Minneapolis stands with immigrants! No ICE in our city!
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) on June 3 federal operation in Minneapolis at Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue.
On Tuesday June 3, at around 10:30am, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) received reports of possible ICE presence and possible immigration enforcement activity at the intersection of Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue in south Minneapolis. Our members arrived at the scene quickly to observe and assess the threat level of the activity.
MIRAC members were able to verify that more than 40 officers were present as part of the operation, mostly heavily armed and masked and wearing insignias of federal law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, DHS, HSI, ATF, DEA, and ICE. The officers were heavily armed with military-grade weapons, had at least two tank-like BearCat vehicles, and a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD). This looked more like military occupation than a law enforcement operation.
They were also accompanied by officers from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department and the Minneapolis Police Department in the heart of Minneapolis’ Latino immigrant community, despite the City of Minneapolis having a policy to not cooperate with immigration enforcement activity and the Hennepin County Sheriff also having stated an intention to not cooperate with immigration enforcement.
MIRAC called for community members to gather at the intersection to continue observing Trump’s shock forces and to document any illegal or racist activity. They cannot be allowed to operate without oversight and with impunity.
We believe that regardless of the alleged reason behind a raid of this nature, ICE and other federal agencies are a danger to everyday civilians, particularly to our immigrant neighbors. This was proven to be true when people on the scene were tear-gassed, pepper sprayed, and shot with pepper ball guns by the officers that claimed to have been “safeguarding communities”. The violence perpetrated by the federal agencies and MPD resulted in several people being injured, including at least one who needed to seek medical attention at HCMC.
Minneapolis is supposed to be a sanctuary city; that is, the local police department is not to collaborate with federal immigration enforcement. Today’s events showed that the mayor of Minneapolis is unable to uphold this promise of safety for the city’s residents. Whether or not this was technically an immigration enforcement operation or an operation by some other name with the presence and leadership of ICE and HSI, the real-world impact was an attack on immigrants, and the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County should not be part of it! In the afternoon, mayor Jacob Frey released a statement that claimed MPD was only present at the site of the raid to control the rightfully-angered community members. However, observers who arrived near the beginning of the incident noted that MPD officers were present before the larger crowd showed up. MIRAC condemns MPD and the Hennepin County Sheriffs for assisting Trump’s military operation. Whatever the stated objective of the operation was, it was clearly carried out to inflict terror and harm on the immigrant community.
Our members witnessed at least 2 people get arrested during the protest that began at the scene and their whereabouts are still unknown. MIRAC and other community organizations are working to identify and locate those arrested to offer support.
MIRAC condemns this outrageous heavily-militarized operation carried out in our city. This is what the Trump administration’s war on immigrants looks like — BearCat tanks and heavily armed masked thugs spreading terror in our communities. Militarization of our neighborhoods does not keep us safe. It does the opposite.
MIRAC condemns the use of chemical weapons against Minneapolis residents who were observing and expressing their opposition to this outrage.
We want to thank everyone who showed up today to observe, and to defend and protect our barrio. Please continue to follow MIRAC and other activist organizations, because we know we will need to continue to fight against Trump’s war on immigrants. We keep us safe!