Former U.S. President Barack Obama has sharply criticized the conduct of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minnesota, describing what he called “out-of-control behavior” as reminiscent of actions seen in “authoritarian countries” and “dictatorships.”
The remarks came during a wide-ranging interview with liberal podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen on Saturday. The comments mark one of Obama’s more direct public interventions, diverging from his long-standing strategy of maintaining a lower public profile and allowing a new generation of Democrats to take the spotlight. During former President Joe Biden’s term, Obama had largely remained in the background, CNN reported.
Obama, who has previously criticized President Donald Trump over the deployment of federal agents in American cities, described the immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis and St. Paul as “deeply troubling and dangerous.”
A large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota reportedly involved around 3,000 federal agents. Numerous videos circulated showing aggressive tactics by federal agents and confrontations with members of the public.
“It’s important to recognize the unprecedented nature of what ICE was doing in Minneapolis and St. Paul — the way federal agents were being deployed without clear guidance, without training, pulling people out of their homes… gassing crowds that were simply standing there, not breaking the law,” Obama said.
He added that Americans should be commended for engaging in peaceful protests and for exposing behavior that, in the past, “we’ve seen in authoritarian countries and dictatorships, but not in America.”
The killings of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January by immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis sparked outrage locally and nationwide. The Trump administration announced this week that it is halting the extended wave of immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota.
Obama, who in January wrote a column stating that Pretti’s death should serve as a “wake-up call” that America’s core values are “under attack,” praised the response of protesters in Minnesota.
Protesters have largely adopted a strategy of civil disobedience, including alerting their communities to the presence of immigration agents using bottles, car horns, and shouts, as well as recording encounters with agents.
“That kind of heroic and persistent behavior in sub-zero weather by ordinary people is what should give us hope,” Obama said in the interview.
