A Minneapolis transit cop was caught on camera asking a train passenger about his immigration status — prompting the agency to launch an internal probe to determine if the officer stepped out of bounds.
The incident on May 14 was posted to Facebook by local artist Ricardo Levins Morales and shows an unidentified, part-time Metro Transit officer asking a passenger his name while checking for proof that he paid his fare.
“What’s your name?” the officer asks. “That’s not what you gave me. Do you have a state ID? Are you here illegally?”
Morales, who was sitting behind the passenger and the officer, said he started to record the interaction “because these are the kinds of situations that can escalate quickly,” he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Morales asks the officer, “Are you guys authorized to act as immigration police?”
“No, not necessarily,” the cop replied.
“Then I would stay out of that,” Morales said. “It’s very touchy legal territory.”
“Huh?” the officer asks.
“That’s very touchy legal territory,” Morales continued. “I would not act on behalf of another agency if you’re not legally empowered to do so.”
Morales said he wasn’t sure what followed after the end of his 35-second clip. Transit officials on Friday said an internal probe had been launched.
“It is not the practice of the Metro Transit police to inquire about the immigration status of our riders,” according to the statement released by Metro Transit Police Chief John Harrington. “It is the policy of the Metro Transit Police Department that all members make personal and professional commitments to equal enforcement of the law and equal service to the public.”
The presence of Department of Homeland Security police officers on Metro Transit light-rail trains in recent months has concerned some passengers, according to the Star Tribune. But the officers, who have worked with the agency for more than a decade, do not engage in enforcement actions, the transit agency said in March.
Morales, meanwhile, said he’s glad his footage has gone viral. As of Monday, the clip had been viewed more than 1.1 million times and shared more than 13,000 times.
“That was my hope,” he told the paper. “I wanted to make sure it was visible to people who would put pressure on Metro Transit. You can say we’re a sanctuary city, and it’s a nice phrase, but it only has meaning if it actually affects people’s behavior.”