TNIE online desk
Minnesota has emerged as the hot spot of protest against the Donald Trump-led US government's anti-immigration crackdown.The Department of Homeland Security has pledged to put more than 2,000 immigration officers into the state, calling it the largest enforcement operation ever.
The recent protests form part of a larger resistance against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), after 37-year-old Renee Good, mother of three, was shot dead by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
President Donald Trump defended the officer’s actions, with the administration painting Good as a domestic terrorist who tried to run over the officer with her vehicle. State and local officials in Minneapolis as well as protesters have rejected that characterisation.
Good was killed in a modest neighbourhood south of downtown Minneapolis, just a mile from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020. Half a decade later, so many things are not the same — from cultural attitudes to rapidly evolving technology.
Federal agents have yanked people from cars and homes and been confronted by angry bystanders who are demanding that officers pack up and leave.
Agents fired tear gas and deployed pepper spray to break up crowds, as Minneapolis remained on edge in the aftermath of the shooting.
Minnesota has sued the Trump administration to try to stop the immigration enforcement surge, saying the Department of Homeland Security is violating the First Amendment and other constitutional protections.