Assault case dismissed against Minnesota school worker detained by ICE

Sarah Nelson, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jul 22, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — At the request of federal prosecutors, a judge on Wednesday dismissed the criminal case against a woman accused of crashing into immigration agents in a school parking lot during Operation Metro Surge.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert G. Tucker III on Tuesday filed the motion to dismiss Christina Rank’s case, saying that “upon a further review of the evidence and affidavit in support of the complaint, the government does not believe that probable cause for assault exists.”

The dismissal is among several criminal cases brought against Minnesotans by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for charges of assault or resisting federal agents during last winter’s immigration enforcement operation that were later downgraded or outright dismissed.

Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko signed off on the tossing of Rank’s case on Wednesday and dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the case cannot be filed again.

In a statement to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Rank’s attorney Bruce Nestor called the move “long overdue.”

“This case never should have been brought and Ms. Rank did nothing wrong to be put through this six month ordeal of a federal criminal prosecution,” Nestor said in an email.

According to the affidavit written by a Homeland Security agent, Rank was accused of causing a collision on Jan. 12 in the parking lot at the Concord Education Center in Inver Grove Heights where she worked as a paraprofessional. The complaint alleged that she blocked the entrance of the school’s parking lot after asking the agents if they worked for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which resulted in a collision with the car.

Nestor disputed the account, saying federal agents intentionally collided with Rank’s vehicle and arrested her out of retaliation for “expressing verbal opposition to their presence on the property” of the school.

Rank was charged Jan. 23 along with 14 other defendants whose names and photos were posted by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi who called the group “rioters.” The posts prompted concern at the time from a federal public defender and U.S. Magistrate Judge Dulce Foster, who said she was “deeply disturbed” that the U.S. government posted photos of the defendants who are presumed innocent while awaiting trial.

Federal prosecutors later re-charged Rank with a one-count misdemeanor. Micko ordered the U.S. government to clarify the new charge, asserting that the latest allegation accused Rank of committing assault.

“It is hard to imagine how blocking an entrance, standing alone, could be an assault,” Micko wrote.

Micko gave the U.S. Attorney’s Office until July 17 to file the clarification. On Tuesday, five days past that deadline, the U.S. Attorney’s Office moved to dismiss the case.