Behind the disturbing image of ICE snatching a half-naked, elderly Hmong American from his home

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It’s an image that will knock you sideways: As snow falls, an elderly man wearing nothing but blue boxers and white Crocs with his hands restrained behind his back is forced out of his home by ICE agents. In the photo captured by photojournalist Leah Millis, you can see a red and white plaid blanket is draped around the man’s shoulders, but his chest is completely bare, exposing him to the harsh elements. It’s something out of a nightmare. It’s something that happened in St. Paul on Sunday.

ChongLy Scott Thao, also known as Saly, is a Hmong American born in Laos who has lived here most of his life. Born in a Laos refugee camp, he’s a US citizen, and St. Paul, Minnesota is his home. His mother Choua, who passed away just three weeks ago, was a nurse who helped American troops during the Laotian Civil War and brought her family stateside post-war as part of a large wave of Southeast Asians seeking refuge. Despite his status, Thao was subjected to the ultimate indignity when federal immigration agents broke down his door Sunday, terrorizing him, his wife and his five-year-old grandson, his family has confirmed. Though he ended up being returned, the damage is done and the message has been sent: If you’re not white, you’re not safe. 

“Whatever you think it is, it’s worse,” Brandi Reilly, a neighbor who witnessed Thao’s detainment, told me by phone on Monday about what it’s been like in the Twin Cities of late. Sunday morning Reilly and her partner Kristi Nelson hit the streets of St. Paul for the first time since the occupation began to serve as observers. First they stood watch outside a local church with a predominately Spanish-speaking congregation, and shortly after a call went out to their Signal group that ICE agents were surrounding a nearby home and observers were needed. They went over, the man’s immigration status immaterial to the effort to protect him.

“There were, gosh, 10-15 agents,” Reilly, a nurse practitioner who has many Hmong patients and has watched up close the impact on the community, recalled. “They were surrounding the house. They all had weapons. People were screaming to see a judicial warrant. They were ignoring everybody. Neighbors were outside. They [the agents] had hands on tear gas, hands on their weapons. It was scary.”

Shortly after the men busted down Thao’s door, they came out with their supposed target in hand: A short, elderly, half-naked man being marched out of his home. Photos from that moment show his grandson looking out the window, a pacifier in his mouth. Brandi said Thao had red marks on his face and legs. “He looked like he had been physically assaulted before they brought him out of the house,” she said. “He just looked terrified and broken.”

Thao was then thrown into an ICE vehicle and taken away. Reilly and Nelson captured video of the whole scene, which I’ve posted to Youtube.

“I am so angry and infuriated over what happened yesterday to my brother-in-law, ChongLy Scott Thao, (Thao) that I can’t sleep,” Louansee Moua, Thao’s sister-in-law, posted to Facebook late Sunday night. “Instead of staying silent, I chose to act.” A post earlier in the day from Brandi confirmed that Thao had been returned, and later a statement from Moua posted on the Hmong American Experience Facebook page confirmed the same. “Saly is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He has NO criminal record,” Moua’s statement read. “ICE drove him around for nearly an hour, questioned him, and fingerprinted him. Only after all of that did they realize he had no criminal history and no reason to be detained. They then dropped him back off at his apartment like nothing happened.”

I reached out to Moua for more information about what happened. In response, she shared the text of her Facebook post and later, a statement from the family. She started a GoFundMe for Thao to cover medical and potential legal expenses, which has already raised more than $25k as of this publication.) 

In a sad commentary on the current situation, some of those I spoke to remarked on the fact that Thao was thankfully dropped back home, as opposed to somewhere random like ICE did with a teenage Target worker in Minneapolis last week.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin shared a statement to X at 1:26pm ET Monday afternoon in response to a post about Thao’s arrest, alleging that the operation was targeting “two convicted sex offenders” with final orders of removal from an immigration judge. She claimed, without evidence, that Thao lives with these two men and that he was detained because “he matched the description of the targets.”

A few hours later, the DHS X account posted photos and information for the two Asian men they were supposedly looking for, writing they’re “the WORST OF THE WORST” as an apparent justification for Thao’s arrest. They did not attempt to explain or prove the men were connected to him, and both appear to be significantly younger than him. I reached out to DHS for more clarity, but in the absence of additional information, it appears Thao was taken half-naked in 10 degree weather simply because he’s Asian. 

Moua shared a family statement with The Handbasket late afternoon Monday disputing DHS’s claims. “Mr. Thao is a United States citizen with no criminal record,” the statement said. “He does not live with, nor has he ever lived with, the individuals DHS claims were targets of this operation. The only people residing at the home are Mr. Thao, his son, his daughter-in-law, and his young grandson. They do not know the individuals DHS references.” The family said no warrant was presented, agents did not ask for Thao’s ID, but they “nevertheless forcibly entered the home with weapons drawn.” Moua told The Handbasket that Thao and his family have lived in the home for two years.

St. Paul’s Hmong roots go back at least 50 years when refugees began arriving there from Laos after helping the Americans in the Laotian Civil War (also known as “The Secret War,” which took place concurrently with Vietnam.) Since then, there have been multiple waves of migration resulting in an older first generation community of mixed citizenship status—some non-citizens, but most naturalized citizens, like Thao. Regardless, Hmong people are knit into the fabric of the Twin Cities. 

According to the US Census Bureau, an estimated 360,000 people who identify as Hmong live in the United States, at more than 90,000, the metropolitan area with the largest Hmong population is Minneapolis/St. Paul. This past November, the city of St. Paul elected its first Hmong American mayor, Kaohly Her. Mayor Her testified before members of Congress last week who traveled to Minnesota to address the ongoing siege, and shared how the ICE occupation has impacted her community.

“We received reports of federal law enforcement officers going door to door, asking people where the Asian people live, right in our very own city,” Mayor Her said. “I myself have received advice to carry my passport with me, because they may try to target me based on what I look like as well.”

Her’s testimony and Thao’s experience fly in the face of what DHS Kristi Noem has claimed about ICE actions in Minnesota. “In every situation, we’re doing targeted enforcement,” Noem told White House reporters on Thursday. “If we are on a target and doing an operation, there may be individuals surrounding that criminal that we may be asking who they are and why they’re there and having them validate their identity.”

The fear and trauma gripping the Twin Cities comes in many forms. Reilly, the observer, shared how her children grew fearful for her safety after hearing about Renee Good’s murder by ICE. “They came to me and they said, ‘Mommy, we don't want you to get shot. You're a lesbian and they shot a lesbian.” 

Even so, Reilly and Nelson feel it’s their duty as white women to help protect their neighbors of color. “We might not have been alive for Stonewall, but by God, we're alive for this,” Reilly said. And what they witnessed on Sunday has only strengthened their commitment to observing and bearing witness.  

“While ChongLy was not physically injured, the emotional and psychological harm has been profound,” Moua wrote on his GoFundMe. “ChongLy also lives with severe psoriasis, a chronic condition that is significantly worsened by extreme stress. Since the incident, his health and emotional well-being have declined.” 

Thao is considered one of the lucky ones, but that hardly means he escaped unscathed. ICE’s lawlessness in Minnesota and beyond is creating new physical and moral injuries every day that will likely take a lifetime to heal.

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