It became one of the searing images of the Trump administration鈥檚 immigration operation in Minnesota earlier this year. After using a battering ram to break down the door of a home in St. Paul, federal agents handcuffed ChongLy Scott Thao and led him outside in subzero temperatures wearing only boxer shorts and slip-on shoes.
On Monday, local law enforcement officials announced that they were weighing whether federal agents should face criminal charges, including kidnapping, burglary and false imprisonment, over the detention of Thao on Jan. 18.
John J. Choi, the elected prosecutor in Ramsey County, said that his office had formally sought information from the Department of 91直播land Security about Thao鈥檚 arrest, including the names of the agents who took him into custody.
It was the latest effort by Minnesota prosecutors to pursue criminal cases stemming from the immigration operation carried out by thousands of agents in Minnesota this winter, although legal experts say that any such prosecutions would face significant legal and practical obstacles.
鈥淲e are going to be dogged in our pursuit of the truth,鈥� Choi told reporters Monday afternoon, adding that his office was considering empaneling a grand jury to review evidence from the case. 鈥淲e are not going to let this go.鈥�
Federal agents returned Thao to his home more than an hour after taking him into custody, having concluded that he was a United States citizen without a criminal record. The Department of 91直播land Security later said its agents had been seeking two convicted sex offenders when they came to the home.
Thao鈥檚 family said those men did not live at the house. One of them had been serving time in state prison since 2024.
In an email, the Department of 91直播land Security called Monday鈥檚 announcement 鈥渁 political stunt to demonize ICE law enforcement.鈥� The agency asserted that Thao refused to be fingerprinted or have his face scanned when agents entered the home.
Thao鈥檚 family has said that it 鈥渃ategorically disputes鈥� that account. Thao has said agents pointed guns at him and his relatives and swiftly took him into custody without allowing him to get dressed.
Days after Thao鈥檚 arrest, which drew widespread outrage, a whistleblower group disclosed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told agents last year that they had sweeping authority to enter homes without judicial warrants.
That guidance, conveyed in a memo issued last May, has been widely criticized by legal scholars as a violation of the constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
Choi said there was no evidence that federal agents had a judicial warrant to enter Thao鈥檚 house.
Bob Fletcher, the Ramsey County sheriff, said investigators do not know the identity of the agents who took Thao into custody. He said federal agents swapped license plates on a vehicle used during that incident, which he called a violation of Minnesota law.
The criminal investigation into Thao鈥檚 detention is among several local officials are pursing. Last month, Minnesota鈥檚 attorney general and the elected prosecutor in Hennepin County filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to compel federal officials to turn over evidence related to three shootings by immigration agents.
Two of the shootings resulted in the deaths of American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. The third wounded Julio Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan immigrant.
Legal experts say that local prosecutors would face formidable challenges in pursuing criminal charges against federal agents. The supremacy clause of the Constitution gives federal agents broad immunity from prosecution by state officials. Also, the Trump administration has thus far been unwilling to provide basic information on the cases state officials are investigating.
This article originally appeared in .
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