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Federal agents fired tear gas and sprayed eye irritant at activists in Minneapolis on Tuesday as students walked out of a suburban school in protest against the Trump administration's bold immigration raids.
The issue of immigration raids is now heading to federal court where Minnesota and two mayors are asking a judge to immediately halt the operations. No hearing has been set on the request.
Clouds of gas filled a Minneapolis street near where Renee Good was fatally shot in the head by an immigration agent last week. A man rubbed his eyes with snow and shouted for help as agents in an unmarked Jeep sprayed an orange irritant and drove away.
It is common for people to boo and blow orange whistles when they see heavily armed agents passing by in unmarked vehicles or walking the streets.
“Who doesn’t have a whistle?”, shouted a man with a bag full of them.
Brita Anderson, who lives nearby and came to support friends from the neighborhood, said she was “outraged” to see agents in tactical gear and gas masks, and questioned their purpose.
“I felt that the only reason they would come here is to harass people,” Anderson noted.
In Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, students protesting against the immigration enforcement operation walked out of school, as students have done in other places this week.
The Department of Homeland Security has pledged to send more than 2,000 immigration agents to Minnesota, in what U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has described as its largest deployment to date, and the state, along with Minneapolis and St. Paul, sued the Trump administration on Monday to attempt to stop or limit the surge.
The lawsuit filed says that the Department of Homeland Security is violating the First Amendment and other constitutional protections by targeting a progressive state that favors Democrats and welcomes immigrants.
“This is, in essence, a federal invasion of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, and it must stop,” said state Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said: “What we are seeing are thousands—plural—thousands of federal agents entering our city. And, yes, they are having a tremendous impact on daily life.”
There have been dozens of protests or vigils across the United States to honor Renee Good, the 37-year-old mother of three who was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.
Homeland Security says it has made more than 2,000 arrests in the state since early December and vows not to back down. In response to Monday's lawsuit, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin accused Minnesota officials of ignoring public safety.
“President Trump’s job is to protect the American people and enforce the law, no matter who their mayor, governor, or state attorney general is,” said McLaughlin.
The Trump administration has repeatedly defended the immigration agent who shot Good, saying he acted in self-defense. But that explanation has been widely criticized by Frey, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and others, based on videos of the confrontation.
Two Democratic lawmakers from Massachusetts announced on Tuesday that they are sponsoring a bill to make it easier for people to sue and overcome immunity protections for federal agents accused of violating civil rights. The bill has little chance of passing in Congress, which is controlled by Republicans.
In Wisconsin, Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez proposed that the state ban immigration operations around courthouses, hospitals, health clinics, schools, churches, and other locations. She hopes to succeed Governor Tony Evers, a fellow Democrat, who is not running for a third term.
[Publicidad]