lifelong Holland resident who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the Northeaster over the phone. “I had a gentleman who was not wearing a mask walk up. He looked ‘law enforcement,’ and he had the word ‘Police’ on his tactical vest.”
“I noticed he was wearing blue jeans and regular shoes — (he was) dressed not quite like a police officer I’d seen,” they continued. “I asked him for a description of who he was looking for, and he said he was looking for a man with long hair and blue jeans. Then I said, ‘are you with ICE?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’”
ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) is a federal law-enforcement agency under the supervision of the United States Department of Homeland Security. Its stated mission is to conduct criminal investigations, enforce immigration laws and preserve national security.
According to a July 10 NPR article about ICE raids written by Leila Fadel, Adam Bearne, Barry Gordemer and H.J. Mai, ICE arrests this year have “follow(ed) a pattern: masked agents, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal officers assigned to work with ICE, wearing plainclothes and sometimes arriving in unmarked vehicles.”
The three agents wore face coverings. One of the agents identified themselves as an ICE agent to a Holland resident. (Provided)
“Plainclothes,” in this context, refers to law-enforcement agents wearing ordinary clothes rather than a uniform while on duty. The practice is legal.
Sargeant Garrett Parten, Public Information Officer at the Minneapolis Police Department, wrote in an email to the Northeaster that “Second Precinct Officers responded to the report of people with guns chasing a person” at 8:33 a.m. on October 10. “Officers arrived and identified the individuals with guns as ICE agents. MPD disengaged and cleared the scene. ICE did not request assistance from MPD.”
Jim Olson, another Holland resident, told the Northeaster about his recollection of the event. He said there were three agents: the ICE agent who approached the previous resident and two other federal agents, one of whom was wearing a badge that identified them as being part of the IRS-CI, the International Revenue Service’s (IRS) criminal investigative arm.
The IRS handles taxation enforcement in the United States. Its website says the IRS-CI is “responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more.”
“They didn’t really try to interact with the neighbors that were gathering around,” Olson said. “They tried to act like they were on a mission and were trying to do something. They didn’t act necessarily aggressively toward us.”
According to Olson, “several” onlookers called 911. Data provided by the City of Minneapolis confirms that a 911 call was made near the intersection of 26th Ave. and Howard St. NE on October 10, 2025.
“Several Minneapolis Police Department vehicles came on scene… A few officers got out and talked with the agents for a few minutes. They didn’t address the neighbors that were out.” Olson corroborated Parten’s claim, saying, “They didn’t offer assistance of any kind (to the agents or the neighbors).” The police officers left the scene “in pretty short order.”
Olson independently confirmed the allegation that the agents were looking for a “long-haired person.”
“If their mission was to capture this one person, it didn’t appear to us that they succeeded in that,” he said, later saying that “in a case like this, ICE left empty-handed, at least from our hyper-local vantage point.”
Another Holland resident, who also declined to be identified for this article, said they called 911 on the agents after seeing them driving through the neighborhood, requesting that police officers identify the car based on a provided license plate number. “They said, ‘Yes, we got your call. Thanks for the license plate number. They are legitimate.’”
The source said they have “very mixed feelings about” the events of October 10. “I want to trust our law enforcement, and I want to support them, but when they’re behaving that way, and not credentialed in a way where if I had a problem I couldn’t identify them, and they’re masked — that I don’t like at all.
“It was, ‘Wow, the national news just came into my yard.’”
At the time of reporting, the Northeaster has reached out to the City of Minneapolis, the St. Paul ICE field office and the ICE media team for information regarding the event.
Representatives at Edison High School, whose homecoming dance took place the evening of October 10, said in an email to the Northeaster that “Minneapolis Public Schools has policies and protocols in place regarding any school visitors, including law enforcement.”
