“It is terrifying to hear that there are ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents, all around our communities, stalking human beings like prey. This doesn’t feel like the America I learned about in school. I was taught that America was a safe place to seek asylum but now it’s becoming unsafe even for natural citizens protecting their community members from unfair treatment.” said Jayme Weiss, a fourth-year Chemical Engineering student from Minnetonka, MN. When asked how people are responding in her hometown, she replied, “When there were ICE vehicles near my childhood home, several of my old neighbors came outside to observe, and the ICE agents left without detaining anyone. My family and friends have noticed ICE’s presence around job sites, clearly waiting for employees at the end of their shifts.”
Two students said that ICE’s presence in Minneapolis made them feel unsafe to visit their hometown over Spring Break.
Jonathon Oleson is a Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. student from St. Cloud, MN. “We have to keep thinking. I feel that it’s easy to be swept up in the fervor of the moment. People might stop thinking for themselves, but this is actually the most important time for that. There may be some who look at the actions of ICE and claim it is justice, but the purpose of justice is to serve the people… If we allow the ones in power to twist the narrative and convince us that some of our lives are worthless, we’ve already lost,” said Oleson.
Nathan Lickers is working on his bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering. He is a member of Mohawk Nation, and secretary of the Biskaabiiyaang Collective, the Indigenous student organization at Michigan Tech. He agreed to comment on ICE detentions of Indigenous people. “It’s scary when you have an agency that has proven that it’s untrustworthy. Our communities frequently have talks about what happens when ICE agents come, or what to do when you get approached by an ICE agent. Now my family is constantly carrying papers to prove who we are. To prove that we belong to our ancestral land. It’s frightening.”
Kora Melia is a professional musician who moved to Minneapolis after graduating from Michigan Tech with a B.S. in Environmental Engineering. “We are not the people setting off tear gas, rubber bullets, and killing people. ICE came here. All we are doing is trying to protect our neighbors and stand up for what is right. That is not the side that can stand down. This is horrible and extremely disturbing, but at the same time, you have to go grocery shopping. Our jobs haven’t stopped. People are doing the rest of their life and still dealing with all of this. Life hasn’t stopped here. We are still playing music, because you have to. Life continues, and we need each other.” Melia shared her testimony on the events following Alex Pretti’s death in an article published by the Lode, “MTU alum at the scene minutes after Alex Pretti shooting.”
Tim Braun graduated from Michigan Tech in 2004. He now lives in Shoreview, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. “ICE is waiting for parents at pickup lines, and kids coming off the school bus. I can’t imagine my daughter having to go through that with the way they’re treating people. Some people don’t seem to mind that our civil rights are being taken away from us because of who it is. It seems pretty obvious that they [ICE agents] don’t care about our rights. They care about their quotas, and that’s about it.”
“It [ICE violence] has galvanized the community to protect our neighbors and stand up for our constitutional rights… To stand up against an oppressive overreach of our government.” When asked if there’s anything that he’d like to share that isn’t being highlighted in the news, Braun quoted Mr. Rogers. “When I was a boy, and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” – Fred Rogers. Braun continued, “That’s what makes me so proud about this community, how everybody is finding their way to help each other.”
