The Minnesota protests reflect escalating unrest across the state triggered by immigration enforcement actions, including the January 7 fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. The demonstrations also come as federal immigration authorities have detained young children, prompting legal challenges and an FBI supervisory agent’s resignation over the handling of the Good investigation.
Clergy arrested at airport; activists hail ‘historic’ movement
About 100 clergy members were arrested Friday at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport when they exceeded the reach of their permit and disrupted airline operations, according to the Metropolitan Airports Commission. The arrested clergy were issued misdemeanor citations for trespassing and failure to comply with a peace officer.
“We cannot abide living under this federal occupation of Minnesota,” said Rev. Mariah Furness Tollgaard of Hamline Church in St. Paul, who was among those arrested. Tollgaard said police ordered them to leave, but she and others decided to stay and be arrested to show support for migrants, including congregation members afraid to leave their homes. She planned to return to her church after her brief detention to hold a prayer vigil.
Thousands gathered despite Arctic temperatures
Several thousand people gathered in downtown Minneapolis on Friday despite temperatures of minus 9 degrees Fahrenheit as the Department of Homeland Security conducted what federal authorities described as its “largest-ever immigration enforcement operation.”
Rev. Elizabeth Barish Browne, a Unitarian Universalist minister, traveled from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to participate in the rally. “What’s happening here is clearly immoral,” Browne said. “It’s definitely chilly, but the kind of ice that’s dangerous to us is not the weather.”
Labor unions, progressive organizations, and more than 100 participating groups coordinated the demonstrations. Organizers said more than 700 businesses statewide have closed in solidarity with the movement, from a bookstore in tiny Grand Marais near the Canadian border to the landmark Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis.
“We’re achieving something historic,” said Kate Havelin of Indivisible Twin Cities, one of the more than 100 participating groups.
Renee Good’s death and investigation
The demonstrations reflect broader upheaval in Minnesota over immigration enforcement. Protesters have gathered daily in the Twin Cities since January 7, when Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
Federal law enforcement officers have repeatedly squared off with community members and activists since Good’s death. Sam Nelson, a Minneapolis resident who said he skipped work to join Friday’s march, explained his decision: “It’s my community. Like everyone else, I don’t want ICE on our streets.” Nelson said he is a former student of a Minneapolis high school where federal agents detained someone after class earlier this month, an incident that led to altercations between federal officers and bystanders.
An FBI supervisory agent in Minnesota resigned Friday over the Justice Department’s handling of the investigation into Good’s death, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. The agent said she felt pressured not to investigate the shooting in the way the FBI would have ordinarily done, the people said. The FBI declined to comment.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner has classified Good’s death as a homicide and determined she died from “multiple gunshot wounds.” An independent autopsy commissioned by Good’s family and released Wednesday found that one bullet pierced the left side of her head and exited on the right side. The autopsy also documented bullets that struck her in the arm and breast, although those injuries were not immediately life-threatening.
Young children detained in separate ICE operations
A 2-year-old girl was reunited with her mother Friday after being detained with her father outside their home in South Minneapolis. Her attorney, Irina Vaynerman, said the family quickly challenged the detention in federal court. The child is a citizen of Ecuador who was brought to the U.S. as a newborn and has a pending asylum application, according to court filings. Neither the child nor her father, Elvis Tipan Echeverria, are subject to final orders of removal, the filings stated.
A U.S. district judge on Thursday had barred the government from transferring the toddler out of state, but the child and her father were on a commercial flight to Texas about 20 minutes later, according to court documents. They were flown back Friday.
In a separate case, a 5-year-old boy was detained with his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, during what the Department of Homeland Security called a “targeted enforcement operation” in Columbia Heights on Tuesday. Both are now detained at the Dilley Detention Center in Texas, which is intended to hold families.
DHS said the child was detained because his father “fled from the scene.” The agency said officers attempted to get the child’s mother to take custody, but she refused. The family’s attorney, Marc Prokosch, said he believes the mother refused to open the door because she was afraid she would be detained.
Columbia Heights school district superintendent Zena Stenvik characterized the situation differently. “Liam was used as bait,” she said.