Target of Viral Botched ICE Raid Was Already in Prison

When ICE agents dragged out ChongLy Thao half-naked in the snow, they were looking for a man named Lue Moua. They should have known exactly where to find him.

(Composite by Hannah Yoest / Photos: Getty Images / Shutterstock)

WHEN ICE AGENTS DETAINED U.S. citizen ChongLy Thao in Minneapolis this weekend—breaking down his door and escorting him half-naked into the snow—administration officials claimed they’d been looking for a pair of sex-criminal migrants at the address. DHS plastered images of the two men they were hunting across social media with dire warnings that they remained “at large,” imploring the public to call in tips.

But there was one place they apparently hadn’t bothered to look: the Minnesota prison system. That’s where Lue Moua, one of DHS’s purported targets, has been since a 2024 conviction on charges including felony kidnapping.

This information wasn’t exactly secret. Moua’s name, face, and criminal record are easy to find in a public database of state criminal records.¹ Minnesota Department of Corrections Communications Director Shannon Loehrke confirmed to The Bulwark Thursday that the Moua in their custody is the same individual DHS is seeking. Moreover, Loehrke added, Moua is already under an ICE detainer—meaning ICE is already aware he is there and has requested he be placed into their custody upon his release from state prison, which is currently scheduled for early 2027.

KSTP, Minnesota’s ABC affiliate, was first to report Thursday that Moua is currently in prison.

As the story of Thao’s harsh treatment went viral this week, DHS officials went into overdrive to try to redirect coverage to the supposed manhunt for Moua and another migrant, Kongmeng Vang. When Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee denounced ICE’s treatment of Thao on Wednesday, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin tweeted out Moua and Vang’s mugshots, asking, “Why are @HouseDemocrats defending convicted sex offenders?” She also tweeted out the number for the ICE tipline Tuesday, insisting that “these convicted sex offenders remain AT LARGE” and asking people to “help DHS remove them from Minnesota’s streets.”

Why the agents who manhandled Thao this weekend thought Moua might be at Thao’s home is unclear. It’s unclear, too, why DHS officials spent days imploring citizens to keep their eyes peeled for Moua in the streets of Minneapolis when at least some part of ICE already knew he was in state prison. (DHS did not return a request for comment.)

ChongLy Thao dragged from his home by federal agents. (Photo credit: Leah Millis/Reuters)

But it all amounts to the latest indicator that the Minneapolis ICE crusade is more of a government-run smash-and-grab operation than an orderly, tightly run enforcement process.

DHS is undeniably right about at least one thing: Moua is a horrible guy, a sex offender most recently convicted for domestic abuse and for kidnapping his own daughter. The girl’s mother told police that he tried to extort money from her after kidnapping their daughter, threatening that he would sell her if the mother didn’t obey. You’d be hard-pressed to find a single American who doesn’t think he should be out of the country.

But Moua’s story also underscores the ludicrousness of the enforcement narrative DHS is trying to sell. In the federal government’s telling, its full-throttle enforcement operation is the only way to bring these criminals to justice—criminals the government has explicitly accused the state of Minnesota of trying to protect. “Governor Walz and Mayor Frey REFUSE to cooperate with ICE law enforcement and will not let us into their jails,” McLaughlin said in a release last week. “They have made it abundantly clear they are prioritizing politics over public safety.”

That story stands in contrast with what actually happened to Moua, whom Minnesota arrested, tried, and imprisoned—and now stands ready to hand over to immigration enforcement. State officials have been trying to correct the record on this point as well. Minnesota Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said last week that his department “has always coordinated with ICE agents when individuals in our custody have detainers and will continue to do so.”

Bear in mind, too, that all this is taking place against the backdrop of another story: ICE’s suddenly explicit practice of raiding homes without warrants signed by judges. DHS officials including McLaughlin on Thursday confirmed a major policy change that a whistleblower had publicly alleged just one day prior: ICE officers are no longer waiting for a judicial warrant before forcibly entering homes they believe contain migrants they wish to arrest. Instead, they are allowing themselves to enter based solely on administrative warrants—an arrest document they themselves have the authority to sign.

What does that new policy look like in practice? Exactly what we saw in Minneapolis this week: agents barging into the home of a U.S. citizen and tossing him out in the cold in his shorts on suspicion of being somebody they should have already known was miles away behind bars.

1. In fact, the state database lists two offenders named Lue Moua. The other, also an illegal immigrant from Laos, DHS itself claims already to have in hand.