The January 7 killing of Renée Good sparked national outrage and mass protests, especially in the Twin Cities, which had been roiling since the Trump administration sent thousands of agents to occupy the area as part of Operation Metro Surge.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross’s murder of Good was not the only violent encounter between immigration agents and Minneapolis residents that day. That same afternoon, Border Patrol agents entered the grounds of Roosevelt High School while in pursuit, they claimed, of a US citizen who was “actively trying to impede operations.”
The scene outside the school soon erupted into chaos; the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) alleges that a teacher “proceeded to assault a border patrol agent” and other people started pelting officers with objects and trying to spray-paint them and their vehicles. The Minneapolis educators’ union accused Border Patrol of wrongfully detaining a Roosevelt staff member and of using tear gas on the crowd. Minneapolis Public Schools shut down for the next two days and, soon after, announced it would allow students to stay home and receive remote instruction until February 12.
Jacobin spoke with two area high school students about how Operation Metro Surge has disrupted their daily lives and how they and their classmates have responded to the ongoing occupation.
Zakariya, a sophomore at South High School in Minneapolis, about two miles north of Roosevelt High, stresses about his family having run-ins with ICE. “Literally every day, I have to worry about my mom and sister when they’re going to work. My mom is a bus driver for the Minneapolis Public School District. And my sister works at a psych ward in St Paul,” he told us.
“And then there’s my baby sister,” he added. “She started first grade this year. So I have to worry about her when she gets on the school bus as well.”
Boisey, another sophomore at the school, reported that he and his…
Auteur: Nick French
