I am also currently in Minnesota, so I thought I would share my perspective. Nice to see another person with Minnesota-Argentina connections on here. I got back from Argentina the day after Renee Good was shot, so it was quite a hornet's nest. I am not in Minneapolis proper so will not speculate on that, but am in a "first-ring" suburb that touches Minneapolis. Things from my perspective have been quiet overall -- if you live in one of the most-targeted neighborhoods of Minneapolis or St. Paul, I'm sure that feels different. We have many Argentine or Argentine-American friends here and from the dozen or so I have recently talked to, I am not aware of anyone having had an actual run-in with ICE. Many people are carrying their passports (if US citizens) or other proof of legal status as a precaution.
As is often times the case with these highly-polarized scenarios, the truth about what is going on or "how bad it is," is probably somewhere in the middle. The entire metro area is not a constant war zone. Fleets of ICE are not stopping people at checkpoints all around the metro and asking for their "papers." Maybe this is occurring in specific neighborhoods where ICE is deploying. I drove by the Whipple Building, which is a federal building that ICE is operating out of and has been the target of many protests/police riot lines/tear gas deployments, yesterday afternoon and it was quiet -- many police cars and barricades, but no confrontations that I could see.
In my own personal life, I saw ICE detaining a man in the parking lot of a suburban WalMart a few weeks ago. It happened without incident. I have not seen them out and about walking through stores or stopping random passers-by at the supermarket etc. I did see a "known ICE vehicle" that is a Subaru with a very distinct color scheme and license plate that is always on social media, driving very fast down a highway and was tailed almost on its bumper by another car -- either ICE in a convoy, or observers attempting to follow it at high speed. Which many observers are reportedly doing -- driving around all day following ICE to report on their whereabouts.
I have seen the occasional peaceful protestor, like standing on street corners with a sign or on highway overpass bridges with flags and signs. The videos you see of the people being overtly confrontational appear confined to active ICE operations in the cities proper. There are reports of what was essentially an organized chat group where protestors would share information on ICE whereabouts, deploy to get in their faces, whistle, etc. which in my opinion creates these kind of unfortunate situations where the two shootings happened. Many of the worst social media videos are shorter snippets in time, so who really knows the entire context of those interactions. There is a concerted subgroup of people here whose entire goal is to be as obstructive as possible, degrade ICE operations, physically intervene at times, etc. To the earlier point about the protests being organic, I would agree that the large protest from last week or the people out on highway overpass bridges etc. are organic, i.e. no one is "paying them." But I don't agree that the groups who get together and inject themselves into active ICE operations or throw things at them are "organic" in the same sense -- they may not necessarily be "getting paid," but their goals and strategies and plans are centrally formulated and are different from the people who just show up to hold signs and who disagree with ICE being here.
Much of the reported activities to me seem overblown--for example, it was reported about two weeks ago on social media and then even local TV news media picked it up as a "real story," that ICE would be at the Minneapolis airport checking individuals and even stopping passengers on the jet bridge as they deplaned. I was there for a flight two weeks ago and saw none of this, from security to deplaning to baggage claim to the parking ramp. Many people, my extended family for example, are seizing on these reports and amping up the hysteria that the entire state is an occupied war zone and people are constantly being stopped and frisked or what have you. I guess I have yet to see it, where I live. I do believe the entire focus on Minnesota is political and is retribution for the stances state-level politicians have taken against the Trump admin in the past. The thrust of the entire opposition to the ICE deployment here essentially seems to be, in essence, that immigration law as it currently exists shouldn't exist, and that more people should actively be in the streets physically opposing the "fascists." As I said before, the truth and a sane middle ground is going to be somewhere in between.
and the deliberate mass illegal immigration by the Biden administration to to garner a new permanent political sytem .That rabbit hole? Lol. Its quite nice. Its very clear and forthright down here but sheep aren't allowed to enter.
