Our daily check in with MPR photojournalist documenting immigration actions in Minneapolis
ICE officers try to enter an apartment complex on Park Avenue in south Minneapolis during operations on Jan. 13.
Ben Hovland | MPR News
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Audio transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] NINA MOINI: Every day on Minnesota Now this week, we're checking in with our journalists on the ground who are trying to get a handle on these immigration operations. Just before 10:00 this morning, ICE agents took two people into custody and used chemical irritants on a crowd in South Minneapolis. The incident occurred a block from where an agent killed Renee Macklin Good less than a week ago.
MPR News Photojournalist Ben Hovland was there and recorded video at the scene where agents pulled a young woman from her car and carried her to their vehicle. We're going to listen now to some of the footage. A Warning it could be distressing to listen to.
WOMAN: I am autistic and I have a brain injury. Put me down! I was just trying to get to the doctor. And I'm autistic. It takes me a second to understand.
ICE AGENT: Step back! Step back!
NINA MOINI: We heard the woman saying there she's autistic and has a brain injury. It sounds like she may not have understood the agent's order. She also says she was going to a doctor's appointment. And an ICE agent is telling protesters to stay back. So there's some context for you. Here for much more is Photojournalist Ben Hovland. Thanks again for being with us, Ben.
BEN HOVLAND: Hi, Nina. Thanks for having me.
NINA MOINI: Can you walk us through what you saw when you first arrived at the scene this morning?
BEN HOVLAND: Yeah, sure thing. So I had been tracking ICE activities in South Minneapolis all morning, and actually had been at an earlier operation over on Portland and 28th Avenue when we heard that there was a large gathering of agents and protesters over near 34th and Park Avenue. So we headed over there.
And as soon as I jumped out, I ran over to the scene as fast as I could. And when I got there, I saw about a dozen agents and even more media and protesters surrounding this Ford Fusion in the middle of the road. And agents were actively grabbing this young woman who looked clearly distraught. They were grabbing her and taking out of taking her out of her car.
NINA MOINI: What happened between the federal agents and the protesters?
BEN HOVLAND: Sure. At these scenes, and when I was documenting the scene at 34th and Park today, there is a constant cacophony of whistles, people blowing their whistles, people shouting. And so as the situation evolved, as you said earlier, ICE agents took this young woman and carried her to their vehicles and eventually, drove off with her. As I ran back, back toward the parked car where the woman was taken, I actually saw another elderly man being carried by ICE agents as well, and they put him in a car. And I don't the role that this man was playing at the scene, but his face was covered with blood when I saw him being put into the car.
After that, there was dozens of agents that were trying to leave the scene it seemed. There were ICE SRT agents there. I saw HSI agents and ERO agents all there. So eventually, when they were-- it seemed like they had finished with their actual operation, they started using chemical irritants to disperse the crowd as they were trying to leave. I actually have photos of an agent pointing his pepperball gun at my feet, and he was actually shooting at our feet as they were trying to leave. I was standing pretty far back, but they were clearly very focused and intent on leaving the scene after that. So they deployed tear gas and pepper spray as well.
NINA MOINI: And Ben, I just want to be clear. Do you know what led to the start of the interaction between the woman who said she was just trying to get to the doctor and these agents?
BEN HOVLAND: So I showed up to the scene after it had already started, really. But I did speak with a few people who had been there firsthand. And take this with a little bit of a grain of salt because I couldn't independently verify what they said. But based on what they were saying, ICE agents had appeared at the intersection around 9:30 and were going to houses knocking on doors. And that's when I think some of these rapid responders, these observers, started showing up and trying to alert their neighbors that agents were present to try to alert people.
NINA MOINI: It's really hard at scenes in the role that you're doing right now, on behalf of all of us, to go out to these different situations and come across things and never really being able to be there for every moment of what's happening. But it's still important that you be there to chronicle what's happening and get those firsthand accounts from people on the scene. So we're really grateful. Were there some local officials there on the scene? Because they've been out and about, too, and they're certainly receiving a lot of reports as well.
BEN HOVLAND: There were. When I got there, Representative Aisha Gomez was on a bullhorn. She was yelling at these ICE agents, calling them traitors and telling them to get out of the neighborhood. And then Council Member Jason Chavez was there as well. He was blowing his whistle. I have photos of him blowing his whistle right in the faces of some of these agents who were on the scene. And I actually did have a chance to speak with Council Member Chavez after agents had left the scene and things had calmed down a little bit. I asked him a little bit about what he saw today and how he's feeling about this escalation of federal presence here in the ward that he represents.
JASON CHAVEZ: It's not that people want to be outside. And I want to repeat that. Folks don't want to be outside. They have to be outside at many times because they're trying to afford food and their rent, and they have to pay bills. And I think that is the most heartbreaking part, where you have ICE literally in our streets, terrorizing families apart because they're trying to get their basic needs met. So that is the most hurtful part of living in this country right now, where there's hard working people just being terrorized simply for doing what they need to do to help their family survive.
NINA MOINI: Yeah. And Council Member Chavez has been on this program, too, before and has talked a lot about people who are afraid to leave their homes and go to work and get their needs met and are therefore falling behind on their rent payments. So there are different rippling effects that are going on here. And we do appreciate your reporting on the ground every day for us, Ben. Thank you.
BEN HOVLAND: Yeah. Thank you, Nina.
MPR News Photojournalist Ben Hovland was there and recorded video at the scene where agents pulled a young woman from her car and carried her to their vehicle. We're going to listen now to some of the footage. A Warning it could be distressing to listen to.
WOMAN: I am autistic and I have a brain injury. Put me down! I was just trying to get to the doctor. And I'm autistic. It takes me a second to understand.
ICE AGENT: Step back! Step back!
NINA MOINI: We heard the woman saying there she's autistic and has a brain injury. It sounds like she may not have understood the agent's order. She also says she was going to a doctor's appointment. And an ICE agent is telling protesters to stay back. So there's some context for you. Here for much more is Photojournalist Ben Hovland. Thanks again for being with us, Ben.
BEN HOVLAND: Hi, Nina. Thanks for having me.
NINA MOINI: Can you walk us through what you saw when you first arrived at the scene this morning?
BEN HOVLAND: Yeah, sure thing. So I had been tracking ICE activities in South Minneapolis all morning, and actually had been at an earlier operation over on Portland and 28th Avenue when we heard that there was a large gathering of agents and protesters over near 34th and Park Avenue. So we headed over there.
And as soon as I jumped out, I ran over to the scene as fast as I could. And when I got there, I saw about a dozen agents and even more media and protesters surrounding this Ford Fusion in the middle of the road. And agents were actively grabbing this young woman who looked clearly distraught. They were grabbing her and taking out of taking her out of her car.
NINA MOINI: What happened between the federal agents and the protesters?
BEN HOVLAND: Sure. At these scenes, and when I was documenting the scene at 34th and Park today, there is a constant cacophony of whistles, people blowing their whistles, people shouting. And so as the situation evolved, as you said earlier, ICE agents took this young woman and carried her to their vehicles and eventually, drove off with her. As I ran back, back toward the parked car where the woman was taken, I actually saw another elderly man being carried by ICE agents as well, and they put him in a car. And I don't the role that this man was playing at the scene, but his face was covered with blood when I saw him being put into the car.
After that, there was dozens of agents that were trying to leave the scene it seemed. There were ICE SRT agents there. I saw HSI agents and ERO agents all there. So eventually, when they were-- it seemed like they had finished with their actual operation, they started using chemical irritants to disperse the crowd as they were trying to leave. I actually have photos of an agent pointing his pepperball gun at my feet, and he was actually shooting at our feet as they were trying to leave. I was standing pretty far back, but they were clearly very focused and intent on leaving the scene after that. So they deployed tear gas and pepper spray as well.
NINA MOINI: And Ben, I just want to be clear. Do you know what led to the start of the interaction between the woman who said she was just trying to get to the doctor and these agents?
BEN HOVLAND: So I showed up to the scene after it had already started, really. But I did speak with a few people who had been there firsthand. And take this with a little bit of a grain of salt because I couldn't independently verify what they said. But based on what they were saying, ICE agents had appeared at the intersection around 9:30 and were going to houses knocking on doors. And that's when I think some of these rapid responders, these observers, started showing up and trying to alert their neighbors that agents were present to try to alert people.
NINA MOINI: It's really hard at scenes in the role that you're doing right now, on behalf of all of us, to go out to these different situations and come across things and never really being able to be there for every moment of what's happening. But it's still important that you be there to chronicle what's happening and get those firsthand accounts from people on the scene. So we're really grateful. Were there some local officials there on the scene? Because they've been out and about, too, and they're certainly receiving a lot of reports as well.
BEN HOVLAND: There were. When I got there, Representative Aisha Gomez was on a bullhorn. She was yelling at these ICE agents, calling them traitors and telling them to get out of the neighborhood. And then Council Member Jason Chavez was there as well. He was blowing his whistle. I have photos of him blowing his whistle right in the faces of some of these agents who were on the scene. And I actually did have a chance to speak with Council Member Chavez after agents had left the scene and things had calmed down a little bit. I asked him a little bit about what he saw today and how he's feeling about this escalation of federal presence here in the ward that he represents.
JASON CHAVEZ: It's not that people want to be outside. And I want to repeat that. Folks don't want to be outside. They have to be outside at many times because they're trying to afford food and their rent, and they have to pay bills. And I think that is the most heartbreaking part, where you have ICE literally in our streets, terrorizing families apart because they're trying to get their basic needs met. So that is the most hurtful part of living in this country right now, where there's hard working people just being terrorized simply for doing what they need to do to help their family survive.
NINA MOINI: Yeah. And Council Member Chavez has been on this program, too, before and has talked a lot about people who are afraid to leave their homes and go to work and get their needs met and are therefore falling behind on their rent payments. So there are different rippling effects that are going on here. And we do appreciate your reporting on the ground every day for us, Ben. Thank you.
BEN HOVLAND: Yeah. Thank you, Nina.
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