Rochester residents voice fear, anger and angst over continued ICE presence
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The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, and a second fatal shooting of an ICE observer, is reverberating across the state. While immigration agents haven't flooded greater Minnesota to the same extent as in the Twin Cities metro area, in some cities, including Rochester, ICE and CBP have been a gnawing presence for months, inciting tension, fear and anger.
On Monday night, hundreds of people gathered for a community vigil in a black box theater inside the downtown Rochester Civic Theatre, just blocks from the Mayo Clinic. The event was organized by the local NAACP chapter in the wake of federal agents killing nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
“In the moment that we're living in, we are seeing children being terrorized — immigrants who have committed no crimes, business owners just going to work, students going to school, doctors going to take their patients,” said Walé Elegbede, president of NAACP’s Rochester chapter. “In the moment we're living in, the United States — the government — is racially profiling and targeting individuals based solely on the color of your skin.”
Immigration agents have ramped up enforcement operations and have been detaining more immigrants in Rochester since at least early December. Mutual aid networks have popped up to deliver groceries and necessities to people who are too scared to leave their homes. Community members patrol Med City to keep tabs on federal agent activity. Resident physicians at Mayo Clinic staged a walk-out Friday to bring attention to how few patients have been coming to appointments.
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Elegbede says the recent events harken back to some of the darkest chapters in history, such as the decades of apartheid in South Africa. He grew up in Nigeria under a military dictatorship, and he urged Rochester residents to not give into apathy.
"If you put your head down, as someone who has lived under a dictatorship, your head gets smashed," Elegbede said.
Local elected officials said at the vigil that their constituents are reporting all kinds of concerns: Employees aren’t showing up for work out of fear they’ll be stopped, detained and deported; people are scared to leave their homes; and people with legal status, even U.S. citizens, are getting swept up by ICE and Border Patrol officers.
Rochester DFL state Rep. Kim Hicks says she saw an acquaintance who is a U.S. citizen hauled away Friday by border patrol agents after he got out his phone to record them.
"[The border patrol agents] get in their car, they drive and they block his car,” said Hicks. “They bang on his window,” HIcks recounted. “They tell him they are going to break his window if he doesn't get out of the car. They pull him — physically force him out of the car — and start taking him to the ICE vehicle. They put him in their car, and they drive off with him.”
After about 20 minutes, she says, the ICE agents’ vehicle returns, without the man they apprehended.
"He's no longer there,” Hicks explained. “They've dropped him off somewhere. And they drive back by. They lay on their horn, and they flip me off as they go up the hill.”
“That's not government, that's not law enforcement — that is terror,” Hicks said.
Yezi Gugsa, 23, of Rochester, said she came to the event looking for community support and to find comfort.
"Just getting to see faces in the community that I grew up in and knowing that there are people who support individuals who look like me — it just makes me emotional to remember what happens when love comes together," Gugsa said.
Gugsa’s mother, Natalie Jones, 48, said coming to the community gathering was heartening.
“People are scared,” Jones said. “People need a sense of hope. They need a sense of belonging and community. They need to know that other people have their back. So it's really encouraging to see people out here tonight coming together.”
Jones has been affected by federal enforcement actions personally.
"I have a close friend that was detained just by checking in. He went to his check-in up in Minneapolis and didn't get to come home."
MPR News asked Jones if she knew where her friend was taken.
“I don’t,” she replied.
