Minnesota Dems rally behind anti-ICE agitator who ‘stalked’ agents

Minnesota Democrats are trying to make a hero out of an anti-ICE activist who was arrested after laughing off multiple warnings against tailing immigration agents in an effort to waste their time and resources.

Patty O’Keefe has been making the rounds on TV in recent days, sharing the experience of her arrest and spending hours in ICE custody, while accusing agents of making “bigoted” and “homophobic” remarks in front of her and another activist friend.

The Minnesota House DFL breathlessly shared a video of O’Keefe telling her story at a press conference, which they described as “horrifying, infuriating, and sadly unsurprising” and blasted ICE agents of committing “horrific abuses of Minnesotans.”

O’Keefe and several of her fellow radicals’ activities were chronicled in a recent profile in left-leaning local outlet Minnesota Reformer, in which the activists boasted their tactics, which primarily involve disrupting or distracting agents’ enforcing US immigration law, were “a successful waste of ICE resources.”

The article, which echoed the account of O’Keefe’s arrest she’s been sharing over the airwaves, said they “figured” that they “weren’t doing anything illegal” — but the Department of Homeland Security begs to differ.

“Make no mistake – obstructing federal law enforcement officers during the performance of their duties is not only dangerous but also a serious crime,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Post.

O’Keefe and her friend Brandon Sigüenza were driving around south Minneapolis chasing leads posted on anonymous neighborhood group chats about agents conducting enforcement activities when they came upon two ICE vehicles surrounding the vehicle of another pair of citizen “patrollers.”

The ICE vehicles were “surrounded by people blowing whistles and honking horns,” O’Keefe told the outlet.

After the agents drove away, O’Keefe and Sigüenza tailed the agents down a residential street until their vehicles stopped in the middle of the road.

Agents emerged, giving the agitators a “final warning” to stop following them, which O’Keefe responded to by shouting at them through closed car windows that she wasn’t obstructing them. Sigüenza, meanwhile, kept repeating the name of Renee Good, who was shot by an ICE agent last week after she clipped him with her SUV while speeding away to evade arrest.

Sigüenza claimed one of the agents “sprayed pepper spray into the car’s intake vent” as they walked back to their vehicles.

But even a stern warning and an alleged dose of pepper spray wasn’t enough to deter the duo, who continued following the convoy, O’Keefe leaning on her horn until the agents again stopped their cars.

“They shattered both front windows and dragged Sigüenza and O’Keefe from the car,” the outlet writes, citing video of the incident captured by observers.

Exactly as advertised, the pair was arrested and brought in separate cars by immigration agents to the Whipple Federal Building in downtown Minneapolis, where they said they spent eight hours in custody, mostly with other busted ICE protesters.

On the ride over, O’Keefe made the incendiary claim that the agent driving the car said, “you guys gotta stop obstructing us,” and, “that’s why that lesbian bitch is dead,” allegedly referring to Good, who herself was affiliated with a similar group of “ICE Watch” volunteers.

Sigüenza claimed agents offered him money or to “expedite immigration proceedings for his relatives” if he gave up names of protest organizers or illegal immigrants.

McLaughlin slammed Sigüenza’s claims as lies.

“Any claim that DHS is offering money to agitators for information leading to the arrest of illegal aliens is FALSE,” McLaughlin told The Post when asked about Sigüenza’s allegations.

“The only stipend DHS is currently offering is for illegal aliens to self-deport using the CBP Home app. The U.S. taxpayer is generously offering illegal aliens $1,000 and a free flight home. We encourage all illegal aliens to use the CBP Home app to take control of their departure and reserve the possibility to return the right legal way.”

Sigüenza and O’Keefe were released from custody without charges.

O’Keefe and another friend were warned to knock it off just days earlier by a different convoy of immigration agents they had been following.

“I wonder how many first warnings we can get today,” O’Keefe mused “half-jokingly” to Elle Neubauer, another anti-ICE friend who was along for the ride.

On that day, the activists, who call themselves “observers” or “community patrols,” again followed ICE vehicles, sharing vehicle descriptions and license plate numbers with other members of the chat group.

After spending some time pursuing an ICE SUV, they patted themselves on the back that the agency had “dedicated an entire vehicle to impeding the observers for several minutes, rather than conducting arrests.

O’Keefe said their goal in following agents is to “distract them, to occupy their time,” adding, “the more time they’re trying to get away from us, the less time they’re spending searching for people to abduct.”

McLaughlin said the arrested activists’ accounts of what happened has no bearing to the truth.

“These two agitators making these false claims were stalking and obstructing ICE law enforcement — a felony. ICE law enforcement gave the driver and passenger multiple warnings to stop impeding law enforcement, but they chose to continue and were arrested on January 11,” she said.

“The passenger refused to roll down the window and exit the vehicle. ICE law enforcement followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to make the arrest.”

As for the disruptive work of groups like ICE Watch and the so-called “observers” featured in the article, McLaughlin said they have a fundamental understanding of what’s legal First Amendment-protected activity and what constitutes illegal obstruction.

“Secretary Noem has been clear: Any rioter who obstructs, impedes, or assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”