Not everyone agrees with what ICE is currently doing in the country, which is why many people choose to confront or challenge the agency when they can. One such incident took place in Minnesota, where two dozen citizens showed up after spotting ICE agents in their neighborhood.
In a video described as an attempted kidnapping, agents were seen trying to tackle an East African man to the ground because they wanted to question him. This happened just days after Trump made controversial remarks about Somali people. As the agents continued their efforts, local residents began to gather and quickly surrounded the house.
Many of them brought loud whistles, which they used while filming the encounter, making it clear they were not going to stand by quietly.
One of the agents attempted to calm the crowd while the rest of his coworkers continued restraining the man. The agent told the citizens that if the East African man simply gave them the information they needed, they would let him go. He claimed they were only trying to identify him.
But that raised an important question: if they didn’t even know who he was, how were they attempting to carry out an immigration action in the first place? To many watching, it suggested that the agents had profiled him solely based on appearance.
The crowd then began chanting, “Leave our neighbors alone.” When the crew from Minnesota Public Radio arrived, the agents paused for a while before deciding to leave. Thankfully, no arrests were made, and the man was left safely at home.
As the agents drove away, someone could be heard shouting, “Get the [expletive] out of here.” It was clear they were not welcomed by the community.
People Reacting to the Minnesota Citizens Standing Up Against ICE
A lot of people were happy with what the Minnesota citizens did, including one person who wrote, “This makes my heart happy.” One comment also read, “Good job everyone.” Another person wrote, “A mass of people is VERY effective. [expletive] yeah.” Someone else pointed out how crowds showing up could stop ICE from carrying out their arrests. “All with their phones out and calling the press. If its only a few people maybe ICE just arrests everybody but if its like 5 to 1 neighbors to ICE thats not that easy,” they wrote. Since the USA is going to be one of the World Cup hosts, one Redditor also sarcastically said, “Going to be an interesting World Cup with all those foreigners walking around.”
Now that many citizens are living in fear of ICE because of their skin color, one person shared the precautions they now feel forced to take. “I carry my ID with me everywhere now. I’m native born and shouldn’t have to worry about being arrested for a lack of papers. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on this years ago, yet here we are… not like randos with ill-fitting vests and some guns are equipped to easily run an ID, if they even care to. I’m ‘ethnically ambiguous,’ so there’s that, but I’d do it even if I were an albino with a family tree that never left the Arctic Circle,” they wrote.
It is truly unfortunate that so many people now feel the need to live in fear of being detained or separated from their families.
