ICE Agents Arrest Minnesota Man Seeking Legal Status After Video Shows Force

Federal agents arrested a 45-year-old Minnesota man named Jose Ruelas Viorato in Robbinsdale on Wednesday, an incident captured on video by his family that an expert says highlights a shift in federal immigration enforcement priorities.

Jose Ruelas Viorato was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after an encounter outside his home, WCCO reported.

The arrest occurred around 7 a.m. as Ruelas was returning from a nearby grocery store. His daughter, Chelsea Bernal, described being startled by her father’s screams. When she arrived outside, she found agents detaining him against a pole.

The ensuing struggle, which lasted several minutes, was recorded by neighbors and family members. In the video, Ruelas is seen on the ground as one agent tells another to “strike to the face,” followed by the officer punching Ruelas before he was placed into an unmarked black SUV.

Bernal and her brother, Andres Ruelas, are American citizens. They said that their father has been actively working through the immigration system to obtain legal status for years, noting he has been on a waiting list since 1999.

While the specific standing of his case remains unconfirmed, the family maintains that he was in the process of seeking legal residency. As of Wednesday, Ruelas was being held in a Sherburne County facility after being transferred from the federal Whipple Building at Fort Snelling, WCCO reported.

Ana Pottratz Acosta, an associate professor at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law who previously practiced immigration law, said that the current enforcement environment is distinct from that of recent years. Under previous administrations, the stated priority for detention and removal was focused on individuals with violent criminal histories or those who had arrived more recently.

“The number of people being apprehended or arrested by ICE here in Minnesota, looking at it right now or over the past three or four months compared to, let’s say, two or three years ago — it’s much, much higher, said Pottratz Acosta.”

Court records regarding Ruelas show he has accumulated several parking tickets but contains no record of violent criminal charges or convictions. The arrest follows the conclusion of Operation Metro Surge, an immigration crackdown in the state. Despite the end of that operation, ICE arrests are still at higher levels than in previous years.

During the confrontation, Bernal told the agents her father was “in the process of getting papers,” to which an agent replied, “if you’re in the process you shouldn’t have any issues, right?”

The federal government’s current posture contrasts with the enforcement priorities of recent years, which generally placed individuals who had overstayed visas or entered without documentation but had been living in the United States awhile at the bottom of the priority list.

Pottratz Acosta observed that many of those currently being detained are individuals who have been complying with administrative requirements, such as attending hearings and appointments related to their residency applications.

While the family has received a brief call from their father confirming he is OK, they remain without further details regarding the specific grounds for his arrest. A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to requests for comment regarding the incident or the agency’s current use-of-force policies.

As Andres Ruelas noted, the apprehension of individuals who are attempting to provide for their families and follow legal channels complicates the narrative of who is being targeted by federal agents. The case remains open as the family awaits further information from federal authorities.