This account comes from an elderly woman, Diane Graham-Raff, who lives in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota; I reprint her account in full:

We live in a tidy 1950s suburb of St. Paul, the smaller, more practical twin city. We are a pretty sedate community, nothing ICE should be interested in if it weren’t for the fact that Trump openly hates our governor. Secondly, this summer we had a guy dress up as a tactical officer who went around to four legislators homes before successfully murdering one of our most highly respected state legislators. After that, we were told by our local police department to call 911 anytime we are confronted by someone who says they are law-enforcement, but refuses to show ID. They literally published tutorials on what real police and sheriff IDs look like, and what all the vehicles used by local police and sheriffs look like.

What ICE does is swarm a neighborhood with 3 to 8 cars, all driving way too fast for the posted speed limit, no lights or sirens, and then suddenly stop when they see someone out walking that they think looks like an immigrant. That means if you’re Asian, brown or black. Minnesota has some of the largest communities of Hmong and Somali folks in the country. All but a tiny percentage of those folks are US citizens, and the others are generally relatives of citizens (often elders living with family) who are working towards that goal. We have a large urban population of Dakota, Anishinaabe, and Ho-Chunk folks who have been getting harassed by ICE on a regular basis. Just like in the Pacific Northwest, ICE agents have not been trained to recognize tribal IDs or even what the heck indigenous people of this region look like. So the simple act of walking across a store’s parking lot, or walking down the sidewalk in front of your house, can end up with ice grabbing you, throwing you into the snow (which currently is like concrete because of freeze and thaw) and hauling you away to the federal building miles away just because they don’t like your answers to their questions or because you demanded to see their ID (remember we’ve been told that legitimate police will gladly show their ID). I’ve had many, many friends talk about having to go pick up people who have been wrongly detained because they didn’t have a “real ID” on them at the time of their encounter with ICE. Remember, US citizens are not required to carry citizenship documents.

Every school has to have staff or PTA monitors, standing around the school grounds at the beginning and end of the school days to ensure the safety of their students. On Tuesday,  just an hour or so after they killed Renée Nicole Good, ICE swarmed a nearby high school. They say it was because they had been chasing an illegal immigrant for 5 miles (picture that, a swarm of SUVs speeding through city streets for 5 miles just to catch one person) something that local police would have either disengaged or been handing off rather than endangering folks for 5 miles. ICE ends up tackling multiple people on school grounds, including staff and students. They attacked and detained at least one staff member who was specifically out there, trying to explain that they could not be attacking students. They then unleashed  pepper spray on students.

All over the metro, we have these speeding hoards. I had 3 that were in front of me at a stoplight, suddenly decide to turn left in front of those in the left turn lane, against a red light. It’s just sheer dumb luck that they weren’t hit, especially since we were waiting at a light that controls the light rail train. 

Even as a grey haired white lady, I have to be careful. Based on real things that have happened to friends and acquaintances, if they hit your car or force you into a snowbank as they speed by, they say it was your fault for impeding them. If they think you are in their way while walking, they give you a shove and laugh when you fall.

Let me be crystal clear: These ICE agents swarming the Twin Cities are not law enforcement officers. They are thugs and goons with no proper training. Our local law-enforcement are spending way too much time showing up at ICE enforcements, literally to protect bystanders from the criminals in ICE costumes. Our governor has our own national guard on standby, in case they are needed to protect us.

So, if you’ve been watching the news from Minnesota and thinking, “what are they complaining about, there are arresting criminals”. I encourage you to contact your local officials and invite them to come to your town. Once there, you will see the truth. You will see that this is democracy under siege.