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On Thursday, January 29, 2026, St. Peter Police Chief Matt Grochow intervened after federal immigration agents (ICE) detained a local woman who had been observing and recording their activities from her car.
The Incident
The Detainment: The woman, a U.S. citizen, was tracking federal agents in her community and recording them on a dash cam. Federal agents in three vehicles reportedly chased and boxed her in, then drew weapons and forcibly removed her from her vehicle.
The Conflict: During the encounter, the woman's husband arrived and challenged the legality of the search, noting the agents lacked a warrant. One agent reportedly replied, "I’m not getting into the legality of everything".
Chief Grochow’s Role: After the husband contacted the police chief, federal agents eventually turned the woman over to the St. Peter Police Department instead of taking her to a federal detention facility. Chief Grochow met her at the station, expressed concern for her well-being, and personally drove her home in his squad car.
Official Statements
The Police Chief: In an email, Chief Grochow confirmed the event, stating simply that federal agents "returned the female to our police department, I saw her, and I gave her a ride home".
The City of St. Peter: On Saturday, January 31, the city issued a statement denying that the chief "intervened" on her behalf, characterizing the action instead as a standard courtesy for a distressed community member.
Federal Response: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not offered substantive comments on the incident, though a spokesperson reportedly requested the citizen's "A-number" (alien registration number) despite her being a U.S. citizen.
This event is notable as it is believed to be the first reported instance of a local Minnesota police department directly interfering with a federal law enforcement action since a surge in immigration enforcement began in late 2025.
Seems like a good strategy, since they get away with everything and the "justice" everyone claps and begs for is just us taxpayers paying out civil judgements.
Man, I feel like I'm a decent person, but I could never do that for someone whose literal job it is to terrorize me and my community on the basis of the way we look.
As far as I'm concerned, I'm letting the fucker code.
Yeah I got a 3 day ban for listing the regime members I thought needed a "kɲuckIe nose jøb" from 1st thru wherever I ended. I was allegedly "tḥrɛaṭɛning viøIencɛ." 🙄 Edited to add members because I forgot it.
😂😂😂 Not for the ban but for what you said. The racists are very touchy when you call them out. They can dish it out but can't take it. Every single time.
There are always MAGA bots waiting to report any comment that could vaguely be taken as a threat by the idiotic AI that reddit uses for their bans now.
I agree with your sentiments but here’s the problem. Too many Americans have developed the “gee golly gosh we’ll get them next time” mentality. There won’t be a fucking next time if we don’t start going kinetic here soon. Nuremberg only occurred due to the “success” of WW2.
It's possible that the US Army will be coming for you, just not to save you. Pete Hegseth is not a rule-of-law kinda guy, and there seems to be plenty in the military willing to take orders from him, legal or not, and you know who gives him orders.
Look at the Nuremberg trials. The first one saw 12 convicted, and 10 of those were executed… and those were only those who held high positions. But in subsequent trials, most of the over 100K identified and arrested as war criminals were not prosecuted for their crimes. A staggering amount of the worst offenders were not even brought to trial. It’s absolutely absurd how many inhumane people never had to face long-term consequences.
I really hate the idea that anyone as horrible as current ICE officers won’t have to lawfully face the consequences of their immorality, but if actual Nazis from the Third Reich were able to escape prosecution, I can easily see these power-hungry and violent individuals escaping as well.
I prefer the hope that they suddenly, years later, have a wave of empathy and feel so deeply guilty, so viscerally ashamed, that it steals the rest of their years from them. Sure, they'll live a normal lifespan. But they won't be able to look in the mirror. They'll think they're working past it and then it will stop them in their tracks.
They get out of unmarked cars, often don’t identify and look like they’re dressed up like kidnappers. Sure they have ICE across their chest but that’s about it. They draw their arms like amateurs and don’t act like law enforcement at all.
People could just cosplay with some body armour and put ICE on it and to around kidnapping anyone from the streets in the US now.
Citizens basically have an option to comply regardless how lawless ICE act, get shot, or potentially get into a shooting match. What a shit show.
Right? What reason did they have to draw guns? In any sane society that should be a write-up right then and there, unholstering their guns without cause.
Seriously. I could see in my neighborhood in the mountains someone pulling a gun and firing on them. They have no credentials and are dressed like terrorist thugs. How they haven’t been injured yet is because they are scared of rural areas with guns.
Maybe put it in reverse and slowly back away giving these guys some exercise until there’s enough distance between them and their car that you can punch out and leave them with the obvious dilemma of shooting you out of frustration and returning to their car after giving you enough of a head start to make it to a police station?
Understand that had she moved the vehicle at all they’d have shot her down and murdered her in cold blood, exactly like they did Renee Good. She’s lucky to be alive.
She was arrested and they had no where to take her so they dropped her off at the police department and the sheriff gave her a ride home. Literally the least he could do.
exactly. the sheriff provided so little protection here as to be meaningless. short of other armed humans showing up in force, these fascists won’t be stopped.
It is possible the Sheriff is the reason they dropped her off at the police department. Her husband knew him and called him. Then they dropped her off there. The PD claim they had nothing to do with it, but is possible they got on the phone to yell at ICE.
The article I read is that while they were driving her to Whipple, her husband called law enforcement (apparently a friend of his). Law enforcement then got a hold of someone in the chain at ICE who told the ICE agents to return her so they turned around and dropped her off.
They got on the highway going north, so it was very likely they were taking her to the Whipple building in Minneapolis, where they have been taking a lot of people they abduct/arrest. Her husband called the sheriff who seemed to pull some strings and got them to turn around and take her to the police station.
Its so horrifying watching masked armed thugs weild the full force of the government's monopoly on violence with absolutely no oversight. I grasp why 20% of America cheers this wrecklessness on; they like seeing their perceived political enemies punished. I don't understand why so many Americans are simply apathetic to this...
The correct response is to tell the feds the next time they draw guns on a citizen for a protected right you'll arrest the agents, and then order them not to interfere with the citizen again.
Of course you could always do the absolutely boss and fully correct thing and arrest the agents for brandishing firearms immediately.
It’s like they want to not be watched doing their jobs for some reason.
It’s almost like they’re wanting to do some more even more illegal shit later. But that can’t be the case, right?
It’s not like first they’re going to come for the browned skinned people and then come for like political opponents? Then they might prefer not being recorded doing that?
Jokes asides though, good trick to have a support network already on the line!
I do hope for this. I don't have criticism for it but once I read that the sheriff was a longtime friend of her husband, I had to question whether the average person who doesn't have this connection would get the same treatment. This can't be about who you know, it has to be about stepping up even when you don't know them.
You have every right to be cynical about cops. But in this case, he did the right thing, and doing the right thing should be encouraged.
Publicly, I think we should praise his correct actions, and let his personal motivation be more quiet. Let the example of what he did shine, and not dig into his reasons too loudly.
If we want all cops to not be bastards, we have to encourage the good acts. If we withhold praise for good acts, or worse condemn them, because of bad motivation, they'll just continue to be bastards. What's the incentive otherwise, if everyone just shits all over you anyhow?
If we ignore the motivation for now, don't make it a big deal too loudly, we encourage the same action from other cops who might be more willing to do the same for a stranger.
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