Federal case dismissed against St. Paul woman detained by ICE
Federal charges against Nasra Ahmed dismissed in ICE incident
A major update to a case that FOX 9 has been following for months. Somali-American Nasra Ahmed was charged in January with assaulting ICE agents in St. Paul. Those charges have been dismissed with prejudice, meaning they can't be filed again. FOX 9's Soyoung Kim has the story.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Federal charges against a U.S. citizen detained by ICE have been dismissed. Nasra Ahmed, 24, was charged with assaulting federal agents in St. Paul in January during the height of Operation Metro Surge.
Ahmed’s attorney reacted Monday to how the case ultimately ended by the prosecution seeking dismissal.
Federal assault case tossed
The backstory:
The case stems from an incident in January when Ahmed, a Somali-American woman, had an encounter with federal agents during the immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities.
Speaking at a press conference about one week after the incident took place, Ahmed says she was harassed and assaulted by ICE agents on Jan. 14.
Then, she was a part of more than a dozen people who were arrested and charged for assaulting federal immigration agents, which was later downgraded to a misdemeanor. Then last month, the prosecution requested the dismissal.
"What that tells us is that they brought the charges without having the case together," said Jordan Kushner, Ahmed’s attorney.
Now, according to a judgment filed Monday, those charges have been dismissed with prejudice, which means they cannot be filed again.
Nasra Ahmed's attorney reacts
What they're saying:
Minneapolis criminal defense attorney Jordan Kushner spoke with FOX 9 on behalf of his client, Ahmed, reacting to how the case ended.
"It’s a relief to my client," said Kushner. "This whole event was extremely traumatic for her."
Kushner questioned the basis for the initial interaction that led to the charge being filed.
"They decided we’re going to check her and see if she’s here illegally when, in fact, she was a U.S. citizen and was born here. Everything about this from the beginning was harassment and discrimination," said Kushner.
"Certainly, on the federal level, the standards they’re typically very high, so I’ve never seen the federal government meet such low standards for bringing prosecutions and handling prosecutions."
According to the court document, the judge writing in the opinion Friday that "the government offered no explanation for why it seeks dismissal." Plus, noted the government avoided discovery obligations and "the Government’s actions in this case violated a Court order, likely violated the Department of Justice’s own policies, and undermined the presumption of innocence that lies at the heart of our criminal justice system."
Kushner says the ethics concern raised by the judge was questioning the duty he says prosecutors have to protect due process.
"They published all the photographs of the people being booked, all the booking photos in jail clothing with handcuffs on parading them on the internet greatly prejudices them before the public, jeopardizes their chance for a fair trial," said Kushner.
The other side:
FOX 9 has reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for comment.
Dig deeper:
The FOX 9 Investigators have taken a deeper dive into the dismissal rate of cases stemming from the immigration crackdown. Check out that full coverage.