Another reportedly chaotic scene unfolded earlier Tuesday inside the Hennepin County Government Center where federal agents detained at least one man inside the building.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty says ICE Agents arrested a man making a court appearance in a case where he was charged with first-degree drug possession for allegedly possessing over 50 pounds of methamphetamine.
Moriarty called the arrest "disruptive and disturbing to many." She adds that many staff who work in the building were afraid to leave their offices for fear of being racially profiled while agents were in the building.
It's also disruptive to the process of holding people accountable in a court of law, according to Moriarty.
"Our local jails are pre-trial facilities. That means that the people being held there have not yet been convicted of a crime," she said in a social media video posted after the incident. "When ICE takes people away before they have been convicted of a crime, they are preventing victims and witnesses from their opportunity to seek justice."
Moriarty also says it is disrupting ongoing legal action from her office.
"That means that the people who are being held there have not yet been convicted of a crime," Moriarty added. "There are many people that my office, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, is prosecuting for serious cases. Should ICE take them away, there will be no accountability or justice for the victims of those cases."
She adds that what federal immigration officials are asking the county to turn over exceeds legal boundaries.
"Our local jails, including the Hennepin County Jail, is already giving all of the information they are legally required to give to the federal government," she explains. "They are not required to give any more information to the government. It is information above and beyond what they are legally required to give that is being demanded by the federal government."