Quentin Williams thought of George Floyd when Border Patrol agents tackled and choked him on the grounds of the high school he had attended and where he’s worked for seven years.
“I couldn’t breathe,” said Williams, 28, an educational support professional at Roosevelt High School whose students know him as Mr. Q.
An ICE agent had shot and killed Renee Good earlier that day in south Minneapolis three miles away. Williams wondered if he was next.
He had been trying to help a co-worker get back on his feet after federal agents tackled the co-worker.
Now, federal agents had Williams pinned down, too, at first face up, and then flipped over on his stomach like Floyd, who was murdered by Minneapolis police in 2020. Five or six were on top of him. One had his hands on his neck, choking him. One pulled out some of his hair. Williams blacked out some of the incident — a combination of trauma and losing consciousness.
“I felt like I was drowning,” he told Sahan Journal in his first interview since Border Patrol came to his high school on Jan. 7.
That night, he wrote down what had happened to him in a notebook: “If they were on me two seconds longer I feel like I would be dead.”
The Department of Homeland Security said at the time that Border Patrol agents had come onto school grounds after a U.S. citizen “actively trying to impede operations” led them on a car chase and stopped in a school zone.
Williams was detained for four hours that day and released without charges. But a little over two weeks later, on Jan. 23, he was charged under seal with assaulting a federal law enforcement officer, a felony that could carry 10 to 20 years in prison.
The charge was later downgraded to a misdemeanor. Then the U.S. Attorney’s Office motioned to dismiss the case altogether, which was granted by a federal judge on March 24.
Williams’ attorney, Bruce Nestor, described the federal charges against his client as part of a “propaganda operation” by the federal government.
“Mr. Williams did not assault anybody. He was the victim of this entire proceeding,” Nestor said.
“Although I am grateful for my member that he does not have to face federal felony charges for the attack on Roosevelt High School by ICE and Greg Bovino, I am still appalled that that situation happened,” said Marcia Howard, president of the teacher chapter of the Minneapolis Federation of Educators and a longtime Roosevelt English teacher. “They desecrated our school grounds.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment. Minneapolis Public Schools declined to comment, citing privacy laws.
Williams told Sahan Journal that the dismissal brought him “some kind of relief.” But still, he said, what happened to him and others at Roosevelt should never have occurred.
“There has to be some kind of accountability,” he said.
@sahanjournal Quentin Carter Williams, an educational support professional at Roosevelt High School in south Minneapolis, was trying to help a co-worker off the ground when he was tackled by several Border Patrol agents and choked on Jan. 7, 2026. Williams recently spoke to Sahan Journal in his first interview since the incident, saying he couldn't breathe and worried he was moments from dying. #Minneapolis #ICE #CBP #GregBovino#immigration ♬ original sound Sahan Journal
From school dismissal to immigration detention
Williams was helping his special education students get to their vans and buses at the end of the school day on the afternoon of Jan. 7. He’d finished up his work in the back of the school when he came around to the front. He saw Border Patrol officers, including then-Commander Greg Bovino, on the grounds approaching staff and students. Williams put his hands up in the air, moving to position himself between Border Patrol and his school community. Video footage shows Bovino shoving Williams.
“One of the agents charges my co-worker, slips, pulls him down,” Williams recalled. “Then I’m trying to help my co-worker up, and then that’s when it gets all crazy.”
The agents “jump me basically, and just throw me down,” Williams said.
Since he blacked out part of the incident, Williams did not know how much force had been used against him until he saw videos later.
“I didn’t realize how rough they were with me,” he said.
Williams was taken to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in handcuffs so tight that his hands went numb. The agents did not put a seatbelt on him, and drove at unsafe speeds running red lights on the way to the building, where federal officials process detainees and host immigration court hearings.
According to Williams: No one offered him medical attention at the building. His belongings, including a necklace containing some of his mother’s ashes, were confiscated. He saw people of color in chains. It looked to him like a concentration camp. He didn’t see any food or water. Some cells were overcrowded. Toilets were limited. One woman put her hand against the glass, screaming for help. Another person curled up in a corner.
Meanwhile, agents, outfitted with rifles, high-fived each other about how many people they had arrested. They repeatedly called Williams a “criminal” and asked whether he was in a gang, which he saw as racially motivated because he is African American. At one point, Williams said, an agent made a joke about whether they would have to shoot him just hours after an ICE agent had killed Good while she observed federal agents in south Minneapolis.
After a few hours, Williams was released without charges and his belongings were returned to him.
“I walked out the front door in complete shock,” he wrote in his notebook.
The Department of Homeland Security told Sahan Journal on Jan. 8 that “an individual who identified himself as a teacher proceeded to assault a border patrol agent.” The agency did not respond to a Sahan Journal request for an updated comment after charges were dropped.
Williams took a few days off of school to recover. For the first four or five days, he didn’t want to leave the house. He sought out therapy.
“It took me a while just to go to the gas station,” he said.
He reflected that what happened to him could have happened to a student. Students had been on either side of him when he was tackled — including one with dreadlocks like Williams’.
Federal charges brought and dismissed
Williams took Jan. 27 off school as a mental health day. Then, he got a call from Nestor telling him there was a warrant out for his arrest. He could be arrested if he didn’t turn himself in.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the charges against him and 15 others during a visit to Minneapolis on Jan. 28. Williams’ mugshot appeared on Department of Homeland Security social media and, in turn, on local TV news stations.
Nestor, Williams’ attorney, described Bondi’s announcement as a “propaganda show.” He pointed to New York Times reporting that Justice Department officials had urged the “hounding” of federal agents to charge protesters, promising that Washington officials would be “blasting out” their prosecutions.
Nestor described this approach to prosecution as a “political campaign.”
“They were trying to create a narrative that law enforcement is under attack,” he said.
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Williams turned himself in at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis on Jan. 28 and spent the day in shackles. He took a few weeks off work, worrying about the felony charges and whether he would lose his job.
But on Feb. 4, after Bondi left town, the charge was downgraded.
“A few days later, when they were done with their propaganda show, they reduced all the charges to misdemeanors,” Nestor said.
Six weeks later, Nestor called Williams to tell him the U.S. Attorney’s Office planned to drop the charges altogether. Williams described it as a “small win.” He thinks the plethora of video evidence in his case helped get his charges dropped.
But the trauma of that day lingers.
“They still violated my civil rights when I was at work, and pepper sprayed and maced students and co-workers of mine while I was detained,” Williams said. “They choked me out, pulled my hair out. The charge was dismissed, but I know I didn’t do anything in the first place.”
He worries that people who don’t know him may believe he assaulted a federal officer, after seeing his photo on the Department of Homeland Security’s social media accounts. And other people are still facing charges, some of whom Williams has gotten to know.
One of those people is Christina Rank, a paraprofessional at an Inver Grove Heights school that provides special education and alternative education services in the southeast metro area.
According to Nestor, who also represents her, Rank “colorfully cursed” at ICE agents in accordance with her First Amendment rights after finding them near her school parking lot. The agents then crashed into her car, broke her window and took her to the Whipple Building. Although she was not charged with assault, her photo was posted on DHS social media accounts, labeled with “Arrested: Assault.”
“She’s another educator falsely accused, labeled in the press by administration officials,” Nestor said.
Howard, the teachers union president, said her union retained Nestor nearly a year ago in case members needed criminal defense or immigration law support under the new administration. Now, she’s planning to support her members with mental health resources.
For Williams, the ordeal has helped him see the country where he was born and raised differently. He had experienced racism and racial profiling, but hadn’t been as aware of immigration issues.
“My eyes feel like they’re super open on what’s really going on in this country,” he said.
During Operation Metro Surge, he dropped off food for a Cedar Riverside food bank, looking for ways to help. Now, he hopes his story can help bring accountability to the ICE agents that brought violence to his high school and his city.
“Even with Renee Good and Alex Pretti, those officers haven’t been held accountable either,” he said, referring to a second fatal shooting by federal agents. “I just want to have people held accountable.”
