Immigration officers around Minneapolis are approaching people and demanding proof that they’re U.S. citizens

U.S. citizens who are out walking or standing in public are not required to provide documentation or provide identification, one legal expert says.

A man shows his passport card as he waits in line at a cafe inside 24 Somali Mall in December in Minneapolis.Joshua Lott / The Washington Post / Getty Images

By Suzanne Gamboa, Shaquille Brewster and Colin Sheeley

The officers and agents the Trump administration has unleashed in Minneapolis and nearby communities have turned to stopping U.S. citizens, apparently at random, demanding identification and grilling them about their citizenship, residents who have recorded these encounters on video say.

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The “show me your papers” encounters are showing up on social media and have even prompted podcaster Joe Rogan, a Trump backer in the 2024 campaign, to ask, “Are we really going to be the Gestapo?”

One man, Gage Diego Garcia, said he was held for six hours on Monday in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, after an encounter with officers that he told NBC News began when he was leaning into his friend’s car in an alleyway.

“They came off pretty aggressive and asking for my ID. I refused because I had done nothing wrong,” Garcia said. He said that, as he started to blow a whistle draped around his neck, agents “got angry and grabbed him.”

Video recorded by a friend shows officers pushing Garcia onto the side of a car and pointing a Taser at him. The video does not show what happened before the officers grabbed Garcia. Garcia told NBC News later that officers grabbed him when he was trying to blow his whistle and an officer accused him of committing assault by spitting at him.

“All I needed was your f—ing ID,” a masked officer said. Garcia responds to the officer using expletives. The officer responds, “You’re a f—ing b— and you are gonna learn the f—ing hard way.”

As officers search his pockets, one finds his firearm, saying, “He has a gun on him! Look at that.” Garcia interjects, saying, “a fully registered firearm ‘cause I’m a U.S. citizen.” Later in the arrest, as the two argue, an officer is heard saying, “You are a f—ing citizen, you shouldn’t have done that.” It’s unclear what the officer was referring to when he said that.

Garcia said that as he was being driven to the Whipple Building in Minneapolis, officers told him in response to his question that he was picked up because he looked like someone who committed a crime. “When I asked what crime, I was told, ‘we’ll figure it out,’” he said.

He also said officers told him, “I could have f—ing smoked you,” and that things “could have gone really south for you like those agents did to Renee Good.” Good was fatally shot last week by an officer who fired through her windshield as she drove forward on a Minneapolis street. She was a U.S. citizen.

The Department of Homeland Security said the media is “peddling a false narrative” and “attempting to demonize” law enforcement, which it says are being attacked and assaulted at significantly higher rates.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement emailed to NBC News that Garcia fled on foot when he saw the officers, “giving them reasonable suspicion.” She said Garcia became “extremely hostile” and alleged he physically assaulted one officer by spitting on his face. McLaughlin did not specifically address Garcia’s allegations regarding what officers said to him as he was being driven to the Whipple Building.

McLaughlin said the Fourth Amendment allows law enforcement to use “reasonable suspicion” to make arrests,” and that the Supreme Court recently affirmed its authority to do so.

McLaughlin was referring to a September 2025 Supreme Court ruling that allowed immigration officers to continue immigration patrols using race, ethnicity and language as factors in stopping individuals. Opponents have said it allows for racial profiling. McLaughlin said DHS “enforces federal immigration law without fear, favor or prejudice.”

The Fourth Amendment also protects individuals from unlawful search and seizure.

David Schultz, an attorney and legal studies professor at Hamline University in St. Paul, said U.S. citizens do not have to provide identification or prove their citizenship when out walking or standing in a street or in public.

“We have a First Amendment right of association, to be out on the street and we don’t have any requirement to have an ID,” Schultz said.

In one encounter Sunday, a woman was stopped and grilled about her citizenship while walking in her neighborhood. Nimco Omar of Minneapolis said she was confused when, as she started walking after parking her car, she heard commands for her to stop. Suddenly several people she thought were soldiers began running toward her.

“I was like, what’s going on? Did I do something? Is something happening? Is it war?” she told NBC News in an interview in Minneapolis.

She said when she heard someone ask for her citizenship she realized they were immigration officers. Fearing she’d be “kidnapped,” she pulled out her phone to record the encounter.

The video shows a masked officer threatening to put her in a vehicle to ID her if she doesn’t provide identification. Omar calmly responds that she doesn’t need an ID to walk around her city and that she is a U.S. citizen, declining to provide her identification.

The officer continues to insist on identification and says, “We are doing an immigration check. We are doing a citizen check.” He repeatedly asks where she was born and informs her that if she’s lying about being a citizen, she can face federal charges.

Other such encounters were recorded in Minneapolis.

Last weekend, officers walked up to a man pumping gas and asked if he was a U.S. citizen, demanding to see documentation. The man responds, “I don’t have to show you.” As with Omar, the officer in this encounter states that the man can show him ID there or he can take him aside. The man provides what appears to be a license, but the officer continues to ask whether he is naturalized, where he was born and when he was naturalized. In another incident, officers questioned a man at a vehicle charging station.

DHS did not provide information on the citizenship status of the people approached in these encounters.

In her statement, McLaughlin did not provide details about the incidents with Omar, the man pumping gas or the man at the vehicle charging station.

These are not the first such encounters. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said in December that her son was pulled over and asked about his citizenship. The Department of Homeland Security has said it has no record of the encounter.

The administration has sent about 3,000 officers and agents to Minneapolis, a city of 430,000. Much of the enforcement activity has taken place in south Minneapolis, where a federal officer fatally shot Good.

Schultz advised that U.S. citizens who are stopped should keep their composure, as Omar did. They should ask why they are being stopped and they should ask if they are under arrest. If the officers say no, they should then ask if they are free to leave.

He said he would never turn over ID and “we don’t have any requirement in our society to prove who we are to walk the streets,” he said.

When driving a car and if pulled over for probable cause, showing a driver’s license is required. But he said you are not required to say whether you are a citizen, though some states, not including Minnesota, have laws that allow authorities to question immigration status.

Shaquille Brewster and Kailani Koenig reported from Minneapolis, Colin Sheeley from New York and Suzanne Gamboa from San Antonio.

Here’s the Real Reason Why Police Officers Are Called “Cops”

Here’s the arresting truth about your go-to word for police officers

We hear it all the time in true crime podcasts, headlines and neighborhood chatter: Call the cops. The cops showed up. Good cop, bad cop. But have you ever stopped to investigate where the word cop actually comes from and why we use it to refer to a police officer? The term is so common that its true meaning has practically gone undercover in our everyday language.

Naturally, I couldn’t just let this linguistic mystery walk free. So I put on my word-detective hat and tracked down Michael Adams, PhD, professor of English and linguistics at Indiana University. If anyone could crack the case of cop‘s origin, I knew it would be him. Read on for the most arresting truth of all.

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Where do most people think the word cop came from?

As is the case with many words, there are a few commonly believed theories about its origin story—and then there’s the truth. Let’s break it down.

The acronym theory

One long-circulating idea claims cop is an acronym for “Constable on Patrol.” It sounds tidy, official and satisfying. But it’s also completely false. “Constable was not a term that was used for police officers at the time,” says Adams. “It’s a typical little folk etymology, that anything that can be an acronym people imagine is an acronym.” But this one isn’t.

The badge theory

Another popular explanation is that cop comes from copper, as in the shiny metal, atomic number 29. The idea is that police officers once wore copper badges or buttons, and people simply started calling them coppers. Alas, that’s another myth. “Metal has nothing to do with it,” Adams says.

What’s the actual origin of cop?

Experts trace the word cop back several centuries, and its journey is surprisingly linguistic rather than cultural. Here’s how it evolved into the short-and-sweet term we use today.

The original verb

The term stems from the Old French caper, per the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). “Cop is a verb that means ‘to seize,’ or when there are people to do it, ‘arrest,’” says Adams.

By the mid-19th century, the verb to cop appeared in English slang with the same meaning: “to grab or catch something.” According to Adams, the verb cop came up in an 1846 book called The Swell’s Night Guide about the nightlife of London. “And the language that it captures is below the radar up until that point,” he says.

From verb to noun

Cop then evolved into a noun: copper. “Somebody who copped other people was a copper,” says Adams. It’s similar to how we use catcher to mean “one who catches” in baseball, or baker for “one who bakes.”

“I don’t think anybody doubts that while copper is attested first in 1838 [per the OED], the verb cop precedes that, even though the first evidence we have for it in print is 1846,” he says.

The familiar noun

By 1858, people were using cop to refer to a uniformed police officer in the United States, according to the OED. “Cop, the noun, is just short for copper, the person who cops, or arrests, them,” says Adams. “It only takes a couple of decades, and boom—it’s cop again.”

So to recap the journey: We went from the verb cop to the noun copper to the noun cop.

Why did everyone start using this word?

“Copper is very English,” says Adams. “I think that by the time it got to America, the origin was probably obscure.” (It wasn’t unheard of, though. He points to the 1949 film White Heat, in which James Cagney’s gangster character says, upon learning he’s been betrayed by one of his own, “A copper. A copper. How do you like that, boys?”)

“Cop is very much an American term for the policeman,” he says, noting that it is also a recognized term internationally, and it’s probably the oldest and most popular slang term for police.

Though cop was well-established in police blotters and newspapers, it truly took off in the early 20th century with the rise of pulp detective fiction, crime serials and eventually Hollywood. The word was short, gritty and perfectly suited for dialogue. It sounded less formal than officer and more natural in the mouths of characters on the street. So it showed up often in hard-boiled novels (like 1940’s Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler), noir films (including 1958’s Touch of Evil) and TV shows (such as Dragnet in the ’50s).

Somewhere along the way, people stopped thinking about cop‘s literal meaning—”to seize”—and just accepted it as an everyday word for a police officer.

Did police officers initially like this word?

For much of its history, cop was often seen as dismissive or derogatory, according to Dictionary.com. Formal references to policemen or officers were preferred, especially in official contexts.

But as with many slang words, time softened the edges. Most police officers are just fine with it in contemporary use, though it can still sound impolite in certain settings, depending on tone and intent.

What are other words for cop?

The English language has produced a surprising number of nicknames for police officers. Here are a few.

• Bobby: British slang dating back to the 1830s, the term is named after Sir Robert Peel, who established London’s Metropolitan Police.
• Constable: The official term in the U.K., constable traces back to the Latin comus stabuli (“count of the stable”), referring to those who kept order.
• Flatfoot: This American slang from the early 1900s pokes fun at patrol officers who walked long beats.
• Fuzz: First appearing in 1929 but popularized in the 1960s counterculture, the slang term has unknown origins; it may refer to the soft felt hats officers wore.
• The Heat or The Law: Popular in noir and crime fiction, both terms are slangy, evocative ways to reference police presence.
• Five-0: The slang term comes from the TV series Hawaii Five-0, a police procedural that released in 1968.
• Pig: A derogatory term used throughout the 19th century, pig is still used today as an insulting synonym for cop.
• Po-po: This American slang was popularized by West Coast rappers in the ’90s; some linguists think it comes from repeating the po in police.

Cop may sound ordinary now, but it’s a word with a long rap sheet. I think this case is officially closed.

RELATED:

• Here’s the Real Reason We Say “Riding Shotgun” When We’re in the Front Seat
• Here’s the Punctuation Mark Gen Z Wants You to Stop Using—And It’s Not What You Think
• Here’s the Real Reason Why Psychiatrists Are Called Shrinks—And It’s a Weird One!

About the expertMichael Adams, PhD, is a professor of English and linguistics at Indiana University Bloomington, where he served as chair of the Department of English for four years. He specializes in the history, theory and practice of lexicography and has contributed to dictionaries and several books, including Slayer Slang: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon.

Why trust us

At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.

Sources:

• Michael Adams, professor of English and linguistics at Indiana University Bloomington; phone interview, Oct. 28, 2025
• Oxford English Dictionary: “Cop”
• Online Etymology Dictionary: “Cop”
• Dictionary.com: “Cop”
• Los Angeles Times: “CBS explains why it’s ‘Hawaii Five-0″ and not ‘Hawaii-Five-O’”
• Online Etymology Dictionary: “Pig”
• The Straight Dope: “Why are the police called cops, pigs, or the fuzz?”

‘Not an option’ to walk away from Manchester Airport suspect, police officer told court

• Granada
• Manchester Airport
• Liverpool Crown Cour

A police officer has told a jury that walking away from a suspect at Manchester Airport was “not an option”.

PC Ellie Cook fired her Taser at Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, after he and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, allegedly attacked her and two of her fellow colleagues, – firearms officer PC Zachary Marsden and PC Lydia Ward, who was unarmed.

The Greater Manchester Police officers entered the paystation area of the Terminal 2 car park on 23 July after reports of a man, fitting Amaaz’s description, had headbutted a member of the public in a Starbucks cafe at T2 arrivals.

Giving evidence at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday 14 July, PC Cook said: “It was very clear what we were going to do.

“We had a violent individual in an international airport who needed to be arrested.

“My intention was to remove him from the paystation area due to the intelligence that he had used violence against a member of the public.

“I didn’t want to give him a chance of using violence against myself or my colleagues or any other members of the public.

“When I approached him I saw PC Marsden take hold of his left arm so I took hold of his right arm together with PC Ward.”

She said Amaaz “tensed up” and she felt resistance from him as she tried to put his arm behind the small of his back.

PC Cook said: “I then recall another male coming over and putting his arm over my shoulder.

“It seemed to me that he was trying to push P\C Marsden off and push him away from the male in blue (Amaaz).

“I turned my head slightly and saw Mr Amaad try to punch PC Marsden.

“I then saw PC Marsden try to deliver a strike to Mr Amaad to try to get him off.

“It looked like he missed.

“I then saw Mr Amaad come back at PC Marsden.

“He tried to grab hold of him. At that time I delivered a strike to the face of Mr Amaad.

“I used my right fist.

“As I delivered the strike I felt a kick to my right leg.

“Shortly after I felt a punch to the right side of my head.

“My immediate reaction was to turn my face from where I thought that punch had come from.

“I saw Mr Amaaz punch me again in the same part of my head which then knocked off my police cap.”

She said it was “quite obvious” from their uniform that they were police officers.

Asked by prosecutor Paul Greaney KC to describe the impact of the second blow, PC Cook said: “I have never felt a punch like it.

“It made me stumble slightly and made my vision go quite blurry for about a second.

“When my vision came back I turned to face the threat where I thought Mr Amaaz was and I saw him deliver a single punch to PC Ward which knocked her to the floor.”

Mr Greaney said: “What did you think by this stage you were dealing with?”

PC Cook said: “I didn’t know what we dealing with. I just knew we were in a hostile situation.

“We were in a bad place and I didn’t know what was going to happen next.

“The male in blue then turned back to face me and I ran back towards him to arrest him, to detain him.

“I approached him and I was then struck another couple of times.

“I don’t recall how many.

“They connected with my head and my torso I think.

“They knocked me to the floor.

“I then knew that myself just using physical restraint was not going to be able to detain him.”

Mr Greaney said: “An option would have been to just walk away, wouldn’t it?”

PC Cook replied: “That was not an option to walk away from such a violent individual at that point.

“I joined the police to protect members of the public and if I walked away I would not have been doing my job.

“When I was knocked to the floor I turned to look towards PC Marsden and saw the male in blue had jumped on his back and punched his head.

“At that point I didn’t see where PC Marsden’s firearm was.

“There was a risk of it being taken from him. At this point we didn’t know what the intentions of the two males were and what they were capable of.

“I didn’t know why they were attacking us, whether it was to get weapons off us or whether it was just an attack.”

As she got back on her feet she PC Cook said she knew she was not as strong as the male in blue and did not want to get too close to him, so she chose to deploy her Taser.

PC Cook pulled the trigger and delivered an “effective shot” at Mr Amaaz who fell backwards holding on to PC Marsden, the court heard.

Footage of what followed as Amaaz lay on the floor later emerged on social media and went viral.

Mr Greaney said: “The world knows that PC Marsden delivered a kick to the face of Mr Amaaz, did you see that?”

PC Cook said: “I did.”

Mr Greaney said: ” At the time did you form any view on that?”

PC Cook said: “I don’t believe PC Marsden was aware that the subject had been subjected to the Taser due to the loud environment and everything that was going on.”

She said she then put her hand on PC Marsden’s body armour and said to him words to the effect of ‘he is on my Taser, I have got him’.

PC Cook told the prosecutor she did not witness the “stamping motion” from PC Marsden which followed the kick.

The officer, who joined GMP in July 2018 and qualified as authorised firearms officer in May 2024, later attended hospital for treatment to swelling to the right side of her head and pain to her jaw.

Amaaz is alleged to have assaulted PC Marsden and PC Ward, causing them actual bodily harm.

He is also accused of the assault of emergency worker PC Cook and the earlier Starbucks assault of Abdulkareem Ismaeil.

Amaad is alleged to have assaulted PC Marsden, causing actual bodily harm.

Both men, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny the allegations and claim they acted in lawful self defence.

Imran Khan KC, defending Amaaz, put it to PC Cook that her colleague’s kick to his client’s head was “quite a shocking thing to happen”.

PC Cook said: “I don’t think it was.”

Mr Khan said: “May I suggest it was quite a shocking view.”

PC Cook said: “On its own with no context maybe but not for me because I had been in the melee of what had just happened.”

Chloe Gardner, representing Amaad, asked PC Cook: “What was your reasoning for punching Mr Amaad directly to the jaw?”

PC Cook said: “Because he was obstructing officers in their duty and I had just seen him trying to grab PC Marsden.”

Ms Gardner said: “The only way to describe your force, PC Cook, is unlawful force isn’t it?

PC Cook said: “I wouldn’t agree with that.”

Ms Gardner said: “It was completely unreasonable.”

PC Cook said: “If that’s what you think.”

Ms Gardner said: “And it was completely disproportionate.”

PC Cook replied: “I disagree.”