A Minnesota woman with autism and a traumatic brain injury has shared her chilling interaction with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents, as they forcefully detained her.
Testifying in Washington DC about her experience in Minneapolis, Aliya Rahman said she had been driving to a doctor’s appointment when she first encountered ICE.
“I had not wanted to pull into a blocked, chaotic intersection, but verbally agreed to do so and rolled down my window after an agent yelled, ‘Move! I will break your ‘effing window’. His first instruction,” Rahman said.
“There were agents on all sides of my vehicle yelling conflicting threats and instructions that I could not process while watching for pedestrians. Then, the glass of the passenger side window flew across my face. I yelled, ‘I’m disabled’, at the hands grabbing at me, and an agent said, ‘Too late’.”
“I was carried face down through the street by my cuffed arms and legs while yelling that I had a brain injury and was disabled. I now cannot lift my arms normally. I was never asked for ID, never told I was under arrest, never read my rights and never charged with a crime.”
A Bangladeshi American, born in Wisconsin, Rahman was eventually placed in an SUV by the ICE agents, with the incident captured in bystander video footage, which went viral online. Rahman also described further mistreatment at a detention centre that she was placed in, saying the ICE agents mocked her and denied medical assistance.
Following Rahman’s testimony in DC, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar expressed concern, telling her in person: “I had seen the video, Ms. Rahman, of what happened to you, but hearing your story is even more chilling.”
Rahman’s testimony was part of a forum on the ICE agents’ use of force in US president Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Other testimonies heard in the forum included, the brothers of Renee Good, who was shot and killed in Minneapolis last month, as well as Marimar Martinez, who was shot five times by ICE in Chicago late last year.