It’s been a long time since you’ve seen the crowd and felt it. Whistles and shouts carried bricks from a residential street in Minneapolis, where more than 70 people lined the street filming on their phones and hurling insults — and the occasional snowball — at a handful of people. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and their vehicles.
The ICE agent then forced the protester to the ground. Then, the woman threw herself at him and the agent raised his stick, and the crowd erupted in anger at the increase. At one point during the standoff, an ICE supervisor called the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office for help.
“I received an assault on the police,” said the manager, whose name was revealed in the 1:13 p.m. recording sent to X by the sheriff’s office. “We have 60 to 70 agitators fighting with us.”
Deputies arrived, lined up on the side of the road and watched as the crowd and ICE officers moved from one side of the block to the other, passing a car parked in the street with its window broken. Deputies watched as an ICE agent fired several pepper sprays into the street, sending protesters and bystanders scrambling for eyewash.
The Department of Homeland Security’s latest immigration operation into Minnesota, Operation Metro Surge, began on December 1. It was met with massive backlash in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, where residents said they stood in solidarity with the Somali community and the broader immigration they say is being targeted for raids — and with insulting comments from the US president.
In a public post, the Hennepin County sheriff’s office said its deputies did not see an attack or an adult.which needs attention and noted that it does not participate in forced migration.
Today at approximately 1:13 pm, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Communications Center received an emergency call from the Department of Homeland Security. pic.twitter.com/zAHZAsZZZ6S
Gov. Tim Walz, the mayors of Minneapolis and Saint Paul and the police chief of Minneapolis expressed their concern about the new crackdown, which began after the US. President Donald Trump has called the Somali community in the city “garbage” and said “we don’t want them in the country.
Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the US, about 80,000 people, and most of them are US citizens.
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In the first two weeks, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that it had arrested more than 400 people from various backgrounds, including some from Somalia. DHS said those arrested included “rapists, rapists and violent criminals.”
Among those arrested is a 20-year-old American of Somali origin named Mubashir who was arrested during a break. Although Mubashir was later released, the mayor condemned the arrest, and the Minneapolis police chief, who did not help, apologized to the man and called it a disgrace.
The American Civil Liberties Union is now representing Mubashir. In a statement sent to CBC News, he said he “repeatedly told the agents that I am an American citizen.” He said he tried to show them his ID, but “they refused to even look at it.” Mubashir said he was taken into custody because he is a Somali-American.
“The way they treated me was cruel, unnecessary and unfair.”
Too afraid to leave the house
The crackdown had a chilling effect; Somali businesses and cafes are often bustling and quiet.
“There are people who don’t leave their homes, because they are afraid of being thought of by someone else and being caught,” said Farah, a member of the Somali community who is an American citizen. CBC News is using only her first name because she fears repercussions for herself and her family.
“There are people who have not gone out to shop for days and weeks – and they are citizens.”
Farah knows Mubashir and has been feeling heavy for the past few weeks, saying he has trouble sleeping.
“It is unusual for the president and leader of a country – which considers itself to be the most developed country in the world – to appoint a group of people who call it garbage.”
Trump has repeatedly accused Somalis of stealing billions of dollars from Minnesota. It is true that the vast majority of Somali Americans – of the 80,000 who live in the state – He was charged with fraud involving millions of dollars including a funding program for the COVID era called Feed our Future. As of 2022, investigators have charged nearly 80 people, and the money believed to have been stolen continues to balloon.
Farah said those crimes are real and those who committed them should be held accountable.
“But it uses that to reach a false conclusion. And that false conclusion is incredibly dangerous and incredibly insidious,” he said.
“People commit crimes, people do bad things,” he said. “But there’s no way, there’s no real reason to impose that behavior on a large group of people.”
The attack on immigrants in Minnesota is being met with organized opposition from people angry about Donald Trump’s anti-Somalia rhetoric in America. Nationally, CBC’s Katie Nicholson goes to Minneapolis and finds a community coming together to try to protect their neighbors.
Editing the answer
Dieu Do is part of a group that trains local Minnesotans who want to be part of first responders. Those groups respond to reports of ICE raids and often record them and blow whistles to deter agents.
“People are really scared,” said Do. “People in Minnesota feel very targeted, because we love our Somali community.”
Since Trump’s remarks about the Somali people, more than 500 people have signed up for training – up from 115. The training session teaches prospective responders what their rights are and how to safely document a raid.
“They are everyday people … they are restaurant owners, business owners, neighbors, teachers, nurses, health workers,” she said.
Do believes that the rapid response teams that have been demonstrating the effectiveness of ICE have had an impact.
“They know that they will have to take their photos quickly, because if they take too long and people see and the public starts showing up, they will back off,” he said.
Monday’s standoff between responders and ICE agents took place in State representative Aisha Gomez’s district. He stood in the crowd filming with his phone and ended up getting hit by a wave of pepper spray.
“I was pepper sprayed twice today. I’m not discouraged. We represent our community,” said Gomez.
“In fact, we have secret police on our streets. They don’t know us. They don’t look at the kind of rules that the law enforcement should maintain,” he said.
“I don’t know how it will end but I know that this community says no, they say that our neighbors are important to us, we will not stand for trampling on their rights.
ICE suspects an increase in attacks on agents
The attack on immigrants has its supporters in Minnesota. A majority of Republicans spoke in favor of it and eight county sheriff’s departments signed working agreements with ICE, though a recent decision from the state attorney general could change that.
In a statement sent to CBC News about Monday’s standoff, ICE St-Paul said its officers were in the area “stopping targeted vehicles.” They said they were attacked by a crowd of protesters who “threw stones, pieces of ice, attacked the police and used pepper spray against the law enforcement officers” and that some of their staff were injured.
ICE said it arrested two U.S. citizens for “assaulting federal officials.” It said they also arrested “two illegal aliens.”
ICE said its officials faced 11 times more attacks – without specifying a comparison period – and asked “sanctuary politicians, its promoters and the media to lower the temperature and stop calling for violence and resistance.”
