A woman who claimed she was driving to a doctor’s appointment when she was hauled out of her car by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers has a history of social justice activism and interactions with police.
Aliya Rahman, 42, was allegedly blocking ICE agents working to capture illegals in Minneapolis on Tuesday when officers pulled her from her black Ford Fusion as she desperately clung to the driver’s side door.

She cried out ‘I’m disabled, I’m trying to go to the doctor up there’ as four masked officers dragged her into a federal vehicle. Disturbing photos of her arrest made international news.
Rahman, a US-born citizen, is a technologist and social justice trainer who dedicates her time to LBGTQ and racial injustice causes, her Tech for Social Justice profile said.
The registered Democrat says she threw herself into activism work while studying aeronautical engineering at Purdue University after two of her cousins were killed in the 9/11 terror attacks.
Rahman, who identifies as being genderqueer, was dating a transgender man at the time and claimed that due to the culture in rural Indiana, it was a ‘necessity’ that she became involved in advocacy work.
She 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.

The 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, according to court records obtained by the Daily Mail.

Rahman has had several run-ins with police while in a vehicle, according to records obtained by the Daily Mail.
Her first traffic offence was in 2009 when she was charged with driving without insurance in Illinois. It is unclear how the allegation was resolved and if Rahman was convicted or acquitted.
She was charged with driving under the influence in 2010, which she pled guilty to, Ohio public records showed.
She was later found guilty of following too close, stopping improperly at a stop sign, criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Rahman was taken into custody again on Tuesday for the alleged assault of an ICE officer, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman confirmed.
DHS did not name her in its statement but when specifically asked about charges against Rahman, a spokesman said: ‘As officers carried out their law enforcement duties, a significant crowd surrounded them and began impeding law enforcement operations— a federal crime.
‘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 spokesman also applauded ICE’s efforts in Minneapolis on Tuesday, which included the apprehension of four illegal migrants.