The Guardian reports:

Cory never expected he’d spend hours each day driving around after immigration agents, videotaping their moves. The south Minneapolis resident is “not the type of person to do this”, he said.

The dangers of what he’s doing, even after the killings of two observers, largely stay out of his mind when he’s watching Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents – even when he’s gotten hit with pepper spray. In quieter moments, it occurs to him that agents likely know where he lives. Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old whom agents killed while he was filming them, “100% could have been me”, Cory said.

Still, he felt no choice but to step up. He had taken legal bystander training in November when other cities were experiencing ICE’s crackdowns. And in early January, as more and more stories surfaced about people being taken by federal agents from their families, at bus stops, from their jobs, it became clear to him that Minnesotans needed to do whatever they could.

“We learned growing up about a lot of horrible things people have done in history. And there’s a lot of asking yourself, ‘What would I have done if I was in that time period?’” Cory said. “And I found myself asking that a lot – like, what is our obligation to stop things, like these horrible racist attacks on people and frankly what feels like an ethnic cleansing project?”

In what is arguably the most widespread effort in the country to combat Donald Trump’s severe mass deportation tactics, tens of thousands of Minnesotans have played a role in defending their neighbors from ICE. They patrol in their cars and document agents, give rides to people who feel unsafe driving, stand outside schools at drop-offs and dismissals to protect children and their parents, deliver groceries and supplies to families who are staying inside for fear of detention, and crowdfunding legal aid or rent.

The resistance is built on a longstanding culture of civic engagement, workers unions and a sprawling infrastructure of community-led groups, particularly those who advocate for the rights of Latino and Somali residents. Neighborhoods that banded together after George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in 2020 have reignited their networks. And the federal government’s onslaught has meant an end to normal life here – drafting a large part of Minneapolis into action. [Continue reading…]