Minnesota

By Mike Moen – Producer /Minnesota News Connection

As Congress debates the tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, data is emerging on how Minnesotans are expressing their frustrations, including a recent day of action that garnered national attention.

A new poll from May Day Strong – a coalition of labour unions – reveals that nearly a quarter of those surveyed said they or a loved one took part in a statewide strike on January 23rd.

On that day, residents were urged to refrain from work, school and shopping.

An estimated 50,000 people also marched through downtown Minneapolis in sub-zero temperatures.

There have also been tributes to Renee Good and Alex Pretti after they were fatally shot by federal agents.

Bruce Blase of Blaine took part in a bike ride for Pretti, and noticed a lot of people cheering from the sidelines.

“And along the route, there were lots of residents along the route that were urging us on. They were behind our movement,” says Blase.

Participants say the demonstrations in Minnesota and around the country illustrate that many Americans feel the Trump administration is going too far with its deportation strategy.

After voting to end a partial government shutdown, Congress faces a short negotiating window to secure reforms to the Department of Homeland Security.

A stopgap measure extends funding for DHS until February 13th.

Democrats want to end practices such as “roving patrols” while Republicans renew calls to target sanctuary cities.

Residents speaking up about ICE’s presence in Minnesota have consistently noted that people documenting arrests are not violent protesters, but instead neighbours caring for neighbours.

They say the marches and rallies are an extension of the resistance.

Blase walks around in a safety vest with the words “peaceful observer” stretched across the back.

He says he feels that ancestors who served in the military and defended the United States and its allies would have done the same.

“My dad and all of his fellow combat veterans of World War II are spinning in their graves right now if they knew what was going on in this nation,” says Blase.

The May Day Strong survey was conducted over a three-day period immediately after the January 23rd day of action, with responses from nearly 2,000 likely voters in Minnesota.

Nearly half of the respondents felt the event was an effective way for people to exercise their rights and show opposition.

By Mike Moen – Producer/Minnesota News Connection

Minnesota doctors and police chiefs are joining the chorus of voices describing community-level harms they say are being caused by the surge of federal immigration officers in the state.

In separate news conferences on Tuesday, health-care providers and police department leaders shed new light on the impacts of ICE agents pushing to accelerate deportations across Minnesota.

Dr. Janna Gewirtz O’Brien, president-elect of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Minnesota chapter, says when serving patients in Minneapolis, while ICE agents are visible at hospitals, including the one where she works, vulnerable families are afraid to get the care they need.

“We’ve seen moms that have called and said, ‘My baby’s having trouble breathing. I don’t know if I should come in,” says Dr. Gewirtz O’Brien.

As for local police, a group of department chiefs has described getting endless complaints from community members, including U.S. citizens, about ICE agents violating their civil rights.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump amplified his administration’s arguments that the Minnesota operation is capturing the worst violent offenders.

But some arrest data cited by the White House has been called into question, and the Minnesota Department of Corrections has said the public is being misled about certain cases.

Over the past two weeks, Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley says residents have often reported being stopped by ICE along the street or while driving, with no apparent cause, and being forced to show citizenship paperwork.

He adds that nonwhite police officers have also been subject to this treatment while off duty.

“If it is happening to our officers, it pains me to think of how many of our community members are falling victim to this every day,” says Bruley.

The situation in Minnesota has spurred an abolish ICE movement, but Bruley says he is not at that point.

He feels immigration enforcement is important, but only when done properly – and thinks what’s happening now needs to stop.

Meanwhile, O’Brien says she suspects the aggressive enforcement will result in lasting trauma for kids seeing it up close.

“When ICE enforcement occurs in or near places where children should be safe – like homes, like schools, like hospitals,” she said, “children experience fear that disrupts their sense of stability,” says O’Brien.

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.