Minnesotans sound off on ICE to local governments
By Mike Moen – Producer /Minnesota News Connection
Beyond protests in neighbourhoods and public squares, Minnesotans are flocking to city council meetings to share their fears about federal immigration enforcement.
Since the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent, the Trump administration has tried to label Minnesota protesters as “paid agitators.”
But residents in communities around the state are becoming increasingly vocal about what they see as an overly-aggressive enforcement operation that’s traumatizing their communities.
At this week’s city council meeting in Richfield, resident Birgit Johnson said her native country of Germany’s history with the Nazi regime comes to mind as she sees what’s happening now.
“What I have been seeing lately,” she said, “is immigration enforcement that has adopted a military look and operation style that imposes war-like methods on the people.”
Johnson, now a U.S. citizen, implored local police not to work with ICE on immigration arrests, saying doing so would erode the public’s trust.
The city issued a statement saying Richfield Police aren’t being notified by ICE about its activity.
It said that because it has to ensure safety for all, officers may have to assist with crowd control, but they don’t participate in enforcing immigration law.
In other Minnesota cities, similar requests were made during public comment periods.
Several speakers shared their concerns at this week’s Duluth City Council meeting.
Meg Litts, the daughter of an immigrant, brought up what many others have described; fear, chaos and disruptions to everyday life.
“We live in a location, Minnesota, where we are being targeted and persecuted by our own federal government,” she said.
Litts called on local leaders to sever ties with vendors that provide services to ICE operations.
Around Minnesota, critics have said agents are using racial profiling as they roam the streets and make arrests, and in some cases, detain U.S. citizens.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act as he criticized the state’s handling of protests toward federal officers. Such a move would allow him to deploy military forces to the state.
