William Vermie said the encounter happened Jan. 13, not far from where Renee Good was shot and killed earlier this month during an ICE operation.
MINNEAPOLIS — A combat-wounded Army veteran says federal immigration agents detained him for about eight hours after he watched an Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest from a public sidewalk in Minneapolis.
William Vermie said the encounter happened Jan. 13 near 34th Street and Park Avenue, not far from where Renee Good was shot and killed earlier this month during an ICE operation.
Vermie, who served in Iraq and was awarded a Purple Heart, said he was standing on a sidewalk observing agents arresting two people when he says officers began pushing bystanders back.
“They were bringing out those two young boys … then the ICE agents were moving down the sidewalk, shoving people and telling them to get off the sidewalk,” Vermie said. “They shoved me when I didn’t move out of the way fast enough.”
Vermie said he was handcuffed within moments. In a video he provided, he is seen on the ground as multiple agents restrain him.
“I tried to keep onto my feet and then eventually somebody grabbed one of my legs and then I went over and they all toppled on top of me and got me in cuffs,” Vermie said, adding that agents later drove him to the Whipple Building, a federal facility in Minneapolis.
Vermie said that once inside, he repeatedly asked to make a phone call but never received one while he was held.
“They did offer bathroom breaks and water breaks, and I did ask for a band-aid and they gave it to me,” Vermie said. “But I’d rather have a lawyer than a band-aid when I’m being detained.”
Attorney John Chitwood, who said he was hired by Vermie’s family, said he went to the Whipple Building and waited hours to speak with his client. Chitwood said he was told he could not meet with Vermie because Vermie had not requested him by name — something Vermie wouldn’t have known since he did not get in contact with family.
“I have represented people accused of the most horrific crimes, and I have never encountered the type of stonewalling, deliberate stonewalling and delay, that I experienced in trying to see Will,” Chitwood said.
The Department of Homeland Security did not address Vermie’s detention specifically but responded to questions about conditions and access to attorneys for people held in ICE custody.
“Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE facilities are FALSE. All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers. Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE. ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens,” DHS said in a statement to KARE11.
“The facts are illegal aliens in detention have access to phones they can use to contact their families and lawyers. Additionally, ICE gives all illegal aliens arrested a court-approved list of free or low-cost attorneys. All detainees receive full due process,” the agency added. “Make no mistake, these types of lies are contributing to the over 1300% increase in assaults on the men and women of ICE who put their lives on the line every day to arrest violent criminal illegal aliens to protect and defend the lives of American citizens.”
Under the U.S. Constitution, people detained by the government have the right to consult an attorney. While immigration detention is considered a civil process — meaning the government is not required to provide a lawyer — detainees must be given a reasonable opportunity to contact legal counsel and cannot be questioned once they request an attorney.
“He is a combat-wounded Iraq War vet, and if someone who has honorably served their country is treated this way by the federal government, by these ICE agents, then how are they treating other people?” Chitwood said. “It’s, it’s shameful. It is un-American to the core.”
