On January 5, roughly 2,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were deployed to Minneapolis in a federal operation to arrest “fraudsters, murderers, gang members, and rapists,” as stated by the Department of Homeland Security. ICE made Minneapolis a target due to a social media video that made allegations of fraud in Somali-owned childcare facilities. The intervention, which has sparked public outrage and protests, has drastically changed the lives of Minneapolis residents.
“There’s just a very eerie presence in Minneapolis right now,” shared my cousin Isaac Zarsky, who moved to Minneapolis a few years ago with his husband. “I haven’t seen anyone kidnapped but almost all of my friends have.”
Isaac’s husband, Garrett, a resident in a Minneapolis hospital, has been working to help injured patients and keep them safe, all while studying for exams. “Recently in the past few days we’ve been getting more and more ICE agents bringing patients in who have cuts all over their faces and they’re beaten up. ICE has started detaining people in the hospital now despite it being against the hospital’s policy. They’re shackling patients to the beds, refusing to leave during exams, and patients who are citizens are being detained for no reason,” he explained.
Isaac shared, “There’s a sandwich shop that I love, and they posted on Instagram this past weekend encouraging people to work from the shop instead of just at home, so I’ve been working from there this week and they showed me right away where the keys to the door are in case ICE shows up.”
Garrett said, “I went to a sandwich shop in south Minneapolis and I had to knock to be let in because it was locked. I know that’s happening in a lot of places if they haven’t just overtly shut down.”
When asked about the response from the community, Isaac noted that “the community has really stepped up. There are a lot of food drives and mutual aid grocery deliveries to families who can’t get out because they’re afraid of being arrested. There are fundraisers to help pay for peoples’ rent. We haven’t been going to protest because it’s getting too dangerous, but I’m going to pick up groceries and drive them to people this week.”
“Despite everything, this community is also the strongest that I’ve ever seen, and the amount of people who are stepping up and stepping in is pretty remarkable,” said Garrett. “There’s a lot going on in the world right now and I think it’s important to not forget about us. People here are quite literally fighting for their lives and being kidnapped off the streets. Kids go to school and come home and their parents are gone. It is common to see cars at gas stations with no drivers in them and cars crashed because ICE was pursuing them. I think the more that we can keep our eyes on Minneapolis, the harder it will be to forget about this.”
