Democratic US Representative Ilhan Omar has questioned why a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent was stationed outside her monthly town hall meeting in Richfield, Minnesota.
Omar raised the issue in a letter to Michael McCarthy, interim special agent in charge of the HSI office in St Paul, which she shared on social media on Monday.
According to the congresswoman, a Richfield police officer became suspicious after noticing a young woman sitting inside a Ford Explorer while people were arriving at a community centre where Omar’s meeting was being held.
The officer reportedly observed the woman monitoring the building and checked the vehicle’s registration. Omar said the licence plates were registered to a different vehicle, prompting the officer to approach the woman.
In her letter, Omar said the woman initially identified herself as part of the security team. However, after local police contacted Omar’s security personnel and established that she was not associated with them, the woman reportedly contacted her supervisor.
“I understand that she initially identified herself as security, and after Richfield Police confirmed with my security team that she was not part of our operation, she called her supervisor and explained that she was an HSI agent and was outside the community center as part of an undercover drug operation in the area,” Omar said.
The agent subsequently left the area after speaking with her supervisor, according to Omar’s account.
The congresswoman criticised the situation, arguing that local police had to spend time determining why an HSI agent was outside a congressional event instead of focusing entirely on event security.
“Instead of monitoring the area for those who might wish harm to me and my constituents, Richfield Police were required to devote time to investigating why an HSI agent was outside of a Congressional event in a vehicle with mismatched plates,” Omar said in a statement on Monday.
She added that the incident “also raises serious and uncomfortable questions about the purpose of HSI’s presence outside of my event.”
Omar said the Richfield Police Department told her it had received no prior notification from HSI about an undercover operation in the area.
According to her letter, the local police department said advance communication would have “allowed them to ensure the safety of the officer and the community, as well as support HSI’s broader work to combat drug trafficking.”
Omar is now seeking an explanation from McCarthy about the circumstances surrounding the agent’s presence.
She wants to know why the agent was positioned outside the community centre, how HSI became aware of the town hall, and what training the agent had received.
The Minnesota congresswoman also asked for information about whether HSI agents had monitored other official events or Minnesota political leaders during the year.
Omar said the incident raised broader concerns about the practices of HSI and its parent agency, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
WCCO reported that it had contacted ICE for a response to the allegations, but no response was included in the report.
The circumstances surrounding the agent’s presence outside Omar’s event and the stated undercover operation have not been independently clarified by HSI
