An ICE Killing Puts Minneapolis on the Brink

"The Twin Cities, then the rest of the country, exploded in Black Lives Matter protests: daily marches, traffic blockades, calls to defund the police, and public destruction that matched the turmoil so many Americans were experiencing. In response to the burning of a police precinct, the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, called up more than seven thousand National Guard troops and airmen to enforce a curfew."

"The Justice Department found that the M.P.D. had used excessive force, especially against protesters, Black people, Native Americans, and people with disabilities. Minneapolis has since banned chokeholds and no-knock warrants. The current police chief, Brian O'Hara, has a reputation for fair-mindedness. Problems with local law enforcement persisted, but officers knew that they were being watched-by the people and by the federal government."

"For the past few months, federal officials have again been all over Minneapolis. As part of the Trump Administration's mission to detain and deport a historic number of immigrants, more than two thousand officers with the Department of Homeland Security have swarmed Minnesota's Twin Cities-St. Paul and Minneapolis, both sanctuary jurisdictions-and their suburbs. Masked, uniformed personnel from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol, and D.H.S. police have arrested hundreds of non-citizens at bus stops, homes, even a library."

Five years ago, Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd, sparking widespread Black Lives Matter protests across Minneapolis and the nation. Minnesota deployed over seven thousand National Guard troops after a police precinct burned and curfews were enforced. The DOJ Civil Rights Division opened a pattern-and-practice investigation into Minneapolis Police Department use of force, finding excessive force especially against protesters, Black people, Native Americans, and people with disabilities. Despite reforms, problems persisted and officers felt watched by the public and federal authorities. Recently, more than two thousand DHS officers carried out arrests of non-citizens in the Twin Cities; masked ICE, Border Patrol, and DHS police operated in sanctuary jurisdictions.

Read at The New Yorker