‘Just Trying to Eat Lunch’: 5 Tech Workers Misidentified as ICE Agents, Accosted by Anti-ICE Mob in Minneapolis

A casual lunch turned into a frightening ordeal for five software engineers in Minneapolis last week after they were mistakenly labelled as federal immigration agents and confronted by an angry crowd outside the restaurant where they were dining. The incident, which took place at Clancy’s Deli near 38th Street and Grand Avenue South, highlights the heightened tensions over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in the Twin Cities as protests and community unrest escalate.According to accounts obtained by Alpha News, the group of software engineers, all white males dressed casually, were quietly eating lunch when one of the men received a message on an anti-ICE Signal chat group claiming that plainclothes ICE agents were inside the restaurant. Within minutes, protesters gathered outside, surrounding the deli, shouting insults and blowing whistles at the men as they attempted to leave. “We were just trying to eat lunch,” one of the engineers, identified as Lee, told Alpha News. “Next thing we know, people are yelling, ‘I hope you die,’ and calling us paedophiles.”

From signal alerts to street confrontation

Viral videos of the incident circulating online shows the group being pelted with insults and whistles as protesters attempt to block their exit, even after the men repeatedly explained they were not ICE agents. One person in the crowd can be heard dismissing their claims, “Do I look like an ICE agent?” to which a protester responded, “Yeah, you look like a f—ing ICE agent.” The tense encounter forced the men to leave under duress, leaving some questioning their own political assumptions after the incident.