ICE arrests three, then detains Northside Rotary president
Susan Tincher was arrested at the intersection of 21st and Oliver Ave. N after confronting ICE officers about the arrests of three people on her block in North Minneapolis. She was released later that day. Photo by Azhae’la Hanson
By Melody Hoffmann, Reporter
North Minneapolis Rotary Club Co-President Susan Tincher was detained by ICE officials early on Dec. 9 shortly after approaching 21st Street and Oliver Avenue North to observe ICE activity. Her whereabouts were not known for five hours.
Three people were taken by ICE from a house on Oliver Avenue that morning.
Tincher had recently joined a Signal group to observe public ICE activity and responded to an alert of ICE presence in her neighborhood at 6 a.m. ICE quickly apprehended her after she arrived at the intersection.
After an ICE agent yelled at Tincher to get back, she said she “stood her ground.”
“I just stood there on the sidewalk,” she said. “Other officers came up, and I was thrown to the ground, tightly handcuffed, put in an unmarked truck, and taken to the Whipple Building.”
For the five hours that Tincher could not be located, her husband, Jim Tincher, reached out to numerous elected officials, including Attorney General Keith Ellison and Sen. Ilhan Omar. He also called 911 to seek the Minneapolis Police Department’s assistance.
“They were willing to help, they just didn’t have any information,” Jim Tincher said.
No one knew she had been taken to the ICE facility inside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in St. Paul until she was released.
ICE released Susan Tincher after she asked to speak to her lawyer. Homeland Security and ICE did not charge her with anything before she left.
“I would be more likely to do it again. I am more committed at this point,” she said.“I see what this is doing to families.”
She said she wants the focus to be on the three people who were detained inside the house on Dec. 9.
Neighbors gathered at the Old Highland Peace Garden later that evening, a symbolic place due to Tincher’s volunteer work there. Around 30 people showed up on the snowy, cold night, many of them walking over from their homes.
“She is a consummate volunteer,” Hannah Pritchard said about Tincher’s work at the garden. “I can't even tell you how much this woman means to us.”
When neighbor Angelina McDowell first asked Jim and Susan why they moved into the neighborhood, they said the garden space sold them.
“Right away, they were volunteering, involved with the Rotary, with North Minneapolis,” McDowell said. “They are here truly for community.”
News of Tincher’s custody prompted Gov. Tim Walz to send a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, reading in part, “Residents who document law-enforcement activity, including immigration enforcement, play an essential role in transparency, accountability, and safeguarding the civil liberties of all in Minnesota.
Detaining citizens for exercising these rights sends a deeply disturbing signal about how those very rights are being eroded.”