Volunteers are delivering groceries to Minneapolis migrants so they don’t risk leaving home as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents swarm the city.
In recent weeks, federal agents have arrested thousands of people in Operation Metro Surge. The Trump administration calls these people “murderers, rapists, child pedophiles and incredibly dangerous individuals.”
But Sergio Amezcua, a pastor at Dios Habla Hoy in south Minneapolis, told The New York Times that ICE appears to be just targeting nonwhite people — a claim federal officials have denied.
Amezcua and other community members decided to help those too afraid to take a trip to the grocery store as federal agents flood their streets.
“Our community is traumatized,” he said. “People that are born here are traumatized.”
So far, Amezcua’s church has received nearly 25,000 requests from people in need of groceries, with 14,000 deliveries of goods — such as meat, milk and even hygiene products — already completed.
A lot of the groceries are given to the church from food banks, but individuals have also donated to the cause.
Minneapolis resident Germaine Grueneberg, who was signing up to volunteer last Friday, told the NYT, “I think the desperation is palpable right now, and we need to do something.”
“I’m lucky enough to have the privilege of a comfortable home, being able to buy my own food and go out and feel somewhat safe, for the most part, and it’s about time that we support our neighbors,” she said.
Minneapolis has been a flashpoint amid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Earlier this month, Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and mother of three, was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in the city, causing public outcry. The Trump administration has framed the shooting as self-defense.
The Department of Justice has issued subpoenas to at least five top Democratic Minnesota officials, including Governor Tim Walz, as the agency appears to investigate whether state and local officials conspired to impede federal agents from immigration enforcement.
“My focus has always been protecting the people of this state, not protecting myself. Families are scared. Kids are afraid to go to school. Small businesses are hurting. A mother is dead, and the people responsible have yet to be held accountable,” Walz said in a statement Tuesday.
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