The video of a barely-clothed Minnesota man being dragged out of his home into the snow by ICE officers has sparked outrage. The man has been identified as ChongLy Thao, 56, a naturalized US citizen who goes by the name Scott, according to Reuters. He was returned home later on Sunday without an explanation or apology, he said.
Who is ChongLy Thao?
Thao is a Hmong man born in Laos. He revealed that his parents brought him from Laos to the United States in 1974 when he was four-years-old. He became a US citizen in 1991.
“They just took me out there with no clothes on and then just covered with my grandson’s blanket. Yeah, they just took me out there, and I was like, ‘Man, this is, this is embarrassing,” Thao recalled, according to NBC News.
“I was praying. I was like, God, please help me, I didn’t do anything wrong. Why do they do this to me? Without my clothes on,” Thao told Reuters.
Videos of the incident show Thao, who was barely clothed and only covered in a blanket, being led out of the house by ICE agents. He was wearing only boxer shorts and Crocs on his feet, and officers refused to let him put more clothes on despite the freezing temperature outside.
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Thao said he was singing karaoke when there was a loud noise at the door. He, along with his family, hid in a bedroom where ICE agents found him. He said he was trying to find his ID as officers escorted him out of the house.
Thao said that officers took his fingerprints and a head shot in the car before returning him to his home.
“We came here for a purpose, right? … To have a bright future. To have a safe place to live,” Thao said. “If this is going to turn out to be America, what are we doing here? Why are we here?”
Thao’s sister-in-law, Louansee Moua, described the ordeal in a Facebook post. She referred to Thao as Saly in the post.
“ICE came to my brother-in-law Saly’s apartment, broke down the door, trashed the place, handcuffed him, and put a gun to his daughter-in-law’s head. They did not allow him to put on proper clothing and forced him outside in freezing weather,” Moua wrote, noting that Thao has no criminal record.
“ICE drove him around for nearly an hour, questioned him, and fingerprinted him. Only after all of that did they realize he had no criminal history and no reason to be detained. They then dropped him back off at his apartment like nothing happened,” she added. “We believe they were looking for someone who previously lived there, but instead of asking for identification, they chose violence, intimidation, and humiliation.”
Moua further wrote, “What makes this even more painful is Saly’s story. During the war in Laos, his mother, Nurse Choua Thao, helped a Lao woman deliver premature twins. The mother could not care for them. Choua took the boy, Saly, and one of her fellow nurses took the girl. Choua ensured all her children became naturalized U.S. citizens. She believed deeply in doing things the right way, in protecting life, dignity, and family. To see her son treated like this, in front of family, with weapons drawn, is beyond traumatic. This is not about politics. This is about basic human rights, due process, and accountability.”
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“It was so heartbreaking seeing him in that image,” Moua said in a different statement, per NBC News. “You can’t get it out of your head. He has no clothes, and it’s, like, 12 degrees and it’s snowing.”
What the Department of Homeland Security said
The Department of Homeland Security said that they were investigating two convicted sex offenders at the address, adding that a US citizen living there refused to be fingerprinted or facially identified, so he was detained. “The US citizen lives with these two convicted sex offenders at the site of the operation. The individual refused to be fingerprinted or facially ID’d. He matched the description of the targets. As with any law enforcement agency, it is standard protocol to hold all individuals in a house of an operation for safety of the public and law enforcement,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
DHS published wanted posters for two men targeted in the investigation, one of who previously lived at the house but moved out, relatives close to the situation revealed, describing him as the ex-husband of a member of the Thao family.
Thao’s family, however, dismissed the DHS’ claims, saying in a statement, according to social media posts, that Thao “does not live with, nor has he ever lived with, the individuals DHS claims were targets of this operation.”
Moua has started a GoFundMe for Thao to help cover “legal fees to pursue accountability and protect” his rights.