‘None of this is OK’: Walz, school leaders decry effects of ICE surge on kids, families

Gov. Tim Walz and other state and local leaders Tuesday called on federal immigration agents to stay away from schools, school buses and school bus stops as they warned of the long-term damage on children and families from the two-month immigration crackdown in Minnesota.

“None of this is normal. None of this is OK. None of this makes Minnesota any safer,” Walz told reporters as he decried what he saw as a “chilling” shift in federal tactics toward schools and school officials that he said “just causes terror and trauma to the children.”

Walz said he sent a letter to federal officials demanding to know how many Minnesota children have been detained as part of the immigration enforcement surge, where they are and what rights they have.

Walz expressed some hope that the overall surge may be ebbing following the fatal shootings of two Minnesotans by federal agents, which he described as “murders.”

“I don’t see how they continue on with this in any way that makes any sense both politically or operationally for them,” he said, adding that Tom Homan, the federal “border czar” brought in last week to take over the operation, “may be able to gain control over some of these rogue agents.”

Still, he conceded, “We’re the frogs in the boiling water, and man it is bubbling now.”

‘The retaliation has been real’

School officials in the Twin Cities north suburban districts of Fridley and Columbia Heights have been especially active in recent weeks trying to help children who have loved ones detained — in some cases the children have also been detained.

Zena Stenvik, superintendent in Columbia Heights, told MPR News that ICE has detained at least 23 parents connected to one of her schools. Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old detained with his father in Texas, returned to Minnesota on Sunday.

District officials, however, say the district is still trying to get a fourth grader released from ICE custody at the Texas facility where she and her mother were taken.

Brenda Lewis, the Fridley superintendent, told reporters that she and other district officials are being targeted for intimidation by ICE agents for speaking out on behalf of children.

“The retaliation has been real, and it has been escalating every single day,” she said, noting that she and another school member have been followed by federal agents and that on Monday four black SUVs were outside of a school board member’s home multiple times.

“I personally patrol around all of our schools every morning and every afternoon,” she said, adding that “ICE let’s me know through hand gestures” that they know her.

The district has added security and “trained observers” to its buildings, she said, but students are afraid to come to school, parents are afraid to drop them off and staff are dreading what each day might bring.

“Get ICE out of schools, out of our parking lots and out of our bus stops,” she said. “Our children deserve to be safe when they come to school.”

Columbia Heights working to get another child back from Texas

Tracy Xiong, a social worker at Highland Elementary School in Columbia Heights, said much of her work now involved coordinating food deliveries afraid to leave their homes and organizing transportation for children to and from schools.

“Students used to be absent because they were sick. Now they’re absent because they fear deportation,” she said. “Students used to ask me for help navigating friendships. Now they ask me how to cope with ICE breaking apart their families and taking their friends.”

She said the district was working to get one fourth grader, Elizabeth Zuna Caisaguano, back to Minnesota. She’s at the Texas detention center with her mother.

Xiong said Elizabeth was the first child in the school district to be detained, about a month ago. Xiong recalled the chaotic day where she was asked to find Elizabeth only to learn that the girl and her mother were taken into custody on the way to school.

She said Elizabeth was able to call her dad and that an ICE agent said they would drop the girl off at school. Staff waited outside but “no one ever came.” They later found that the mother and daughter had been flown to the Texas detention facility.

Xiong called for Elizabeth to be allowed to “wait out this legal process in a safe, humane and loving environment. No child should ever disappear on their way to school.”

Hours after Columbia Heights school leaders spoke about her during their news conference with Walz, Elizabeth was released from detainment with her mother Tuesday night. A lawyer working with the family says they plan to stay in Texas overnight before moving to a new location.

Three more children from the Columbia Heights school district remain in detention in Texas after being taken by ICE.

— MPR News staff

This story is part of our live coverage. Go to live updates.

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