"Vera Swanson is like many 5-year-olds. Her favorite colors are purple and sparkly blue. She loves strawberries. Art is her favorite subject in school. She really likes drawing axolotls. "They're so cute. I made them today," Vera said while sitting on her couch in St. Paul with her parents nearby, just days after federal immigration agents shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis."
"She's bubbly and extroverted. She can't help but say hello to everyone she sees while running errands with her mom, Stacy. She's well-liked at her French immersion school and is proud she can count to 20. Her teachers enjoy having her in class. Other parents come up to Stacy Swanson instantly knowing who she is by hearing their children's stories of Vera, even if their kids aren't in Vera's class."
"Since President Donald Trump's surge of Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents became a constant presence in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Vera's heard her friends say something is happening. And Vera's taken up a new hobby: setting traps at home. "I do need to make one because the bad guys are taking mommies and daddies," she said. Vera and Stacy, like thousands of other children and parents in the Minneapolis metro area,"
Vera Swanson is a bubbly five-year-old who loves purple, sparkly blue, strawberries, art, and drawing axolotls. Federal immigration agents became a constant presence in Minneapolis and St. Paul after President Donald Trump's surge of Border Patrol and ICE. Federal agents shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, heightening community fear. Vera began setting traps at home and told her mother she needed one because 'the bad guys are taking mommies and daddies.' Vera and her mother, Stacy, join thousands of other local children and parents confronting aggressive immigration enforcement in the Minneapolis metro area.
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