Federal immigration agents forcibly broke down the door of a Minnesota home and detained a U.S. citizen at gunpoint without presenting a warrant, then marched him outside in just his underwear in below-freezing temperatures, according to his family and videos reviewed by The Associated Press (AP).

ChongLy "Scott” Thao told the AP his daughter-in-law woke him from a nap Sunday afternoon to say masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were pounding on the door of his St. Paul residence. Thao said he urged her not to open it, but agents forced their way inside with guns drawn, shouting at the family.

"I was shaking,” he said, adding that no warrant was ever shown before they broke in.

The dramatic encounter unfolded as federal immigration enforcement operations in the Twin Cities draw growing criticism from residents and local leaders over warrantless detentions, aggressive confrontations with protesters, and the recent fatal shooting of a mother of three, Renee Good, by an ICE agent.

"ICE is not doing what they say they’re doing,” St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, a Hmong American, said in a statement about Thao’s arrest. "They’re not going after hardened criminals. They’re going after anyone and everyone in their path. It is unacceptable and un-American.”

Thao, who has been a U.S. citizen for decades, said that as he was being detained he asked his daughter-in-law to find his identification, but agents told him they did not want to see it. Instead, as his 4-year-old grandson watched and cried, Thao was led out in handcuffs wearing only sandals and underwear, with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

Videos captured the scene, which included people blowing whistles and horns and neighbors screaming at the more than a dozen gun-toting agents to leave Thao’s family alone.

Thao said agents drove him "to the middle of nowhere” and made him get out of the car in the frigid weather so they could photograph him. He said he feared they would beat him. He was later asked for his ID, which agents had earlier prevented him from retrieving.

Agents eventually realized he was a U.S. citizen with no criminal record, Thao said, and an hour or two later brought him back to his house. There, they made him show his identification and then left without apologizing for detaining him or breaking his door.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security described the ICE operation at Thao’s home as a "targeted operation” seeking two convicted sex offenders.

"The U.S. citizen lives with these two convicted sex offenders at the site of the operation,” DHS said. "The individual refused to be fingerprinted or facially ID’d. He matched the description of the targets.”

Thao’s family said in a statement that it "categorically disputes” the DHS account and "strongly objects to DHS’s attempt to publicly justify this conduct with false and misleading claims.”

Thao told the AP that only he, his son, his daughter-in-law and his grandson live at the rental home. Neither they nor the property’s owner are listed in the Minnesota sex offender registry. The nearest sex offender listed as living in the ZIP code resides more than two blocks away.

DHS did not respond to a request from The Associated Press seeking the identities of the "two convicted sex offenders” or why the agency believed they were present in Thao’s home.

Thao’s son, Chris Thao, said ICE agents stopped him while he was driving to work before detaining his father. He said he was driving a car he borrowed from his cousin’s boyfriend. Court records show the boyfriend shares the first name of another Asian man who has been convicted of a sex offense, but Chris Thao said the two men are not the same person.

The family said they are particularly upset by ChongLy Thao’s treatment because his mother fled to the United States from Laos in the 1970s after communists took over. She had supported American covert operations and feared for her life.

Thao’s adopted mother, Choua Thao, was a nurse who treated CIA-backed Hmong soldiers during the U.S. government’s "Secret War” from 1961 to 1975, according to the Hmong Nurses Association website. Choua Thao, who died in late December, "treated countless civilians and American soldiers, working closely with U.S. personnel,” her daughter-in-law, Louansee Moua, wrote on a GoFundMe page.

ChongLy Thao said he plans to file a civil rights lawsuit against DHS and no longer feels safe sleeping in his home.

"I don’t feel safe at all,” Thao said. "What did I do wrong? I didn’t do anything.”