It's important to understand that ICE hasn't just invaded the Twin Cities metro area. They're also in places like the town of Willmar, MN, which is about 100 miles west of Minneapolis. For example:
Federal agents detained three workers from a family-owned Mexican restaurant in Willmar, Minn., on Jan. 15, hours after four agents ate lunch there...
An eyewitness who declined to give a name for fear of retribution, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that four ICE agents sat in a booth for a meal at El Tapatio restaurant a little before 3 p.m. Staff at the restaurant were frightened, said the eyewitness, who shared pictures from the restaurant as well as video of the arrest.
The arrest happened around 8:30 p.m. near a Lutheran church and Willmar Middle School as agents followed the workers after they closed up for the night.
Here's a personal account of another abduction from Facebook:
My husband was kidnapped tonight by ICE.
He is a born and raised Willmar, Minnesotan. Officers rushed his car. He gave his ID and complied. Without running his license, he was slammed against the car, hand cuffed, and thrown in a vehicle and was taken. They must have finally ran his ID 1/4 mile down the road, because they pulled in a parking lot, uncuffed him, threw him out of the car and threw his ID at him and took off. He then had to walk back to his car to drive back to work.
This is wrong. This is terrifying. This is completely unjust. I am full of rage and terror. This must stop. ICE does not care what you look like. They are taking everyone and asking questions after kidnapping.
Immigrants have been a vital part of Willmar for decades. Latinos first came as agricultural workers in the 1920s and settled in the town to work at the turkey-processing company, Jennie-O. In the 1990s, Somalis joined other immigrant groups working in the same plant. Here's an interesting perspective on that from Willmar's former mayor, Les Heitke.
Coincidentally, the founder of Jennie-O—Earl B. Olson—had an immigrant background himself, being the son of Swedish émigrés. Thus, as Heitke points out, the current influx of Somali and Latino immigrants into Willmar is by no means an unprecedented trend. Rather, it can be understood as a continuation of the city's long history of immigration. According to Heitke, the area started out as a service center for passing trains and was settled by immigrants working on the railroad. As time passed, businesses sprang up and the community grew...Somalis are only the most recent addition.In 2005, Willmar received the "All-America City" designation from the National Civic League for outstanding civic accomplishments. Then, in 2006, this happened:
America is actually a checkerboard of towns and cities — some rising from the bottom up and others collapsing from the top down, ravaged by opioids, high unemployment among less-educated white males and a soaring suicide rate. I’ve been trying to understand why some communities rise and others fall — and so many of the answers can be found in Willmar.
Eight years later, when Trump referred to Minnesota Somalis as "garbage," a woman from Willmar invited friends to join her for lunch at a local Somali restaurant as a way of showing support for their neighbors. Here's what happened:
This is an example of just one community being terrorized by ICE in Minnesota.
Nancy---this is an excellent piece of inclusive reporting. I'm familiar with the Somali population in Cedar-Riverside in Minneapolis where my son attended Augsburg College. On parent visits we 'haunted' the several Somali restaurants in that area at that time, and even had a few picnic lunches with Somali students and their families in the park that is in the center of the Augsburg campus. As well, each Sunday that we were at Augsburg College, there were several Somali families who were attending the Sunday worship services on campus. Never sensed fear in that area, and were always welcomed. Building a large family of new friends at Augsburg.
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