AnImmigration and Customs Enforcement agententered a Thai restaurant in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his handgun drawn while claiming to look for a "kid," the restaurant's owners said.
Footage from Eastside Thai taken Jan. 19 shows afederal agentstep out of a vehicle, draw the gun and enter the restaurant after a person is seen running past the restaurant's front door.
Elle Lee, one of the restaurant's owners, told Storyful that the agent was "shouting at us" as he entered. Kou Lee, the restaurant's other owner,said in a Facebook postthat "the ICE agent accused us of hiding the kid."
A witness seen in the video eating as the agent enters the restaurant, identified on Facebook as Sherminator Vang, said in a comment on the post that agents had "been circling around the block looking" for the person. USA TODAY has reached out to the witness for further comment.
The agent is seen exiting the restaurant and then returning with his weapon still unholstered. He speaks with Elle at the threshold of the restaurant and then renters before quickly leaving and returning to his car.
Cellphone video taken by Elle after the agent leaves shows a vehicle abandoned just out of the way of an intersection.
In his post Kou said that everyone in the restaurant was unharmed. Elle told Storyful that multiple customers and staff members were traumatized by the incident.
"My business was disrupted, and now my staff are hesitant to come to work, while those still needing to pay bills are showing up feeling worried and scared," Elle said.
USA TODAY has reached out to the restaurant owners for further comment.
St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her did not provide an immediate response when contacted by USA TODAY about the incident but told PBS Newshourin a Jan. 21 interviewthat, "people are afraid, they are frustrated, they are angry."
USA TODAY has reached out to theDepartment of Homeland Security, ICE andCustoms and Border Protectionfor comment on the incident.
Protest probe:DOJ to investigate anti-ICE protest at Minnesota church
Immigration operation takes over Twin Cities
Aggressive, and often contentious, immigration operations have increasingly reshaped life in the Twin Cities, particularly after an ICE agent shot and killed residentRenee Nicole Good.
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In an interview with CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Jan. 18, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called immigration agents in the city an "occupying force."
American citizens are being stopped on the streets"with no cause and are being forced to produce paperwork to determine if they are here legally," Mark Bruley, chief of the Brooklyn Park Police Department, said in a Jan. 20 news conference. He said that his officers had been targeted by federal agents while off-duty.
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"I wish I could tell you this was an isolated incident," Bruley said, flanked by other local chiefs of police. "If it is happening to our officers, it pains me to think of how many of our community members are falling victim to this every day. It has to stop."
Erin Stevens, chair of the legislative committee for the Minnesota chapter of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said at aJan. 20 news conferencethat the presence of federal agents has obstructed access to medical care.
"Many of our patients, undocumented immigrants, naturalized citizens, and US-born citizens alike, fear leaving their homes for access to healthcare," Stevens said. "They express to us a feeling of being hunted."
In the restaurant's video an "ICE OUT!" poster is seen, referring to a planned daylong "statewide shutdown" in Minnesota on Jan. 23, organized byanti-ICE activists. The event calls on residents to refrain from working, shopping and going to school, and organizers are lobbying for businesses to close as well.
The organizers demand federal agents be removed from the state and call for the prosecution ofJonathan Ross, the agent who killed Good.
"It is time to suspend the normal order of business to demand immediate cessation of ICE actions in MN, accountability for federal agents who have caused loss of life and abuse to Minnesota residents and call for Congress to immediately intervene,"the website for the action reads.
Similar ICE Out events have taken place in recent weeks in response to confrontations with immigration and customs enforcement agents. Grassroots anti-Trump organizations arehelping to organize the protests, USA TODAY has previously reported.
On Jan. 20, theDepartment of Justiceannounced it would investigate an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 18.
Contributing: Christopher Cann and Dinah Pulver, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Video shows ICE agent entering Twin Cities restaurant with gun drawn
