Jan 23, 2026 (this was published before the shooting of Alex Pretti) – Max Nesterak writes , “Minnesotans have reacted with an unbending resistance befitting people who are accustomed to withstanding the bitter cold. The state’s history of prairie populism, civic activism, volunteerism, and tight familial and social networks are serving as crucial infrastructure of the rampart against the federal presence.” The Minnesota Reformer, like NC Newsline, is part of States Newsroom, a network of journalism outlets that cover state government, policy and politics across the country.
Frank has a hard time explaining to his 8-year-old daughter why they rarely leave their home in the Twin Cities. Why she can’t go to school, and why he can’t work.
“The only thing we tell her is that soon everything will be over. Everything will be over soon, and she’ll go back to school like before,” Frank said in Spanish.
The truth is, no one knows when the federal siege will end. It may not be soon.
Each day brings a new news story about a lawful resident being handcuffed, sometimes beaten, and whisked away in an unmarked vehicle, unable to reach family members.
A Minnesota-born, Somali-American woman with no criminal record was shoved to the ground by ICE agents outside her apartment in St. Paul and called a racial slur on a Wednesday morning.
Nasra Ahmed, 23, says even though she showed agents her ID, she was detained for two days, including being shackled in a hospital while undergoing an MRI after suffering an apparent stress-induced seizure.
Journalists have witnessed federal immigration agents check random non-white people’s documents outside big box stores, electric vehicle charging stations and bus stops. Agents even demanded the papers of a Latino U.S. citizen whom they rear-ended.
Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said while he has worked well with ICE in the past, his department is now receiving “endless complaints about civil rights violations” including from members of his own police force who aren’t white.
Federal agents boxed in one of his officers — a U.S. citizen — while she was off-duty and demanded to see her papers, Bruley said during a news conference with other local law enforcement leaders. The agents had their guns drawn and knocked the off-duty officer’s phone out of her hand, leaving only after she identified herself as a police officer — without comment or apology.
“Our officers know what the Constitution is. They know what right and wrong is. And they know when people are being targeted. And that’s what they were,” Brule said.
Ana Alarcon, a U.S. citizen, was at the laundromat early one Sunday morning with her kids when two ICE agents came in and started questioning her. Another time, she was leaving a Mexican grocery store with her husband, a permanent U.S. resident from Mexico, and saw ICE agents stopped in traffic, studying her license plate.
“You never think Minnesota would be what it’s like now,” Alarcon said. “For us, it’s always been the safest state.”
Her daughter turned 18 this month, but they didn’t have a big party because most of her friends didn’t want to leave home.
Alarcon now carries her passport with her all the time and doesn’t let her husband leave the house alone. He doesn’t speak fluent English, and she worries he won’t even get the chance to show his papers before being detained. Also, if there’s two of them, one will be able to record it on their phone.
“We’ve noticed that if there’s only one person in the car, the agents tend to take their phones or knock it out of their hands,” Alarcon said.
She doesn’t want to be mistaken for being afraid, however. Certainly not in front of a federal agent, because she has nothing to hide.
So, for the first time, she started going to protests.
Read the entire article at: https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/8-weeks-under-siege-minnesota?emci=15f1028b-92f8-f011-8d4c-0022482d279b&emdi=90c96b25-96f8-f011-8d4c-0022482d279b&ceid=191362