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Federal immigration agents forced open the door of a St. Paul, Minnesota, home Sunday and detained U.S. citizen ChongLy "Scott" Thao at gunpoint without a warrant, leading him outside in subfreezing temperatures wearing only underwear, sandals, and a blanket draped over his shoulders.
Thao, 56, a naturalized citizen since the 1970s with no criminal record, was napping when his daughter-in-law alerted him to masked ICE agents banging on the door.
He instructed her not to open it.
Agents entered with guns drawn, handcuffed him in front of his 4-year-old grandson, and took him outside despite his pleas to retrieve identification.
The Department of Homeland Security described the action as a "targeted operation" seeking two convicted sex offenders at the address.
"The individual refused to be fingerprinted or facially ID’d. He matched the description of the targets," DHS stated.
Officials maintained the U.S. citizen lived with the offenders, and standard protocol required detaining all present for safety.
Federal immigration agents have detained a U.S. citizen in Minnesota at gunpoint without a warrant.
— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) January 20, 2026
That's according to ChongLy “Scott” Thao, who says agents forced open his door, entered with guns drawn and led him outside in his underwear in freezing conditions.
The detention… pic.twitter.com/SU1R4l7W5p
Thao disputed this account, saying only he, his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson reside there, with no one listed on Minnesota’s sex offender registry. He attributed possible confusion to his son earlier being stopped while driving a borrowed car linked to a name similar to an offender.
Thao said agents ignored his offer of ID, drove him to a remote location for photographs in the cold, then returned him home after two hours upon confirming his citizenship and clean record.
No apology followed.
"I was shaking," Thao told the Associated Press. "They didn’t show any warrant; they just broke down the door."
He added, "I don’t feel safe at all. What did I do wrong? I didn’t do anything."
Thao, whose mother fled Laos after aiding CIA-backed forces, plans a civil rights lawsuit against DHS.This raid exemplifies the raw overreach of a federal bureaucracy that treats citizens like disposable suspects in the name of enforcement zeal.
When masked agents storm homes without warrants, humiliate law-abiding Americans in freezing cold, and offer no accountability after their errors, trust in government shatters. Real security demands precision, not terror.
