In recent weeks my 80-year-old Asian American parents have started to carry their passports each time they leave their suburban townhouse. Neighbors on their Ring doorbell app alert users when ICE agents are spotted nearby. My mom has canceled appointments after such warnings. A practical woman, she says she’s in a game of “cat and mouse” with federal agents, and she’ll be damned if she gives them the upper hand.
This is something headlines often miss when describing what it’s like to be living with ICE in Minnesota.
We know federal agents shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti. We’ve learned that agents have approached and detained residents who appear to be “foreign” at grocery stores and bus stops. We’ve seen the picture of 5-year-old Liam, with his Spider-Man backpack and animal snow hat, before he and his dad were taken by federal agents. We’ve watched the horrific videos of masked agents tackling, cuffing and dragging U.S. citizens — or parading them into the arctic chill in their boxers — and later releasing them, without apology.
It shouldn’t be forgotten that Pretti lost his life on Eat Street, a corridor revived by immigrants. He was helping a woman an agent violently shoved to the ground. He was helping document the actions by federal agents so that the truth could be preserved.
A quiet, pervasive fear that has taken root in the Twin Cities, forcing some people of color who are not even immigrants to change our behaviors. We take extra precautions. We carry the passport. And we question our belonging.