The homicide last week of Minneapolis resident and US citizen Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in her own neighborhood has justifiably received national press attention and public condemnation. What should also be getting the same level of press, public, and congressional attention are cases like those of Brandon Siguenza and Patty O’Keefe.
Less than a week after Good’s killing, Siguenza and O’Keefe were engaged in ICE observation activities—following ICE vehicles and recording or otherwise observing the conduct of ICE agents. The legality of public observation and recording of police engaged in their duties in public has been well established for decades at this point. Despite that fact, in July 2025, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem claimed that “Violence is anything that threatens them and their safety, so it is doxing them, it’s videotaping them where they’re at when they’re out on operations.…”
In the case of Siguenza, O’Keefe, and other such public observers of ICE operations in Minneapolis, ICE is ignoring the law and engaging in violence and detention operations against the observers. On social media, Siguenza offered a description of what he and O’Keefe went through while in ICE detention after agents had arrested them. I’ve curated his account into this file.
The key takeaways from this episode?
- Siguenza and O’Keefe were conducting a legal observation when ICE agents deployed pepper spray into their vehicle vent, smashed their car windows, dragged them out, and arrested them for “obstruction” despite their hands being raised and repeatedly stating they were not obstructing.
- They were detained for eight hours without being charged.
- O’Keefe was never allowed a phone call during the entire detention.
- Upon release, Siguenza was escorted directly into an area where tear gas was deployed, and he was struck by paintball rounds.
In an interview published today in the Minnesota Reformer, O’Keefe made clear why she and others engage in these ICE observation patrols.
The goal is to “distract them, to occupy their time,” O’Keefe said. “The more time they’re trying to get away from us, the less time they’re spending searching for people to abduct.”
Siguenza, O’Keefe, and the other observers aren’t simply exercising their First Amendment rights. They’re trying to protect others living in their community from violent, rogue federal agents, and they’re literally risking their lives to do so. In that sense, they’ve become a form of unarmed civil society protection force—a duty none of them should ever have had to take on.
There is at least a partial solution to ICE-sponsored violence and terror in Minneapolis.
Minnesota’s two US senators, Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, could announce they will use Senate procedure to prevent the federal government from being funded after January 30, when the current continuing resolution expires. Using that kind of political leverage and power is the one kind of language that President Trump most definitely understands. It’s also the most tangible and likely effective way Minnesota’s Senate delegation can support their ICE observer constituents on the ground.