US citizen says ICE removed him from his Minnesota home in his underwear
after warrantless search
[January 20, 2026]
By JACK BROOK
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Federal immigration agents forced open a door and
detained a U.S. citizen in his Minnesota home at gunpoint without a
warrant, then led him out onto the streets in his underwear in
subfreezing conditions, according to his family and videos reviewed by
The Associated Press.
ChongLy “Scott” Thao told the AP that his daughter-in-law woke him up
from a nap Sunday afternoon and said that U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agents were banging at the door of his residence in St.
Paul. He told her not to open it. Masked agents then forced their way in
and pointed guns at the family, yelling at them, Thao recalled.
“I was shaking," he said. “They didn't show any warrant; they just broke
down the door."
Amid a massive surge of federal agents into the Twin Cities, immigration
authorities are facing backlash from residents and the local leaders for
warrantless arrests, aggressive clashes with protestors and the fatal
shooting of mother of three Renee Good.
“ICE is not doing what they say they’re doing,” St. Paul Mayor Kaohly
Her, a Hmong American, said in a statement about Thao's arrest. “They’re
not going after hardened criminals. They’re going after anyone and
everyone in their path. It is unacceptable and un-American.”
Encounter caught on video
Thao, who has been a U.S. citizen for decades, said that as he was being
detained he asked his daughter-in-law to find his identification but the
agents told him they didn’t want to see it.
Instead, as his 4-year-old grandson watched and cried, Thao was led out
in handcuffs wearing only sandals and underwear with just a blanket
wrapped around his shoulders.
Videos captured the scene, which included people blowing whistles and
horns and neighbors screaming at the more than a dozen gun-toting agents
to leave Thao's family alone.
Thao said agents drove him “to the middle of nowhere" and made him get
out of the car in the frigid weather so they could photograph him. He
said he feared they would beat him. He was asked for his ID, which
agents earlier prevented him from retrieving.
Agents eventually realized that he was a U.S. citizen with no criminal
record, Thao said, and an hour or two later, they brought him back to
his house. There they made him show his ID and then left without
apologizing for detaining him or breaking his door, Thao said.
DHS defends operation
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security described the ICE operation at
Thao's home as a “targeted operation" seeking two convicted sex
offenders.
“The US citizen lives with these two convicted sex offenders at the site
of the operation,” DHS said. “The individual refused to be fingerprinted
or facially ID’d. He matched the description of the targets.”
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Chongly "Scott" Thao, a U.S. citizen, sits for a photo at his home
Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn., the day after federal
agents broke open his door and detained him without a warrant. (AP
Photo/Jack Brook)
Thao's family said in a statement that it “categorically disputes”
the DHS account and “strongly objects to DHS’s attempt to publicly
justify this conduct with false and misleading claims.”
Thao told the AP that only he, his son and daughter-in-law and his
grandson live at the rental home. Neither they nor the property's
owner are listed in the Minnesota sex offender registry. The nearest
sex offender listed as living in the zip code is more than two
blocks away.
DHS did not respond to a request from The Associated Press seeking
the identities of the “two convicted sex offenders” or why the
agency believed they were present in Thao's home.
Thao's son, Chris Thao, said ICE agents stopped him while he was
driving to work before they went to detain his father. He said he
was driving a car he borrowed from his cousin's boyfriend. Court
records show that the boyfriend shares the first name of another
Asian man who has been convicted of a sex offense. Chris Thao said
the two people are not the same.
Family fled Laos after helping US
The family said they are particularly upset by Chongly Thao’s
treatment at the hands of the U.S. government because his mother had
to flee to the U.S. from Laos when communists took over in the 1970s
since she had supported American covert operations in the country
and her life was in danger.
Thao's adopted mother, Choua Thao, was a nurse who treated
CIA-backed Hmong soldiers in the U.S. government's “Secret War” from
1961 to 1975 against the communists, according to the Hmong Nurses
Association website.
Choua Thao, who passed away in late December, "treated countless
civilians and American soldiers, working closely with U.S.
personnel," her daughter-in-law Louansee Moua wrote on a GoFundMe
page for the family.
ChongLy Thao says he's planning to file a civil rights lawsuit
against DHS and no longer feels secure to sleep in his home.
“I don't feel safe at all,” Thao said. “What did I do wrong? I
didn't do anything.”
___
Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker in Washington contributed.
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