A routine lunch outing in Minneapolis turned into a public confrontation fueled by ICE harassment, after a group of software engineers were wrongly accused of being federal immigration agents. The incident unfolded at Clancey’s Deli, where the men became the focus of an anti-ICE alert that quickly drew an angry crowd.
According to Alpha News, the men were eating lunch when one received a message from an anti-ICE Signal channel claiming plainclothes ICE agents were inside the restaurant. One engineer, who identified himself as Lee, said the alert came from the “SW Minneapolis Rapid Response” chat and shocked his friend, who is politically aligned with the anti-ICE movement. “My friend was shocked. He’s on the [anti-ICE] side politically,” Lee said.
Video recorded by one of the men shows dozens of activists arriving and peering through the deli windows. After the group exited the restaurant, the harassment escalated. “You’re a [expletive] bootlicker [expletive]!” one person yelled. Another screamed, “Get out of our [expletive] neighborhood!” Lee said the crowd grew more aggressive, adding, “Next thing we know, people are yelling, ‘I hope you die,’ and calling us pedophiles.”
One of the men attempted to defuse the situation by explaining their profession. “We do custom apps for a whole bunch of companies around Minnesota and the country,” he said. The explanation did little to calm the crowd. When one man asked, “Do I look like an ICE agent?” a woman responded, “Yeah, you look like a [expletive] ICE agent.”
As whistles blew, one man criticized the confrontation, saying, “This is what’s wrong with your guys’ cause.” When asked, “Would you support [us]?” he replied, “The way you guys are acting? No. And I don’t support ICE either. I’m just trying to enjoy my lunch!”
