A federal employee responsible for conducting background checks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents was arrested in a sex trafficking sting, according to local reports.
Department of Defense contractor Brashad Johnson, 36, was reportedly one of 30 suspects arrested in an undercover operation in Minnesota targeting people allegedly attempting to pay for sex.
“This is the most disturbing arrest that we’ve had here,” Booker Hodgers, police chief in Bloomington, Minnesota, said of Johnson’s arrest.“He is a backgrounder for ICE, Homeland Security, and federal agencies. So when you’re getting your security clearance, this is one of the guys that does your backgrounds, which is kind of scary.”
Hodgers said 28 of the men arrested will face gross misdemeanor charges, while the remaining two have been charged with felonies because they are repeat offenders.
Johnson’s arrest is not the first time a federal employee tied to ICE has been caught in a sex trafficking sting in Bloomington, a city of just over 90,000 residents. In November, a married ICE employee was arrested in a separate operation dubbed “Operation Creep,” which identified 16 men allegedly attempting to solicit a 17-year-old girl for sex.
According to the criminal complaint obtained by People, after Alexander Steven Back, 41, responded to a prostitution ad, an undercover officer texted him, “U ok if I’m a lil younger than my ad says... just wanna be honest.”
Back replied, “Sure,” according to the complaint.
”When he was arrested, he said, ‘I’m ICE, boys,’" Hodges said during a press conference in November, according to CBS News. “Well, unfortunately for him, we locked him up.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
The latest bust comes as ICE’s aggressive operations in Minnesota have become a national political flashpoint following the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good—an issue critics were quick to highlight online.
“The Trump administration allowed [Johnson] to have a high security clearance,” left-wing political influencer Ed Krassenstein wrote on X. “The sickness runs deep!”
In January, the nonprofit Ohio Immigrant Alliance published an updated list of at least 30 ICE and/or Border Patrol agents it claims have been charged with or convicted of crimes over the past 11 years.
Meanwhile, a CBS News report found that fewer than 14 percent of immigrants detained by ICE during Donald Trump’s first year in office had violent criminal records.
