An Olympic curler for Team USA denounced the presence of federal immigration agents in his home state of Minnesota, calling some of their actions there unconstitutional.
“I’m proud to be here to represent Team USA, and to represent our country. But we’d be remiss if we didn’t at least mention what’s going on in Minnesota and what a tough time it’s been for everybody. This stuff is happening right, right around where we live,” Rich Ruohonen told reporters during a press conference in Cortina on Tuesday.
At 54 years old, Ruohonen is the oldest American to ever compete at the Winter Olympics, according to Team USA’s website. He works as a personal injury lawyer in Bloomington, and he has represented the United States at two world curling championships in 2008 and 2018. His current appearance in Italy marks his first time at the Olympics.
“I am a lawyer, as you know, and we have a constitution, and it allows us to freedom of press, freedom of speech, protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures, and makes it that we have to have probable cause to be pulled over,” he continued. “And what’s happening in Minnesota is wrong. There’s no shades of gray. It’s clear.”
More than half the USA curling team — six of its eleven members — are from Minnesota. Ruohonen is from Brooklyn Park, about 11 miles north of Minneapolis, where ICE agents have shot and killed two U.S citizens: Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. The shootings have sparked weeks of protests, calling on the Trump administration to withdraw the federal agents deployed there as part of his immigration crackdown.
Ruohonen wrapped his remarks by praising the citizens of Minnesota who are “coming out, showing the love, the compassion, integrity and respect for others that they don’t know, and helping them out.”
It comes just after President Trump blasted another American Olympic athlete, Hunter Hess, as “a real loser” for his comments during a recent press conference.
“Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S,” said Hess, a Team USA freestyle skier.
