Kimaya Khurana - Week 10 - Power in Communities
“Minnesota ICE Live Updates: Omar Attack, Alex Pretti Shooting and Noem Impeachment Calls”
“Two agents who shot Alex Pretti put on leave as Trump tries to quell backlash”
“‘ICE conveyor belt’ illegally detaining, moving Minnesota children to Texas faster then courts can respond”
“Minnesota Proved MAGA Wrong”
These are just a few of the thousands of news articles swarming the media currently due to what has been going on in Minnesota. Many people don’t realize that this isn’t just in Minneapolis, its everywhere.
ICE isn’t focusing on detaining illegal immigrants any more, they take US citizens, lawful residents, or even Native Americans. Minors, children who even had to show up to court not even knowing what a lawyer is. Documented people who haven’t broken any laws. Their only crime? Being black, hispanic, or asian.
Multiple times a day, this is occurring. Streets are empty, car doors are open and left abandoned–engines running, seatbelts cut, house doors are wide open. Schools have to close due to ICE swarming bus stops. Districts are calling to inform parents that their children should switch to being homeschooled because of how dangerous it's getting. Parents are yelling their names with the school their children go to when being arrested in hopes that someone will call the school so their kids know what happened when they come home to an empty house. No guardian even present. Imagine leaving a child at a daycare, solely so you can do what you have to do, yet now you have to sit at the parking lot to make sure they don't get kidnapped.
Remind me, ICE is about protecting the country? Protecting the country from illegal immigrants, yet all they seem to be detaining are CITIZENS who HAVE WORKED to live in this country. People who came to give their child a better life than they had––more opportunities, more freedom. Not even that, NATIVE AMERICANS. Didn’t we steal the land from them? I cannot place enough emphasis on how disturbing this is, and there honestly is not a strong enough word to describe it.
However, Minnesotans have come together to respond. They are showing power in their communities.
Grandparents carry whistles in their cars to warn communities, parents patrol bus stops and for safety circles around schools so people can safely get in and out, massive food donations, people taking families into their homes, and ride shares.
Regular people––who never participated in a protest, strike or even voted––are now coming together to protect eachother. And honestly, this may be the one thing to help stop ICE.
Image Credit: https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20260127-we-are-just-not-stopping-how-minnesotans-turned-the-tables-on-ice
Hi Kimaya! In the past, when you thought of the United States of America, you thought of opportunity and democracy, and you thought of freedom. As you said, many immigrate to the U.S. in pursuit of a “better life” for them and their children. However, that previous definition of freedom currently could not be farther from the truth.
ReplyDeleteAnd unfortunately, this is not the first time in history that this has happened. It’s not even the second, or third. Back in the late 1800s, the Chinese Exclusion Act represented a similar view of immigrants as the ones to blame for a lack of available jobs and reduced wages. Then in the 1940s, the interment of Japanese Americans was also justified as a matter of “national security,” and the fact that they were legal citizens had no impact. Entire families were separated, and people were detained only because of their identity (sound familiar?). And maybe the most horrifying and shocking parallel of them all is to the Holocaust. The Holocaust started in a similar way, with Jewish people being scapegoated and blamed for the country’s economic problems, and many people compare ICE to the Gestapo. I saw something online a couple of days ago that I think puts this into shocking yet completely accurate terms: “Anne Frank had to go into hiding because soldiers started to go door to door to demand to see everyone’s papers. And if someone’s papers said they were Jewish, they were detained and then transported to a camp” (@aj_desiiigns on Instagram).
I also love that you bring up the history of the U.S—namely, how Americans stole land from Native Americans because they felt entitled to it. Over the past couple of months, I have seen a wide variety of anti-ICE posters and slogans, but my favorite of them all definitely has to be, “No one is illegal on stolen land.” We cannot just conveniently forget that the United States only came to be because the rightful owners of its land were forced out of their homes as if they were the intruders.
Kimaya, I am so glad this is something that our generation is interested in discussing. The political climate today does not even come close to “for the people.” News article after news article highlights how unjust the actions of our government are. It is clear to so many people that our government goes against every American ideal of opportunity, freedom and hope. I think it is so important how you mentioned how violent the arrests have been and how much they lack proper process. There is no empathy in what is happening. The current administration has said on multiple occasions that they are only going after “the worst of the worst” even within the umbrella category of illegal immigrants, but then we see videos and articles about children and people with no criminal history being stripped from their homes and stripped of their rights. Our own secretary of homeland security seems unaware that there are laws in this country protecting due process. The imagery you paint of “engines running, seatbelts cut, [and] house doors [being] wide open” really demonstrates the despair so many are facing.
ReplyDeleteI often find it difficult when I think about ICE because I feel so powerless against it. But then, like you mentioned, I remember how powerful a community can be. While it may not be to the same scale as demonstrations in Minneapolis, I look at our school with so much pride when I see the protests and determination we have against the injustices going on. Thank you for pointing out so many nuances of the injustices happening today, I appreciate that this is a discussion we are having.
Hello Kimaya. The topic of ICE has been an never ending storm. It is a plague on our country, and the representation of the failures of America. Parents being advised to homeschool their children as it is not safe to leave them at school is deeply disturbing and is truly sad to see. The hypocrisy of ICE still doesn't cease to amaze me – their goal initially to remove illegals now detaining citizens as well. Like Tanya said, they are the Gestapo and problems. At the protest last week, one of the phrases heard was "We don't want Nazis in this country" and they aren't wrong. The way ICE proceeds in detaining, breaking up families, and killing people is eerily similar to the work of the Nazi's. Thank you for sharing!
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