“L’Étoile du Nord,”

Omar, Minneapolis mayor accuses Trump admin of unleashing ‘political retribution,’ ‘invasion’ with ICE activity!!!

Published January 16, 2026 2:53pm EST

The nickname for Minnesota is “The North Star State.” This nickname is derived from the state motto, “L’Étoile du Nord,” which translates to “The Star of the North” in French. It reflects Minnesota’s position as the northernmost state in the contiguous United States.

Modus operandi is a Latin term meaning “mode of operating.”

It refers to an individual’s habits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations. In criminology, it describes a distinct pattern or manner of working associated with a particular criminal, which can help law enforcement identify and link crimes to the same perpetrator. In legal contexts, it signifies a method of operation or pattern of criminal behavior that is so distinctive that separate crimes are recognized as the work of the same individual.

Democrats’ remarks follow deadly shooting of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agent in Minneapolis last week. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey accused the Trump administration Friday of unleashing “political retribution” and an “invasion” on the state of Minnesota through federal immigration enforcement activity.

The remarks come as lawmakers gathered in the Minnesota Senate Building in St. Paul for a hearing titled, “Kidnapped and Disappeared: Trump’s Deadly Assault on Minnesota.” Tensions remain high in Minnesota following last week’s shooting death of Renee Nicole Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.

“What we are witnessing right now is unprecedented. There is no modern precedent for this level of federal overreach, violence, and lawlessness carried out in the name of immigration enforcement,” Omar said.

“This is not routine enforcement. This is not about public safety. This is not even about immigration. This is about political retribution,” she continued. “The president said it himself this week. It is increasingly clear that the entire purpose of these actions is to provoke chaos and fear in order to justify invoking the Insurrection Act and expand the president’s ability to rain terror upon American cities who do not vote for him.”

PROTESTERS CLASH WITH FEDERAL OFFICERS AFTER ANOTHER ICE SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS

Federal immigration officers confront agitators outside Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (Yuki Iwamura/AP)

‘What we’re seeing on our streets is unnecessary abuses of force. This is an invasion for the sake of creating chaos by our own federal government to interrupt the daily lives of tens of thousands of people,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey later said.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and ICE for comment.

President Donald Trump first warned Thursday that he would invoke the Insurrection Act if people in Minnesota don’t obey the law and continue attacking federal agents there. He told reporters on Friday that the Insurrection Act was not needed amid anti-ICE unrest “right now” but said he could invoke the law if needed in the future.

DHS ARRESTS ARMED MAN WITH EXTRA AMMUNITION FOR ASSAULTING FEDERAL OFFICER AT LATE-NIGHT MINNEAPOLIS RIOT

Federal agents detain demonstrator, who has hands behind her back, in Minneapolis

Aliya Rahman is detained by federal agents near the scene where Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Adam Gray/AP)

The screaming woman who was filmed being pulled from her car by ICE agents in Minneapolis has been identified as a tech guru and LGBT and racial justice activist who describes herself as a “friendly neighborhood deniable asset.”

Aliya Rahman, a software engineer with a lengthy background in coding, has backed policies for police-worn body cameras and also has prior ties to multiple advocacy groups, including a decade-long history with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Rahman was thrown into the spotlight after viral footage showed federal agents breaking her car window and yanking her out on Tuesday after she apparently blocked ICE vehicles during a protest — less than a week after Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot nearby.

Aliya Rahman has been identified as the woman pulled from her car by ICE agents in Minneapolis on Tuesday.Getty Images

The driver was caught on camera shouting that she was “disabled” and claimed she “was just trying to get to the doctor” as multiple masked federal agents cuffed her and escorted her away in chaotic scenes.

As details surrounding the incident continued to emerge, here’s what we know so far about the activist involved:

Who is Aliya Rahman?

According to her LinkedIn profile, Rahman is a “community-focused security practitioner” in Minneapolis.AFP via Getty Images

Rahman, 43, is a “community-focused security practitioner” in Minneapolis, according to her LinkedIn. Her career history involves a slew of roles, including a full stack developer and engineering manager, at a host of tech-tied companies.

It wasn’t immediately clear how long Rahman has been based in Minneapolis. Her most recent publicly listed address had her living in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Here’s the latest on the Minneapolis ICE agent shooting:

In her X profile, Rahman describes herself as “your friendly neighborhood deniable asset.”

She was previously a fellow at the New America’s Open Technology Institute, where her first project zeroed in on police body cameras and how they could be built into policy.

Rahman’s career history included multiple tech-related positions, including a full stack developer and an engineering manager.Getty Images

“Her work is informed by a background in legislative, electoral, and community organizing for racial and criminal justice campaigns, 15 years of software development for the social justice movement, and a former life as an educator and researcher working in public education and workforce development,” her bio on the institute’s website reads.

What is her history of activism?

Rahman, a US-born citizen, moved to a newly established Bangladesh with her family shortly after the nation’s liberation war against Pakistan ended in 1971. She told Tech for Social Justice that she was guided by the “revolutionary energy” she observed during her tumultuous childhood.

Rahman, a US-born citizen, moved to a newly established Bangladesh with her family shortly after the nation’s liberation war against Pakistan ended in 1971. REUTERS

“I got to see a country being put together. I grew up seeing garment workers, who were almost all women, protesting on the street,” she said in the profile.

By the time she was 6 years old, Rahman knew she was “definitely different” and later identified herself as “genderqueer” — in a country where homosexuality is punishable by imprisonment.

Rahman moved back to the US for college, having determined she “probably shouldn’t stay” in Bangladesh while she grappled with her queer identity.

Rahman labeled herself as “genderqueer” in Bangladesh, a country where homosexuality is punishable by imprisionment.REUTERS

She was just starting her junior year when the 9/11 terror attacks rocked the country. She told the initiative that two of her cousins were killed in the Twin Towers.

She cited the attacks as “a really important moment” that pushed her “to dig deeply into US social movements and understand what race means” in the US, compared to Bangladesh.

Rahman said that as she looked around Indiana, she saw that “brown folks are used against Black people.” As she dove into a relationship with a transgender man, she found that becoming “pretty involved in organizing” was borne out of “necessity.”

“Since college, Aliya had taken part-time positions with and volunteer roles for LGBT and racial justice organizations,” read her Tech for Social Justice profile.

Two of her cousins were killed in the 9/11 terror attacks. Getty Images

Rahman has bounced around between different advocacy and nonprofit groups, including Center for Community Change, Equality Ohio (an LGBT advocacy group) and Code for Progress.

She’s also supported the Black Lives Matter movement and pro-Palestinian causes, according to her social media.

Rahman served as the director of movement technology at Wellstone, a Minnesota-based nonprofit “that trains the community activists and political leaders that broadly make up the progressive Left,” according to the profile.

She boasted that she changed the advocacy group’s image from that of a “nice, white people-run organization” to “mostly queer, largely immigrant and overwhelmingly femme-identified or gender nonconforming.”

She’s also supported the Black Lives Matter movement and pro-Palestinian causes, according to her social media.REUTERS

Educational background

She graduated from Purdue University in Indiana with a master’s in science, her LinkedIn shows.

Rahman is also a certified cybersecurity professional with a Certified Information Systems Security Professional license.

After wrapping up her undergraduate education, Rahman spent several years teaching at public high schools on a Native American reservation in Arizona before pivoting back to her advocacy work, according to the Tech for Social Justice profile.

She graduated from Purdue University in Indiana with a master’s in science, her LinkedIn shows.Getty Images

Her recent run-in with ICE

The details on Rahman’s background came to light after she was yanked from her car after the feds accused her of allegedly impeding an immigration enforcement operation on a suburban street on Tuesday.

ICE agents could be seen trying to clear the streets of screaming protesters when they shouted for the woman to keep driving.

Eventually, one agent was filmed smashing the passenger window as another agent appeared to unlock Rahman’s side.

After wrapping up her undergraduate education, Rahman spent several years teaching at public high schools on a Native American reservation in Arizona. REUTERS

As Rahman was being pulled from the car, protesters could be heard yelling “Stop,” “That’s so f—ked up” and “All you do is hurt.”

She was quickly cuffed and hauled away.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Rahman was charged following the ordeal.

Rahman had several, mainly minor, brushes with the law over a decade ago, according to public records.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Rahman was charged following the ordeal. REUTERS

She pleaded guilty to criminal trespassing and driving under the influence charges in separate Ohio incidents and was charged with driving without insurance in Illinois, public records show.

In the DUI charge, she was also found guilty of following too close, stopping improperly at a stop sign, criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct, according to the records.

“I HAVE A BRAIN INJURY!” SCREAMING ACTIVIST DRAGGED FROM CAR BY ICE IN MINNESOTA — EXPOSED AS RADICAL LGBT & RACIAL JUSTICE ORGANIZER BLOCKING DEPORTATIONS!

This shocking photo of Aliya Rahman — longtime racial-justice activist, BLM-aligned organizer, self-described “friendly neighborhood deniable asset” — being pulled from her car after allegedly blocking ICE vehicles captures the chaos radicals create while Trump’s America First heroes enforce our laws!

Rahman screamed about her “brain injury” and “medical needs” — but witnesses say she REFUSED to move, obstructing federal agents deporting threats in Minneapolis! Viral footage shows agents smashing windows to extract her — lawful action against resistance endangering operations and lives!

“Justice activist”? Code for defending sanctuary chaos shielding criminals, gangs, fraudsters — Minnesota’s $9 BILLION+ welfare scam explosion tied to Somali networks thrived under Walz’s weakness Rahman cheered! Her “organizing”? Blocking heroes removing illegals while citizens suffer preventable crime, fentanyl deaths, stolen billions!

President Trump’s America First strength CRUSHES this obstruction: Record deportations removing violent threats FAST, extreme vetting stopping abuse, no sanctuary hideouts letting radicals interfere! Trump’s policies SAVE lives — crime plummeting, safety restored, resources for CITIZENS while activists like Rahman prioritize chaos over order!

“Brain injury” cries? Distraction from obstructing justice — Trump’s mandate: No tolerance for blocking deportations! Agents did their JOB protecting America — Rahman chose resistance, faced consequences!

Democrats defend “activists” endangering agents — Trump’s landslide rejected it, demanding LAW AND ORDER!

No sympathy for obstruction — deport threats, clear roads for ICE!

HELL YES — support Trump’s agents against radical blockers!

If you’re proud Trump empowers ICE to deport criminals without interference and furious at activists endangering heroes, SHARE this everywhere! Obstruction exposed — America First wins!

#Trump2025 #BackICE #AmericaFirst #NoObstruction #MAGA #DeportCriminals

The Post’s efforts to reach her were unsuccessful.

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“In Minnesota, the Troublemakers, Agitators, and Insurrectionists are, in many cases, highly paid professionals. The Governor and Mayor don’t know what to do, they have totally lost control, and our currently being rendered, USELESS! If, and when, I am forced to act, it will be solved, QUICKLY and EFFECTIVELY!” the president wrote Friday in another post on the matter.

Trump’s warnings came after a second ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis in recent days. An ICE agent shot an illegal immigrant from Venezuela in the leg in Minnesota after a shovel attack during an ambush, federal officials said.

“This administration has unleashed a paramilitary force into our neighborhoods, terrorizing families, escalating enforcement, and now killing a U.S. citizen in our state,” Omar said at one point in the hearing Friday. “And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Our office has received numerous reports of deeply questionable arrests. Individuals detained without explanation, without warrants, without access to counsel, and in many cases, without any discernible lawful basis at all.”

“We have heard of agents pushing people because they look Latino or Somali, forcing them into car accidents where they smash windows, cut seatbelts, carry people away. Abandoned cars with broken windows have become a normal sight of daily life in the Twin Cities,” she continued.

Federal immigration officers stand outside Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Minneapolis. (John Locher/AP)

“They have deliberately blurred the lines between public safety threats, legal immigration and U.S. citizens, creating an enforcement campaign so indiscriminate that citizens are being swept up, arrested and carried away to these detention facilities. In Minnesota, dozens of U.S. citizens have been taken into custody and released hours later. We have yet to see charges materialize, because, in nearly all instances, no federal charges are possible,” Omar said.

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