MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Liberian man who had been regularly checking in with federal authorities for years was arrested over the weekend after heavily armed immigration agents used a battering ram to break down the front door of his Minneapolis home, his attorney said Tuesday.
Attorney Marc Prokosch said the arrest of 37-year-old Garrison Gibson in Minnesota’s immigration crackdown was a “blatant violation of the Constitution” as the Department of Homeland Security called it its largest-ever enforcement operation.
Sunday’s arrests came as tensions grew in the city after an immigration agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good last week, triggering a wave of angry protests and clashes between authorities and activists.
“This was definitely an illegal search,” Prokosh said, because agents brought only an administrative warrant, which authorizes the arrest of someone but does not allow officers to force entry into a private home. Forcible entry requires a criminal warrant signed by a judge.
Gibson fled Liberia’s civil war as a child and was later ordered to leave the United States, apparently because of a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed by the courts. But he remains in the country legally under a so-called supervision order that requires him to meet regularly with immigration authorities.
Just days before his arrest, Gibson checked in with immigration authorities at the regional immigration office — the same building where agents had been conducting law enforcement raids in recent weeks.
“He’ll register again in a few months,” Prokosh said. “So, if he’s a danger, why are they letting him walk around?
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said earlier this week that Gibson “has a lengthy criminal history that includes robbery, possession of drugs with intent to sell, possession of a deadly weapon, vandalism and theft.” She did not say whether those were arrests, charges or convictions.
McLaughlin did not respond to questions about whether the agents’ use of force was justified.
But court records show Gibson’s legal history – mostly consisting of several traffic violations, minor drug arrests and an arrest for riding public transportation without paying a fare – shows only one felony, a 2008 conviction for third-degree drug sales that was later dismissed.
Prokosh said Gibson was flown to Texas by immigration authorities within hours of his arrest and then quickly flown back to Minnesota on a judge’s order after attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition, which the court uses to determine whether the incarceration is legal. The court has yet to rule on the petition.
Gibson was previously held at a large camp at Fort Bliss Army Base in El Paso, Texas, and is currently being held at an immigration detention center in Albert Lea, Minnesota. According to ICE’s Detainee Locator.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to an email from The Associated Press asking follow-up questions about Gibson’s case.
Guns, activists and pepper spray
Gibson’s wife, Teyana Gibson Brown, a nurse who was at the home with the couple’s 9-year-old child during the raid, was shocked by the arrest, Prokosh said.
He said that during their conversation she “had difficulty completing sentences because she was so distraught.”
Activists who had been monitoring immigration agents before Gibson’s arrest beat drums, whistled and honked car horns in an attempt to disrupt the action and warn neighbors, some of whom took to the streets.
Video captured by The Associated Press at the scene showed agents shoving and pepper-spraying demonstrators.
The Twin Cities, the latest target of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign, were rocked by Goode’s shooting death on Jan. 7 during a confrontation with agents.
The Trump administration has defended the officer who opened fire in Goode’s car, saying he was protecting himself and other agents and that Goode had “weaponized” her car.
City and state officials dismissed those explanations based on video of the confrontation.
State and local authorities are urging the public to share video and any other evidence in the investigation into Goode’s death, after federal authorities insisted they would work independently and not share information.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Minnesota has arrested more than 2,000 immigrants since enforcement operations began in early December.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News over the weekend that the administration would send more federal agents to the state to protect immigration officials and continue enforcement.
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Associated Press writer Elliott Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.
