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Forty-seven year old Minnesota mom Elizabeth’s daily routine has changed dramatically since December. She lives in Minneapolis and late last year she started exchanging contact information with her neighbors. 

“When Trump announced that they were going to invade Chicago and Illinois, we knew that Minneapolis wasn’t probably far behind. At that time in the fall, we organized some signal chats just amongst parents,” said Elizabeth, who agreed to talk to MPR News, but asked us not to share her last name or the name of her kids’ school to avoid drawing the attention of federal agents to their location. 

On Thursday morning Elizabeth ate an egg sandwich for breakfast and her son had a bowl of Lucky Charms. Then they headed out to the icy, salty sidewalks to help their neighbors get to school. 

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Many Minneapolis families with non-white immigrant backgrounds have been afraid to leave their homes for weeks now. Several Twin Cities districts told MPR they’re seeing absenteeism rates climb to between 20 and 40 percent.

For those in hiding, Elizabeth and her neighbors are delivering groceries, organizing laundry and doing regular check-ins. They say their kids are excited to help their classmates and love adding gummy worms, Oreos and pizza to the grocery cart to deliver to friends.

For those families who still want to send their kids to school but are afraid of federal agents, Elizabeth and her neighbors are organizing car rides and perimeter patrols. They make sure kids can get safely from their front doors to classrooms. 

Several districts throughout the Twin Cities have reported parents and students being targeted by federal agents while on their way to school or waiting at bus stops.

In Inver Grove Heights, a nearby suburb, a school staff member was pulled from her car by federal immigration agents just outside the school parking lot as she was arriving for work. In Crystal, a parent was detained while waiting at a bus stop. 

“I can’t imagine being like, here’s this random person that said they’ll give you a ride to school, and feeling more comfortable sending my child out in that car than me being able to take them, or me feeling comfortable to send them on the bus, or all of the other things that we do,” Elizabeth said. “I can’t even begin to imagine what those families are feeling.” 

So far, Elizabeth and her patrol have only had a few encounters with federal immigration agents. They carry whistles around their necks in case more federal agents show up at school drop off. On Thursday morning this week, however, there were no disturbances.

Teachers at the neighborhood school say they’re deeply worried about the kids in their classrooms. Alex is a teacher at the elementary school. He says 40 percent of students have chosen to stay home and do distance learning while the district is offering it for the next month. 

“Seeing families out here full of anxiety, dropping their kids … they’re out seeing this stuff in the streets when they're getting driven here on their bus,” Alex said. 

“This is a safe place, and they don’t even feel like they can get here. Our kids are strong. Our staff is strong, and our parents are supporting all of it so there’s no chaos here. There’s a community, and there’s love and there’s progress every day,” he added.

Alex, Elizabeth and their neighbors and fellow staff members say they’ll keep showing for their community. They’re currently trying to figure out how to help their neighbors get to work safely. 

“I’m trying to find positive moments,” Elizabeth said. “I am so grateful for the community. It’s really deepened our relationship as parents and I, we’ve connected with so many more of our neighbors.”

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Immigration enforcement in Minnesota

Elizabeth Shockman

Author

As federal agents continue their surge in Minnesota, Twin Cities parents are organizing to support their immigrant neighbors. MPR News spoke to a parent group that’s driving neighbor kids to school, delivering groceries, doing laundry and patrolling the perimeter of their school building. 

Meet the Minneapolis parents patrolling their schools amid ICE operations

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