ICE killed two peaceful observers. The nation erupted. The Boss answered Minnesota’s bat signal.
On January 7, an ICE agent shot Renee Good in the head through the windshield of her car as she was trying to drive away. He then shot her three times more through the side window as her car, undriven, rolled away. She was shot outside her son’s school. She was called a domestic terrorist by federal officials.
So was Alex Pretti, who was shot in the back 6-10 times on January 24 by more than one Border Patrol agent after they had pinned him to the ground on his hands and knees. His “terrorism?” Filming Border Patrol activities from a safe distance, then stepping up to help a woman after ICE knocked her down. He was an ICU nurse at the VA hospital.
The country exploded in protests. Peaceful protests. In Minneapolis, tens of thousands braved bitter windchill to show their solidarity against the invader. Throughout Minnesota, nearly a quarter of voters participated in the January 23 protest, which was endorsed by local unions (Union Advocate).
Freedom of the press on the line: journalists arrested covering a protest
Upon discovering that the pastor of a local church is an ICE official, protesters disrupted services there on January 18. Independent journalists Don Lemon, a former CNN anchor, and Georgia Fort were arrested and accused of participating in the protests. “There is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable,” Lemon said after being released from custody. (CNN)
A Nobel Peace Prize nomination — and a national tipping point?
The Nation magazine has formally nominated the city of Minneapolis for a Nobel Peace Prize. “With their resistance to violent authoritarianism, the people of Minneapolis have renewed the spirit of Dr. King’s call for ‘the positive affirmation of peace,” says the editors’ statement.
The Atlantic called Minnesota’s organizing “a meticulous urban choreography of urban protest.” Sunday’s New York Times cover story called Alex Pretti’s death “a national tipping point.”
A YouGov poll taken the day after Alex Pretti was killed showed increasing opposition to ICE activities. Nearly two-thirds of those polled who had seen videos of the shooting said it was unjustified. Among those polled, more now support than abolishing ICE (46 to 41%). Most Democrats (90%) and Independents (62%) said ICE is too forceful.
Senate Democrats dig in their heels. Thom Tillis pushes back.
In the middle of negotiations over DHS funding, Senate Democrats refused to pass a budget without stronger guardrails on ICE operations: requiring agents to identify themselves and to use warrants for immigration arrests, strengthening training, and keeping Border Patrol on the border rather than helping ICE in the interior of the US. (PBS)
Senator Tillis called Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller “sycophants” in a long X post. (The Hill) Having announced his retirement, Tillis has also recently broken with Trump over Putin’s assault on Ukraine, Greenland, the pardoning of J6 insurrectionists, and weaponizing the DOJ against Fed chair Jerome Powell. (NC Newsline)
Trump pulled Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, the architect of “turn and burn” tactics, out of Minnesota and replaced him with Tom Homan, who created and implemented the family separation policy during the first Trump administration. There is no indication that this portends a change in tactics. (MPR News, The Guardian) Noem did announce that ICE and CBP would start wearing body cams during operations. (Politico)
Minnesota Senator Tina Smith, posting on facebook, said “everyone outside of Minnesota needs to know that nothing on the ground has changed. People are still being profiled. People are still being wrongfully detained. People still can’t go to work or school out of fear.”
But something has changed
On January 28 Bruce Springsteen released “Streets of Minneapolis,” an anti-ICE protest song he wrote and recorded in the four days after Alex Pretti was killed. He performed the song at Minneapolis’s First Avenue venue, at a benefit for the families of Pretti and Renee Good. “Streets of Minneapolis” leaped to #1 on iTunes in 19 countries. Minnesota knows the world — not just the country now, but the world — is watching, is on their side.
