...
By Dan Gooding
Associate News Editor
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Police in Minnesota said Thursday that a federal agent was briefly kidnapped during a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) operation close to Minneapolis.
The agent, working with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), was held in a suspect's car for a short period on Wednesday afternoon, before officers from the New Hope and Plymouth Police Departments arrived.
DHS later confirmed the incident to Newsweek, saying that the agent was initially thrown from the vehicle.
Read More on News
“Our officers pursued the vehicle and called local police for back up," Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek. "Both the illegal alien and the U.S. citizen were arrested."
Why It Matters
The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions in Minnesota, as the state became the latest target for President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, focusing on the Somali community. DHS has also warned that its agents are seeing a spike in assaults and threats, as they seek to carry out the president’s goal of mass deportation.
...
What To Know
A police report shared with Newsweek by Plymouth Police Department showed that local law enforcement was alerted to “a kidnapping of a federal agent” around 2:50 p.m. local time Wednesday.
The interaction between a member of the public and the agent started on the 4300 block of Nathan Lane N. in Plymouth, the report said, and moved to the nearby New Hope City Center area on Xylon Avenue.
DHS told Newsweek that agents were targeting Oluwadamiola Ogooluwa Bamigboye, a Nigerian national, who allegedly overstayed his student visa that expired last year.
Bamigboye is accused of refusing to exit the vehicle and resisting arrest during the vehicle stop, and his U.S. citizen girlfriend was driving the vehicle as he was in the back seat, according to DHS.
When officers opened the back seat door to try to remove the man, DHS alleges, he ordered his girlfriend to speed away, causing one of the officers to be knocked from the car and fall to the street, while another entered the passenger seat.
While Plymouth police were en route, New Hope police said they had secured the federal agent, and a suspect had fled the scene, close to the latter’s building. A suspect, believed to be the driver of the vehicle, was later detained.
Confirming the incident, Plymouth police insisted that it had no prior knowledge of a federal operation in the area, and that local police do not get involved with DHS activities.
The Minneapolis area has become another focal point of federal immigration enforcement in recent weeks, following allegations that federal benefit programs have been subjected to fraudulent activity linked to Somali groups in the area.
Last week, DHS said in a news release that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had arrested “some of the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens” since it launched Operation Metro Surge in the Minneapolis area. The news release listed seven people arrested, including three from Somalia.
What People Are Saying
**Plymouth Police Department, in a statement to Newsweek: “**The Plymouth Police Department does not engage in federal immigration enforcement and is typically not notified of federal operations. Plymouth police officers enforce only state and local laws. The department’s focus is on serving and protecting Plymouth residents, and responding to the everyday needs of those who call 911 for service.”
McLaughlin, in her statement to Newsweek: “Our law enforcement officers are facing a more than 1150% increase in assaults against. We are once again calling on sanctuary politicians, agitators, and the media to turn the temperature down and stop calling for violence and resistance against ICE law enforcement."
What's Next
Federal authorities are likely to take over the case due to involvement of an HSI agent.
Update 12/11/25, 6:43 p.m.: This article was updated with comment from DHS and further information.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines