A week after Minneapolis woman Renee Good was killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in ‘self defense’, the video of a 42-year-old woman, Aliya Rahman, being hauled by the ICE agents in Minneapolis, went viral, making international headlines. Like Renee Good, Aliya was also accused of blocking ICE agents but she shouted that she was disabled and was going to the doctor. She was detained and later released. The Donald Trump administration, according to reports, did not press any charges against her. The administration also did not mention her name in official statement. “As officers carried out their law enforcement duties, a significant crowd surrounded them and began impeding law enforcement operations. One agitator ignored multiple commands by an officer to move her vehicle away from the scene, she was arrested for obstruction. Another agitator assaulted an officer by jumping on his back. Six of these agitators were taken into custody for assaulting law enforcement,” the administration said. Aliya Rahman’s details, however, immediately came out as she is a well-known activist, a registered Democrat.
Who is Aliya Rahman, a US-born techie with link to Bangladesh?
According to information publicly available, Rahman was born in the US to a Wisconsin mother and Bengali father from Bangladesh. The family moved to Bangladesh and she grew up there until she came to the US for studies. She identifies herself as queer which is also a reason why she came back to the US as homosexuality is punishable in Bangladesh. She got involved in activism work during 9/11. Rahman is currently based in Minnesota and works as a software engineering manager in a remote capacity for a real estate company based in New Jersey.Daily Mail reported that Tuesday’s ICE incident is not her first run-in with the law. Rahman previously pled guilty to criminal trespassing charges in Ohio and was hit with multiple traffic violations. Her first traffic offence was in 2009 when she was charged with driving without insurance in Illinois. She was charged with driving under the influence in 2010, which she pled guilty to. .
