Some Pelican Rapids residents want their mayor to do more about ICE. He says it's not his job
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Some residents of the west-central city of Pelican Rapids are calling on their mayor to do more to support and protect immigrants and BIPOC people in their community, as they feel threatened by the federal immigration crackdown in the state. But the mayor says that’s not his job.
Pelican Rapids has a population of about 2,600 residents. And although small in size, it is a very diverse community. According to census data, about 20 percent of residents there are foreign born. And many of those immigrants work at the Jennie-O turkey processing plant. That’s made Pelican Rapids a prime target in recent weeks as federal immigration enforcement in the area has surged.
Since mid-January, at least four people have been taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents, while many other immigrants, and BIPOC U.S. citizens who fear they’ll be racially profiled, have gone into hiding. Some residents have been critical of Mayor Brent Frazier’s response to the situation.
So a number of them went to the monthly “coffee with the mayor” meeting at the local public library Thursday afternoon to confront him about it.
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Diana Gastelum, who describes herself as a Mexican-American, was there and accused Mayor Frazier of embracing the city's rich diversity at his convenience, telling him that when ICE operations ramped up, he disappeared.
"They (BIPOC residents) see you as a public figure, the person they kind of rely on, and they want to hear that you have our back,” Gastelum said at the meeting to the mayor. “I feel like you have that power, and people are just waiting for that, to kind of ease their fear of what's going on."
Mayor Frazier told Gastelum and the others at the meeting that he has no control over what ICE and CBP does in the city and he’s had no communication with them.
"If they pick somebody up that (has committed) an illegal offense, I don't need to know that,” Frazier said. “It's none of my business. It's between them and the law enforcement."
But Frazier said it does concern him that people who are living in the community legally may be taken into custody. And Pelican Rapids resident Dave Ellison says voicing that worry would be better than nothing.
"I think expressing your concern would be really reassuring to people,” Ellison said. “I mean, you're concerned about these people, and I think making that public would be really helpful."
The mayor also told attendees that ICE's presence in Pelican Rapids is nothing new. He said that back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, immigration authorities were at the local turkey processing plant a lot.
"I shouldn't say it was common, but it happened several times,” Frazier said. “And I did not hear anything from the public about concern at that time. There probably was, but I didn't hear it."
"Did they wear masks then?" Ellison asked him, suggesting that immigration policy and enforcement is quite different today than it was four decades ago.
After the meeting, Mayor Frazier told MPR News that ICE and border patrol agents are in Pelican Rapids to remove criminals who are in the country illegally, and that he supports that.
“ICE is here doing their job, looking for people that have broke (sic) the law,” he said. “To what degree, I don't know, but there's a list, and they have that list, and I do not know what that list looks like."
And the mayor said immigration operations in the city fall under public safety. He said he’s been made aware of at least two to three times federal agents have been there.
"If someone's done a tremendous, horrendous crime, would you want them as your neighbor not knowing it? Because sometimes it's not known,” he said. “But you know, ICE or border patrol knows that, so it's for the safety of the community as a whole.”
Frazier added if the Trump administration is labeling anyone in his town a criminal, he trusts that they should be taken into custody.
"Yeah. I have no idea what that person has done,” he said. “So, if they have them on their list. Yes, that's good enough for me."
Before leaving the meeting, Diana Gastelum stopped to say she was disappointed in the mayor's responses.
“People are scared, I myself, I'm a U.S. citizen. I was born here in the U.S.,” Gastelum said. “But it just feels like they're out hunting for people who don't look like they fit their idea of what an American should look like.”
Fighting through tears Gastelum said as the daughter of immigrants, she felt compelled to speak out.
"I felt it my duty, to go out there, throw myself out there, because this is very scary for me. I'm not a person who speaks up, and I was always the one that kind of deflected and just kind of stayed back,” Gastelum said. “But I feel like, as children of immigrants, it is our duty to show our support, speak up and just do the right thing."
On Sunday afternoon, some Pelican Rapids community members plan to hold a gathering at a local park to rally and show support for their neighbors who have been affected by recent federal immigrant enforcement operations. They invited Mayor Frazier to attend, but he was noncommittal, saying he would first have to talk to his wife.
