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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 02/12/2026Approved Minutes Eden Prairie Human Rights and Diversity Commission 7 p.m. Thursday, February 12, 2026 Heritage Rooms 1 & 2 8080 Mitchell Road Eden Prairie, MN 55344 ATTENDEES Commission Members: Gregory Leeper, Chair; Asad Aliweyd, Shana Bates, Shalanda Berry, Zaheer Khan, Jody Knight, Jessica Oaxaca, Brenda Pfahnl, Wendi Russo, John Urbanski, Susan Weaver Student Commission Members: Nawal Abdullahi, Omar Abdulle, Abdulrahman Ali, Jia Chenchlani, Roshini Drakshapally, Ikra Ibrahim, Shivashish Khanna, Anjolaoluwa Raimi, Gatrika Ravella City Staff: Paja Xiong, Community Services Manager & Staff Liaison, Julie Krull, Recorder MEETING AGENDA I. Call to Order/Roll Call Chair Leeper called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Commission Members Aliweyd, Bates, Knight, Pfahnl, Russo and Student Commission Members Abdullahi, Abdulle, Ali, Ibrahim, and Khanna were absent. There was not quorum at the start of the meeting; the approval of the agenda and minutes took place after the Community Presentation. Berry and Oaxaca arrived during the Community Presentation. II. Introduction of Guests Chair Leeper introduced Chief Matt Sackett of the Eden Prairie Police Department and said he will give updates to what is going on with Operation Metro Surge (OMS) and any additional items to be addressed. III. Approval of Agenda MOTION: KHAN moved, seconded by WEAVER, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 6-0. IV. Approval of the January 8, 2026 Meeting Minutes MOTION: URBANSKI moved, seconded by OAXACA, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 6-0. V. Community Presentation Chief Sackett said he felt the news today regarding Operation Metro Surge was addressed very good. He stated in the beginning of the ICE deployment in Minnesota the Eden Prairie Police HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES February 12, 2026 Department did not get involved with immigration. The officers separated themselves from ICE but as time went on, the officers did go out to situations where people were being threatened. The police had a hard time getting information on ICE and their activities until the new border czar, Tom Homan, came on board. Chief Sackett pointed out that ICE has always been in Minnesota but not at the numbers as of recently. He stated that a lot of the ICE agents were in the parks in Eden Prairie, which was concerning to the residents. Chief Sackett said that he had a conversation with Mr. Homan and he agreed they should not be in the city parks. He reiterated again that ICE agents have always been in Minnesota for the hard-core criminals and stated that as of now, the surge is over with. The Eden Prairie Mayor, Ron Case, also put out an announcement today on the ending of the surge and said it should be about a week for this to be drawn down. Chief Sackett also said Mr. Homan attended the Chief’s meeting last week and said the cooperation with law enforcement should be just focused on the jails. That is the only cooperation needed and the officers should not be involved with any other ICE activities. Khan said he sees that Eden Prairie Police should be there to ensure that residents would be safe and asked if local government is that separate from the federal government. Chief Sackett said there does need to be major changes at the federal level to eliminate all of this chaos. Chenchlani commented the way the Eden Prairie Police Department handled the walk-out at the school was great. She wanted to know what is happening with all of that people that are detained. Chief Sackett responded they are working on this process and it will take a while for it to get resolved and commented the police department does not get reports of who was detained. Weaver commented that some of her friends and colleagues were arrested at the protest that took place at the airport and commented they were treated respectfully. She asked Chief Sackett about the violence that had occurred recently with ICE agents. Chief Sackett responded when there are violent protestors it agitates the ICE agents and because of that possibly they were over-reacting. In regards to the shooting that occurred, he pointed out that is not how the Eden Prairie Police Department would have handled that situation. Urbanski asked what the morale of the Eden Prairie Police Department is currently. Chief Sackett responded that morale is good. What was initially confusing to the officers was what their role would be in the ICE situations. When they knew they would not be involved in any ICE activities the mood got better in the police department. They know now that they are just there to assist the residents and not to get involved. Oaxaca asked, from a call volume standpoint, how many calls come in for assistance and were there any arrests in regards to this. Chief Sackett said in regards to the number of calls, there were approximately 15-20 since January 1st, and the majority of them were suspicious vehicles at the parks. There were no reports of assaults that came in. Xiong said the Eden Prairie Police Department would always get a hold of her and share that information. She pointed out she has only received two reports of people needing just resources for assistance with her department. Chief Sackett said if there are any additional questions or concerns to reach out to him. Chair Leeper asked if there were any comments from Chief Sackett’s presentation. Oaxaca said in regards to Incident Bia Reports, it would be helpful to know year by year what is coming in and what the HRDC’s role is to address these. Xiong responded the reports could come in from a community member that would just need resources; otherwise, they come from the police department and at that point she would get their contact information and reach out to them to HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES February 12, 2026 get them the needed resources or see if they would like to file a police report if they have not done so. She pointed out the individuals are not invited into the Commission to speak because it can be intimidating and the Commission cannot give them the answers they may be seeking. She stated she does report these incidents on a quarterly basis to the Commission. Xiong said from her stance in her division, Mohamed meets with the Somali community in regards to any situations they may be dealing with. After the second shooting they did note there was a decline in their department from the Somali people coming into the office so they offered to communicate with them over the phone or Zoom/Team meetings. Mohamed did send out a public service announcement to the Somali community and after this was sent out, they did see an increase in individuals coming back in for assistance. Khan said it would be nice to know what kind of incidents are happening. He also asked how other communities are managed, such as the Latino community. Xiong stated she sees a mix of other communities and pointed out her department does have a language app to assist them if there is a language barrier. Khan asked what happens when Mohamed is not in the office. Xiong responded that everyone in her department can assist anyone that comes in for assistance. Chenchlani asked if the HRDC or someone from the City could reach out to individuals to encourage them to contact the Eden Prairie Police Department if they need assistance. Chair Leeper responded that Mayor Case sent out a message today to encourage individuals to call 911 for any type of assistance. Khan suggested providing legal assistance to individuals. Chair Leeper also suggested providing legal resources during this recovery effort. Xiong responded there is a page with links on the City website that contains information for such things as legal assistance and food assistance. VI. Old Business A. Words in Action Debrief Chair Leeper pointed out the Words in Action contest was presented to the City Council on Monday evening. He asked Raimi for her thoughts on the evening’s presentation. Raimi responded she enjoyed being there and learned a lot. Weaver commented it is one of her favorite activities. Khan said he enjoyed the presentation but suggested they should take more time when giving the winners their certificates. Chair Leeper said he liked that everyone had a chance to vote on the winners versus having a committee vote on the winners. He also enjoyed seeing the proud parents at the presentation. B. Culture Week Tabling Debrief Xiong started the debrief by stating there was a very good crowd at this event. Chenchlani concurred with Xiong and added that the students were asking about the HRDC and because of that she is hoping to see more applications next year. Chair Leeper thanked Chenchlani and Ravella for participating in this event and thought it was very successful and would like the HRDC to participate in it again next year. Xiong commented she witnessed a lot students that were engaged and was encouraged by that. Khan asked what this event was all about. Chenchlani explained it is a week-long event called Culture week and builds up to Unity Day, which includes special performances, food, and tabling. Raimi added during Culture week there are many different themes and activities every day. HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES February 12, 2026 C. Community Conversation Discussion Xiong commented the Eden Prairie High School is still interested in participating in this event and would like to have the event before Spring Break. She will be sending over the proposal to the principal and school administrators. Xiong said the school would like to know if we would like to have this event during the day or evening. After some discussion, the students responded they felt during the day would get more participants. Xiong said she will reach out to the school and let them know the Commission would like to have the event during the day. Xiong said next month’s speaker will be Grecia Lozano. VII. New Business There was no new business this evening. VIII. Next Meeting: March 12, 2026 IX. Adjournment MOTION: OAXACA moved, seconded by BERRY, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 6-0. CHAIR LEEPER adjourned the meeting at 8:20 pm.