ICE’s terror campaign

“Show me your papers!”
For Americans, that very demand has long raised the specter of totalitarian regimes, off in some dark, far-flung corner of the planet. For the past 250 years, most Americans have taken for granted our right to go about our business every day without masked gunmen demanding we prove who we are.
That’s no longer the case, at least in the Twin Cities and other parts of Minnesota where merely walking down the street, driving to a doctor’s appointment, bringing the family home from a high school basketball game, or sitting in your living room watching television can result in a terrifying interaction with poorly trained out-of-state goons sent here to stir up trouble.
This isn’t about law enforcement, as some defenders of this abuse continue to suggest. The so-called “surge” of federal agents, sent to Minnesota in recent weeks, is clearly intended to sow civil unrest. Law enforcement doesn’t work like this, at least when enforcing the law and rounding up bad guys is the real intent.
What’s often overlooked is that the Obama administration deported millions of unauthorized immigrants, which is why immigration activists often derided the former president as the “deporter in chief.” But the Obama administration operated efficiently and effectively, by working with state and local law enforcement to detain and deport the actual bad guys, not the restaurant or hotel workers, not the maintenance workers or the nursing assistants at the local hospital, and not the folks at the packing plants or those picking the fruits and vegetables we rely on.
The Obama administration picked up the bad guys as they were set to be released from whatever sentence they might be serving for criminal activity. Detainments were quick and efficient, effectively handovers from one form of custody to another. If the Trump administration were truly focused on ridding the U.S. of “the worst of the worst,” as President Trump claimed during his 2024 campaign, the administration would have an efficient and effective, no-fuss model to replicate.
But that is not what’s going on. President Trump and the yes men and women who make up his administration are focused on ratings. As we wrote here when Trump returned to office one year ago, this isn’t a presidential administration so much as it is a reality TV show, with a malevolent mission. Unfortunately, the quiet and effective administration of impartial justice, as we used to see under prior administrations, is a ratings killer. Tear gas in the streets and violence against protesters, on the other hand, generates plenty of engagement. Trump’s ICE agents could operate quietly and professionally. They could treat undocumented immigrants with a modicum of decency, since unauthorized entry is a civil, not criminal, infraction and many of those detained by this administration have no criminal history. These agents could demonstrate that they recognize and respect the rights that anyone here in America used to be able to expect.
Instead, as we’ve seen in countless videos, ICE is dragging people out of cars, chasing them down at work or at school, and busting into homes and apartments without judicial warrants. And this treatment isn’t limited to immigrants, legal or not. As we’ve seen in the Twin Cities time and again, American citizens are being stopped every day as ICE agents demand to see their papers. Even off-duty police officers are being targeted by ICE, particularly if they are people of color. If you’re planning a trip to the Twin Cities, be sure to bring a passport or birth certificate because any of us could easily be next.
Just this week, ICE agents smashed their way into a St. Paul home and dragged out a Hmong man in St. Paul, who has been a U.S. citizen for 35 years. The man has no criminal record and was in his living room, sitting in his boxer shorts, when ICE broke in, terrorized other residents of the home, and hauled the elderly man out into sub-zero weather still in his underwear.
Last week, we heard of the horrific case of a Twin Cities family that was returning from a basketball game, when ICE activity blocked their way. As they tried to maneuver away from the scene, ICE deployed tear gas, which quickly filled the car’s interior, sending kids to the hospital and nearly suffocating an infant.
Those of us who live in rural parts of northern Minnesota have, at least for now, been largely spared this kind of abuse. But that’s small comfort. When we see federal agents elsewhere in Minnesota routinely violating the law and the constitutional rights we’re all granted as our birthright, none of us is safe. Our isolation, at least for now, remains the primary protection for people here in the North Country. We used to be able to rely on the Constitution. Those days appear to be over.