Tensions in Minnesota have reached a boiling point as ICE agents take to knocking on doors. Their role is to find and detain illegal immigrants, but Minneapolis residents are also being questioned. ICE’s actions are confusing and altogether frustrating for locals like Ramon Menera. Despite obtaining his legal citizenship in 2019 and a U.S. passport in 2021, he was still temporarily detained by agents.
In a video now circulating on Reddit, Menera is cornered by ICE agents outside of his home in a Minneapolis suburb. Three agents surround Menera as he asks, “Why do you ask me for my paperwork?” To this, the agent nearest to him responds, “Because of your accent.” Menera responds, clearly anguished, by saying, “You have an accent, too.”
As the agent continues talking, a slight accent is noticeable when he asks, “Where were you born, sir?” Menera asks the same question right back, to which the ICE agent says, “Put your hands behind your back.” He is temporarily detained, and as he’s walked to ICE’s vehicle, he says, “I’m from this country.” The ICE agent says, also with an accent, “You know what, sir? Now, talking to you, seeing, hearing that you have an accent, I have reason to believe you are not born of this country. What country are you from?” At this, Menera questions whether he’s being detained solely because of his accent.
Left With a Sense of Unease
While he was eventually released, Menera admits that the fear of deportation remains. He was also questioned and taken in front of his five-year-old daughter. “She was shaken when I got in the home,” he says in an interview with CNN. “And she’s like, ‘Are you okay? They were going to take you? I don’t want to lose you.'” Menera says that ICE doesn’t care if you’re a citizen or not, and feels he is a target because of his strong accent and appearance.
In Reddit comments, users express disgust and anger at ICE’s actions. One person commented on how damaging it must have been for Menera’s daughter to witness this outside of their own home. “How traumatic for the child,” they said. Another begged Brett Kavanaugh to stop it all, while viewers on TikTok endlessly reference the fact that the ICE agent also had an accent. “My goodness, does the ICE officer think his accent is American? Cognitive dissonance,” one user says.
