St. Cloud Waite Park Police Address ICE Operation And Community Response

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- The St. Cloud Police Department and Waite Park PD have released updates on Federal ICE agents in the metro area. St. Cloud Police Chief Jeff Oxton says officers responded to the 3300 block of 3rd Street North at about Noon on Monday for vehicles blocking traffic. SCPD arrived and discovered a large number of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were there conducting an operation in the parking lot.

St. Cloud Police conducted traffic control due to vehicle congestion in the area. Oxton says St. Cloud police officers also conducted crowd control as a large group of people protesting ICE had gathered. He says SCPD remained on the scene to ensure that the public could safely express their First Amendment rights while ICE conducted their business and left.

Chief Oxton says St. Cloud Police had no advance notice of the operation or what the details of it were. He says the SCPD's purpose in these situations is to ensure people have a safe space to express their First Amendment rights and not create an unsafe situation leading to conflict with federal agents. Senator Aric Putnam did confirm to WJON Radio that he was there as well. Putnam says he, along with other community leaders were there to help keep the peace and that the community remained calm and was not there to cause trouble.

The Waite Park Police Department (WPPD) says they are aware of federal ICE Agents in Waite Park conducting operations as well, but they are not being given any notice of what the agents are doing or where they will be ahead of time. Chief Anthony Reznicek says if residents are concerned when they see anything, they should contact the police department, and if approached by federal agents to not fight them or flee from them.